About a decade after the Antigone Sophocles took up the story of Antigone’s doomed father Oedipus. The basic story would have been familiar to his readers and to anyone who had gone to see Antigone, but Sophocles also takes a broad perspective on the entire House of Cadmus the Phoenician, their sins and their sufferings.
Up late this morning (7:30) after being up late last night, I was washing the rest of the dinner dishes—the kitchen looked as if we had fed an army—and making coffee, when I made the mistake of turning on NPR. The local station was playing one of their guest-commentators, a self-declared writer who was droning on about the tedium of going to dinner at a friend’s house, where the whole point was to show off their house and their hospitality and force the guests to make charming chitchat. What selfish b-stards, these people are, who invite friends into their homes! I...
The fortunate reign of Andronikos I was followed by succession problems that would become more serious in later days, but the long reign of Manuel I was prosperous, as Trebizond became a key player in Black Sea shipping. His brother George, who succeeded him, fell victim to the plotting of foolish nobles who did not appear to appreciate what a dangerous world they lived in. His younger also brother faced civil war. During this period, the Byzantine Empire was restored by the Palaiologos clan, who would have had little regard for potential rivals in Trebizond. Family quarrels and noble conspiracies...
The crisis created by Islamic migrants is one more proof of the failure of conservative movements. For several decades, I have watched the antics of various anti-immigration groups in the US, all of them reading from the same liberal prayerbook: Illegal immigration must be curtailed, because it costs money. How are they going to say no to all these middle class Muslims? The left, while condemning FAIR and co. as bigots, was happy to join battle on purely material grounds. For every “conservative” study detailing the cost of educating, feeding, nurturing, and jailing illegal immigrants, leftist groups would church out studies purporting...
“Why do they call it “Labor Day,” when it is a day when no one is supposed to work?” That question is probably asked several million times every year about this time. The simple answer is that this is just one more boondoggle put over on a gullible public by two sets of conmen—Big Labor and the Congress of USA—back in the early 1880’s. In theory, the day is set aside to honor the achievements of laboring men and their corrupt unions. Since labor unions, almost from the beginning, have been interested only in salaries and benefits and not in...
Pope Francis has been instructing Europeans to open their homes to Syrian migrants. Obviously, many Europeans, Christian and secularist alike, might feel some reluctance about welcoming people from a country where the rule of law does not seem to exist and where it is not unusual to engage in civil war and violence against those who do not share every jot and tittle of your brand of Islam. For secularists, unless they are strict adherents to the Marxist-globalist ideology that even Bernie Sanders dissents from, practical considerations should be enough. Christians, however, get uneasy. Our religion, after all, teaches us...
Kim Davis–Saint or Sinner? At first glance, the case of Kim Davis is clear-cut: A conscientious Christian who obeys the teaching of Scripture and refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. One more piece of anti-Christianity in the courts, and Kim Davis is being thrown to the lions, or, at least, in jail. On second thought, perhaps Ms Davis’s critics are right when they point out a major irony in her case. While she says repeatedly things like “I feel the institution of marriage was ordained by God in the Bible,” her own practice has been decidedly post-Christian. She is currently working...
Exiled Children of Eve, B Beatitudes, Not Platitudes It is commonly believed that, as Judas went away from the disagreement over the wasted oil, he was disgruntled over Jesus’ failure to lead a social revolution. It is certainly true that Jesus’ answer remains a powerful rebuke to those who would confound the gospel with one or another form of state-imposed socialism. The poor, whom we always have with us, will be taken care of properly only when we freely behave as Christians and not when Caesar, at the point of a sword, requires us to render doubly unto him so...
I have probably overloaded the discussion with far too much detail. My intention was partly to introduce readers to Sophocles’ career and mind-set and also to clear up some of the technical mysteries involved in reading a Greek tragedy.
We all know that USA is the dumbest country in the history of the world—just turn on the television news for five minutes, if you have any doubts. But why, in the race to show off ignorance and stupidity, do Tennesseans have to try so hard to be in the forefront? Please do not misunderstand me. I have many friends in Tennessee, and I have enjoyed my many trips through the state. I like Tennessee whiskey and Tennessee music. I admire the writings of Andrew Lytle, Romulus Linney, Madison Smart Bell, and many other Tennesseans. I like nearly everything except...
