Bret van den Brink
@bretvdb.bsky.social
“the only just literary critic is Christ” | University of Toronto MA Candidate | poet and lover of poetry from Spenser and Milton to Frost and Stevens
“All sin was of my sinning, all
Atoning mine, and mine the gall
Of all regret. Mine was the weight
Of every brooded wrong, the hate
That stood behind each envious thrust,
Mine every greed, mine every lust.”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Renascence”
Atoning mine, and mine the gall
Of all regret. Mine was the weight
Of every brooded wrong, the hate
That stood behind each envious thrust,
Mine every greed, mine every lust.”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Renascence”
July 11, 2025 at 3:35 PM
“All sin was of my sinning, all
Atoning mine, and mine the gall
Of all regret. Mine was the weight
Of every brooded wrong, the hate
That stood behind each envious thrust,
Mine every greed, mine every lust.”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Renascence”
Atoning mine, and mine the gall
Of all regret. Mine was the weight
Of every brooded wrong, the hate
That stood behind each envious thrust,
Mine every greed, mine every lust.”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Renascence”
“In that same way that, upon earth, [Christ] was in solidarity with the living, so, in the tomb, he is in solidarity with the dead.”
—Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mysterium Paschale
—Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mysterium Paschale
April 19, 2025 at 3:05 PM
“In that same way that, upon earth, [Christ] was in solidarity with the living, so, in the tomb, he is in solidarity with the dead.”
—Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mysterium Paschale
—Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mysterium Paschale
“God … sees in us the true beauty, because by his looking he sets within us his beauty.”
—Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord III
—Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord III
January 2, 2025 at 6:00 AM
“God … sees in us the true beauty, because by his looking he sets within us his beauty.”
—Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord III
—Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord III
“Annihilation itself is no death to evil. Only good where evil was, is evil dead. An evil thing must live with its evil until it chooses to be good. That alone is the slaying of evil.”
—George MacDonald, Lilith
—George MacDonald, Lilith
December 28, 2024 at 7:53 AM
“Annihilation itself is no death to evil. Only good where evil was, is evil dead. An evil thing must live with its evil until it chooses to be good. That alone is the slaying of evil.”
—George MacDonald, Lilith
—George MacDonald, Lilith
“Where absolute love is concerned, conceiving and letting-be are just as essential as giving. In fact, without this receptive letting be and all it involves— gratitude for the gift of oneself and a turning in love toward the Giver—the giving itself is impossible.”
November 25, 2024 at 12:39 PM
“Where absolute love is concerned, conceiving and letting-be are just as essential as giving. In fact, without this receptive letting be and all it involves— gratitude for the gift of oneself and a turning in love toward the Giver—the giving itself is impossible.”
Reposted by Bret van den Brink
The word translated "hospitality" in the NT is philoxenia, which is a combination of two words: love (phileo) and the word for stranger (xenos).
Worldly thinking: "xenophobia" = fear/hatred of the stranger or foreigner.
Kingdom thinking: "philoxenia" = love of strangers; hospitality
Worldly thinking: "xenophobia" = fear/hatred of the stranger or foreigner.
Kingdom thinking: "philoxenia" = love of strangers; hospitality
November 23, 2024 at 3:11 PM
The word translated "hospitality" in the NT is philoxenia, which is a combination of two words: love (phileo) and the word for stranger (xenos).
Worldly thinking: "xenophobia" = fear/hatred of the stranger or foreigner.
Kingdom thinking: "philoxenia" = love of strangers; hospitality
Worldly thinking: "xenophobia" = fear/hatred of the stranger or foreigner.
Kingdom thinking: "philoxenia" = love of strangers; hospitality
Reposted by Bret van den Brink
"[The Cross] is truly a tragedy that ends in the uttermost darkness and that this end leads incomprehensibly into the Resurrection, which is not ...a happy ending added on but stands in an utterly incommensurable relationship to the conclusion of the tragedy. The Cross [stands] staring upward"
HUvB
HUvB
November 23, 2024 at 2:50 PM
"[The Cross] is truly a tragedy that ends in the uttermost darkness and that this end leads incomprehensibly into the Resurrection, which is not ...a happy ending added on but stands in an utterly incommensurable relationship to the conclusion of the tragedy. The Cross [stands] staring upward"
HUvB
HUvB
Want to ease yourself into John Milton’s poetry before tackling Paradise Lost? Try Comus! A 🧵
November 23, 2024 at 1:12 AM
Want to ease yourself into John Milton’s poetry before tackling Paradise Lost? Try Comus! A 🧵
Emily Dickinson on the
Transcendentals Beauty, Truth, and One:
Transcendentals Beauty, Truth, and One:
November 21, 2024 at 11:46 PM
Emily Dickinson on the
Transcendentals Beauty, Truth, and One:
Transcendentals Beauty, Truth, and One:
Love a catchy title.
November 21, 2024 at 4:30 PM
Love a catchy title.
“Yes! 'wish-fulfilment dreams' we spin to cheat
our timid hearts and ugly Fact defeat!
Whence came the wish, and whence the power to dream,
or some things fair and others ugly deem?”
—J.R.R. Tolkien, “Mythopoeia”
our timid hearts and ugly Fact defeat!
Whence came the wish, and whence the power to dream,
or some things fair and others ugly deem?”
—J.R.R. Tolkien, “Mythopoeia”
November 21, 2024 at 4:04 PM
“Yes! 'wish-fulfilment dreams' we spin to cheat
our timid hearts and ugly Fact defeat!
Whence came the wish, and whence the power to dream,
or some things fair and others ugly deem?”
—J.R.R. Tolkien, “Mythopoeia”
our timid hearts and ugly Fact defeat!
Whence came the wish, and whence the power to dream,
or some things fair and others ugly deem?”
—J.R.R. Tolkien, “Mythopoeia”
“It is my life to die, like glass, by light:
Slain in the strong rays of the bridegroom sun.”
—Thomas Merton, “The Blessed Virgin Mary Compared To A Window”
allpoetry.com/The-Blessed-...
Slain in the strong rays of the bridegroom sun.”
—Thomas Merton, “The Blessed Virgin Mary Compared To A Window”
allpoetry.com/The-Blessed-...
The Blessed Virgin Mary Compared To A Window by Thomas Merton
Comments & analysis: Because my will is simple as a window / And knows no pride of original birth, / It is my l
allpoetry.com
November 21, 2024 at 4:03 PM
“It is my life to die, like glass, by light:
Slain in the strong rays of the bridegroom sun.”
—Thomas Merton, “The Blessed Virgin Mary Compared To A Window”
allpoetry.com/The-Blessed-...
Slain in the strong rays of the bridegroom sun.”
—Thomas Merton, “The Blessed Virgin Mary Compared To A Window”
allpoetry.com/The-Blessed-...
“Yet such a sapphire-shot,
Charged, steepèd sky will not
Stain light. Yea, mark you this:
It does no prejudice.
The glass-blue days are those
When every colour glows,
Each shape and shadow shows.
Blue be it.”
—Gerard Manley Hopkins
Charged, steepèd sky will not
Stain light. Yea, mark you this:
It does no prejudice.
The glass-blue days are those
When every colour glows,
Each shape and shadow shows.
Blue be it.”
—Gerard Manley Hopkins
November 21, 2024 at 4:02 PM
“Yet such a sapphire-shot,
Charged, steepèd sky will not
Stain light. Yea, mark you this:
It does no prejudice.
The glass-blue days are those
When every colour glows,
Each shape and shadow shows.
Blue be it.”
—Gerard Manley Hopkins
Charged, steepèd sky will not
Stain light. Yea, mark you this:
It does no prejudice.
The glass-blue days are those
When every colour glows,
Each shape and shadow shows.
Blue be it.”
—Gerard Manley Hopkins
“The words were spoken as if there was no book.”
—Wallace Stevens
—Wallace Stevens
November 18, 2024 at 1:49 PM
“The words were spoken as if there was no book.”
—Wallace Stevens
—Wallace Stevens
“No ear
But eyes themselves were all the hearers there,
And every stone, and every star a tongue,
And every gale of wind a curious song.
The Heavens were an oracle, and spake
Divinity: the Earth did undertake
The office of a priest.”
—Thomas Traherne, “Dumbness”
But eyes themselves were all the hearers there,
And every stone, and every star a tongue,
And every gale of wind a curious song.
The Heavens were an oracle, and spake
Divinity: the Earth did undertake
The office of a priest.”
—Thomas Traherne, “Dumbness”
November 14, 2024 at 8:45 PM
“No ear
But eyes themselves were all the hearers there,
And every stone, and every star a tongue,
And every gale of wind a curious song.
The Heavens were an oracle, and spake
Divinity: the Earth did undertake
The office of a priest.”
—Thomas Traherne, “Dumbness”
But eyes themselves were all the hearers there,
And every stone, and every star a tongue,
And every gale of wind a curious song.
The Heavens were an oracle, and spake
Divinity: the Earth did undertake
The office of a priest.”
—Thomas Traherne, “Dumbness”
“No business serious seemed but one; no work
But one was found; and that did in me lurk.
D’ye ask me what? It was with clearer eyes
To see all creatures full of Deities;
Especially one’s self: And to admire
The satisfaction of all true desire.”
—Thomas Traherne, “Dumbness”
But one was found; and that did in me lurk.
D’ye ask me what? It was with clearer eyes
To see all creatures full of Deities;
Especially one’s self: And to admire
The satisfaction of all true desire.”
—Thomas Traherne, “Dumbness”
November 14, 2024 at 8:45 PM
“No business serious seemed but one; no work
But one was found; and that did in me lurk.
D’ye ask me what? It was with clearer eyes
To see all creatures full of Deities;
Especially one’s self: And to admire
The satisfaction of all true desire.”
—Thomas Traherne, “Dumbness”
But one was found; and that did in me lurk.
D’ye ask me what? It was with clearer eyes
To see all creatures full of Deities;
Especially one’s self: And to admire
The satisfaction of all true desire.”
—Thomas Traherne, “Dumbness”
“Poetry must be as new as foam, and as old as the rock.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
November 14, 2024 at 2:05 PM
“Poetry must be as new as foam, and as old as the rock.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Reposted by Bret van den Brink
My contribution to the (re)enchantment discourse, from a review of *Permanent Crisis*:
genealogiesofmodernity.org/journal/2021...
genealogiesofmodernity.org/journal/2021...
November 12, 2024 at 6:56 PM
My contribution to the (re)enchantment discourse, from a review of *Permanent Crisis*:
genealogiesofmodernity.org/journal/2021...
genealogiesofmodernity.org/journal/2021...
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.”
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.”
November 11, 2024 at 2:41 PM
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.”
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.”
Reposted by Bret van den Brink
Wanna hear me talking about Christian tradition and Christian sin for an hour? Well have I got a podcast episode for you. If you don’t want that I don’t know what to tell you. Don’t listen I think. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/faith-at-the-frontiers/id1587860716?i=1000675033426
#69 Tradition with Anne Carpenter
Podcast Episode · Faith at the Frontiers · 10/30/2024 · 1h 2m
podcasts.apple.com
November 8, 2024 at 7:56 PM
Wanna hear me talking about Christian tradition and Christian sin for an hour? Well have I got a podcast episode for you. If you don’t want that I don’t know what to tell you. Don’t listen I think. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/faith-at-the-frontiers/id1587860716?i=1000675033426
#HansUrsvonBalthasar on #Origen ‘s spiritual vision:
October 21, 2024 at 1:09 AM
#HansUrsvonBalthasar on #Origen ‘s spiritual vision:
Reading world literature “might even help us accept what is happening to us with greater composure, and allow us to not despise our enemies all to blindly, even when it is our mission to fight them.” —Erich Auerbach, “The Philology of World Literature”
October 20, 2024 at 7:30 PM
Reading world literature “might even help us accept what is happening to us with greater composure, and allow us to not despise our enemies all to blindly, even when it is our mission to fight them.” —Erich Auerbach, “The Philology of World Literature”
A beautiful passage from Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Prayer:
October 20, 2024 at 4:21 AM
A beautiful passage from Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Prayer:
