Ian is the Priest-King of the Sacred Grove at Nemi
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poetinbabylon.bsky.social
Ian is the Priest-King of the Sacred Grove at Nemi
@poetinbabylon.bsky.social
High-Church Pentecostal. Presbyterian (PCUSA) Minister. UChicago MAPH 16, MA Div 21. 19/20C History of Religions. Great Prairie State Enjoyer (and Loyalist to the Khan of Springfield). Dungeon Master. Yasuki Courtier. On the Spectrum. #MessiaenIsLove
ahhhhh, see I am able to return to my three coffees a day thanks to anxiety medication (but I still sleep poorly)
December 7, 2025 at 3:06 AM
that's when I realized I needed to get medicated for anxiety (not to presume!, but goodness, it's stopped the eye-twitching)
December 7, 2025 at 2:57 AM
More importantly than all this Beethoven nonsense, this afternoon as #1 practiced and I practiced, I realized that when he gets older and better with the double-bass he and I could join the local (amateur) Symphony Orchestra together (I would play flute)
December 7, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Anyhow, I'm listening to Piano Concerto No. 1, and it's wonderful because every *shape* of the piano-playing fits patterns I recognize from the Sonatas. The trills and the turns are in the same place, the emotional fabric is consistent - it's like saying hello to an old friend and not losing a beat.
December 7, 2025 at 2:47 AM
I'm a deep Beethoven Sonata nerd. I have strong feelings about opus 10 (which is a bundle of three sonatas together, Nos. 5-7) - I think opus 10, no. 2, mvt 2's melody resides somewhere in between my heart and my gut - and I've been playing opus 13 (Sonata No. 8, Pathetique) for over two decades now
December 7, 2025 at 2:47 AM
on a comparative note, every time I hear Gordon Lightfoot sing this line, I find myself turning to Gerard Manley Hopkins' Wreck of the Deutschland
December 7, 2025 at 2:28 AM
okay okay, this is going on my “we’re in the Lou and don’t want to eat at the same place we always do” list now!
December 7, 2025 at 12:29 AM
uh… where??????????
December 7, 2025 at 12:19 AM
I usually write out at least my first draft (although it evolves as I shift from handwritten to typing midway through the week!)
December 7, 2025 at 12:07 AM
“in twenty years the evangelicals will be New Atheists and the New Atheists will be fascists” is one of those things I wouldn’t have believed circa 2005
December 6, 2025 at 11:35 PM
also, every now and again, unbidden I hear Whitman's "Beat! Beat! Drums!" but specifically in the version written for choir and orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams (I have a lot of Whitman in my head thanks to RVW)
December 6, 2025 at 11:16 PM
how does one argue matters of the faith with a person whose greatest authority and standard of interpretation is fundamentally disconnected from both reality and text and history? or how easily people get caught up in the newest "thought-fad" in evangelical groupthink?
December 6, 2025 at 11:04 PM
by "antitheology" I mean the rejection by popular and folk forms of Christianity of anything resembling an ordered system of knowing about God, tied to the testimony of Scripture and vetted by scholars embedded in that church's traditions, etc., and instead elevating random BS of people like this
December 6, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Ian is the Priest-King of the Sacred Grove at Nemi
December 6, 2025 at 5:31 PM
why am I just now learning that Jim Henson's memorial service was hosted by the Episcopalians??
December 6, 2025 at 5:25 PM
My primary Bible journey was something like this:

Paperback Youth-oriented NKJV
KeyWord NIV with Heb/Greek Dictionary
Interlinear Bible (with its own literalist translation)
ESV Study Bible
Cambridge NRSV

and what’s wild is that I think every single one of these was a gift 🤣
December 6, 2025 at 3:41 PM
YES, this is precisely true. And the worst part of the ESV Study Bible notes are they’re replete with *great* illustrations, and then the notes themselves are filled with of all kinds of exegetical and theological errors. ☠️
December 6, 2025 at 3:37 PM
I used to be a doubter of the NLT, but over time I do think it does what the NIV aspired to do, and for a new generation!, there’s a subtlety to the NLT’s decisions that I’ve grown to appreciate!
December 6, 2025 at 3:18 PM
and, to the observation @evanwelch.bsky.social made underneath, they can't seem to understand that their "content creation" does not have the same explanatory power as... ... well, real propaganda
December 6, 2025 at 6:01 AM