Ellicott City, MD - Castro Valley, CA - Seoul, Korea - Castro Valley, CA - Ellicott City, MD

September 5, 2024 Peace and Good, As you can see in the title of this blog, I have been travelling a bit. I went to South Korea to be with our friars during their pre-chapter assembly. Before I finished my role as Assistant General, I did a canonical visitation of that province. This means I spoke with every member of the province and produced a report on how I saw things going. They are now getting ready for their provincial chapter, and they discussed all of the reports (including mine) to get some ideas of the topic which they had to treat at the coming chapter. The trip is very long, so I broke it up a bit, coming into Castro Valley (Oakland) and staying a there on the way out and the way back. This was a very good idea, because the trip from SFO (San Francisco Airport) to Seoul was 12 1/2 hours on the way in and 11 hours on the way back. I am in the midst of jet lag right now. There is a 13 hour difference in time zones between here and there. Covid is breaking out badly there, but I don't think I have contracted it. The next couple of days will tell, but I did get a booster before I headed out. It was hot, hot, hot there as well as humid. I ended up doing most of my daily walks in the dining room in the retreat center where we met. The friars were great to me. I really like them and the work that they are doing. They have a good variety of work - parishes, retreat centers, school for handicapped children, home for mentally challenged men, home for the elderly, etc. I finished some reading and listening: Maimonides: the Life and World on One of Civilization’s Greatest Minds by Joel Kraemer This is a long and detailed account of the life and career (doctor, leader of the Jewish community in Egypt, compiler of the law of Israel, philosopher, etc.) of the Jewish sage who was born in Spain, fled to Morocco when there was a persecution against the Jews by some Muslim conquerors, and then to Egypt where he became one of the personal physicians to Saladin and other Muslim rulers and their families. The book is very informative but at times a bit technical when it comes to questions of Jewish law. Who was Jesus by N.T. Wright I think a better title for this book is “Who Jesus wasn’t.” The author examines a number of theories that have come out in recent years concerning Jesus, and he basically tears them to pieces. He is a middle road theologian who reasons very well both from the text and from what is logical. I would very much like to read some of his other books. A History of Ancient Israel: From the Patriarchs through the Romans by Eric Cline This is an overview of the archaeology and history of ancient Israel. It is a course from Modern Scholars. Cline is very respectful to the text of the Hebrew Bible, but he allows archaeological discoveries to question what is written (in a very respectful manner). This is a fine course for someone to better understand why things were written as they were and what probably actually happened in those days. Rome Last Citizen: the Life and Legacy of Cato by Rob Goodman This is a well written biography of Cato the Younger. He followed the example of Cato the Elder, his great grandfather. He was a Stoic, famous for his asceticism (and yet he was known to have been a significant drinker). He was the voice of ancient virtue, but he was incapable of compromise, so much of what he argued was lost by his intransigence. He was a sworn enemy first of Pompei, and then when he came to view Caesar as the more dangerous enemy, of him. Margaret Thatcher: A Modern Leader by Amy Edwards This is a short teaching company course on the life and career of Margaret Thatcher. She was a formidable woman. In fact, it was said of her government that she was the only true man in the cabinet. Some of her economic reforms in Great Britain were sorely needed, some were heartless and poorly planned. She did mark a turning point in the way the country was governed. The Ancient Lydians by Charles River Editors This is the story of a tribal unit from ancient Libya who threatened and eventually blended with the Egyptian land. Their story shows how complicated the determination of where one people began and the other left off could be. Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico by Charles River Editors This is the tragic story of a prince of the Holy Roman Empire who allowed himself to be talked into becoming emperor of Mexico by the Emperor of France, Napoleon III. He was told that he would be well accepted, but these were lies. After a couple years of civil war, he was overthrown and executed, while his empress, Carlotta, lost her mind for most of the rest of her rather long life. The Passover Haggadah by Vanessa Ochs The Haggadah is the book which is used for the celebration of Passover. Ochs gives a history of the book, especially when they came to be accompanied by artwork. She speaks of various Haggadahs that were produced for special purposes (e.g. to commemorate the Holocaust, for feminists, for gays, etc.). The book is OK but not much more than that. One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic: A History of the Church in the Middle Ages by Thomas Madden This is a Modern Scholar presentation of the Church from the time of the Roman until the 15th century. The professor gives a very balanced presentation, neither exaggerating the holiness of the Church nor letting it be seen as a constant cesspool of corruption. I would recommend this course. The Spanish Mystics: Ecstasy and Communion by Peter Tyler This is a relatively short presentation on the mystical theology of St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. Rather than presenting them as people who were constantly in ecstasy, Tyler shows how they tied their experiences to a strong commitment to service (especially of the poor). Interesting is Tyler’s mention of the Muslim and Jewish belief of one’s spiritual life as a type of castle, an image used in Theresa own book. The World of George Orwell by Michael Shelden This is a tremendous presentation on the life and writings of George Orwell, the author of 1984 and Animal Farm. The professor teaching this course (from Modern Scholar) does not use stereotypic ideas about him, but carefully investigates his beliefs and how others twisted what he believed and wrote. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who is interested in Orwell. Viracocha by Charles River Editors This is a short presentation on the major god of the Inca people and how they caused the peoples they conquered to worship him (while they were allowed to keep their own deities. It speaks of the history of the Inca empire, from its earliest days as little more than a city state until it had become an enormous rich empire. Finally, it speaks about the Spanish conquest of the empire through the conquistador Pizzaro. Have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude