I am curious. I was recently writing on the flyleaf to my novel a dedication to mathematician Stuart Kurtz of the U. of Chicago.
My original thought was to write,
"To Stuart Kurtz,
A decent man,
A decent Christian,
And a decent mathematician."
The first two sounded ok, but the third sounded like an insult!
How did the term "decent" suddenly become an insult?
Why is it ok to be a "decent man" but it sounds so mediocre to be merely a "decent mathematician"!?
If someone were to say about me that I'm a "decent man" I would be happy. But if they were to say I'm a "decent writer," even that wouldn't be so bad. A "decent poet" however sounds like a slap in the face.
Maybe you are either extraordinary in some fields, or else you suck.
I ended up writing something along the lines of,
"A good mathematician,
A good Christian,
And a good man."
I thought that sounded ok, without going over the top. "Good" and "decent" appear to be synonyms, but they have a part of their meaning that doesn't overlap. What part is that exactly?
*
The December 2009 Lutheran Forum Letter has appeared and it has a mini-article about the flu panic, and "drinking from the common cup" as well as being handed the communion wafer by a hand that no one knows quite where it's been! (Honestly, that's something I've never thought about, but many people apparently do.) For them, there is a new product out from PURITY SOLUTIONS that looks like a Pez dispenser. It has a cross on the front, and it comes in three colors (your choice of silver, gold and white). It shoots the hosts into mouths such that no one needs to touch them (you can load in packages of hosts that look like the packaging for Ritz Crackers without touching them). It seems PURITY SOLUTIONS out of St. Paul, MN has the answer for disease-conscious Lutherans. Congregational attendance is upped through lower illness rates, and there's also the novelty factor. Hallelujah!
15 comments:
Mostly because Paul tells us that we have all fallen -- not that we are all bad poets.
if god so deigned to take on human flesh why then must we ever be afraid of anything connected to the human flesh
catholics are back slurping out of the same cup and chewing down big chunks of the body of christ
for all to see
tears and saints
by
e m cioran
a good and decent book
one that surprises
catholics have always embraced the stench of humanity as the workshop for our divinization
catherine of sieana lived for the better part of a year on the eucharist bread and wine alone
Kirby—
Many thanks in advance for your kind ascription. I value it greatly.
I have noticed that a few words, which seem on first glance to be words of approbation, in fact seem to be damning with faint praise. You noted "decent," which seems (at least in the narrow context of professional competence) to mean little more than merely competent. Likewise, "solid" in letters of recommendation is often interpreted as meaning "pedestrian," or "uninspired."
My theory is that there is an arms-race in letters of recommendation, in which ever more florid praise is deemed necessary to differentiate my students from your students. So, inevitably, today's high praise becomes tomorrow's standard for unremarkable competence.
If I were to hazard a moral, it might be that language evolves under use and abuse.
JH -- Cioran's book is quite good. It's his least Nietzschean book, too. But he also argues that sainthood is all about the will to power. Check it out. It's in the early pages somewhere.
Stu and GM -- I do think GM is on to something. When we think about ourselves as Christians, the notion of humility has to come into play.
You can say, "he was a humble man" and have it mean something positive. But if you were to say, "he was a humble poet," it would be quite negative. "Humble mathematician," would mean even worse, I think.
But try it the other way. If I had said in Stu's book,
"A brilliant mathematician,
And a brilliant Christian,"
the second brilliant would be almost nonsensical.
It's not that you can't be a better Christian than someone else, but it isn't about being brilliant.
I think GM is right that it's because Paul tells us we are fallen. To accept our derogatory status as Christians is part of the deal.
And yet we will still have the notion of a career in which to excel, although Christianity tell us again it's only in order to work for others.
There can also be that Greek sense of agonistic striving within one's career.
But if you put that agonistic striving to work in the church to differentiate yourself from others as a better Christian, people will find it to be grossly inappropriate.
The idea is to humble yourself in one sphere, and to make the most of your talents in another.
Talent is a Christian idea, too. The parable of the talents seems to allow us to make the most of ourselves. At the same time, one has to remember that the talent is something GOD gave us, and so we need to use it to better the community.
I don't know how far the communion wafer thing will shoot. If you could get it to shoot accurately at say a hundred yards technically the pastor or the deacon could fire the wafers from the altar straight into the congregations' mouths as they were singing Onward Christian Soldiers, saving time spent coming forward and kneeling.
But of course that too would be gross. The idea of the church isn't to save time, or to be efficient. It's in another timeless sphere.
And yet time is of the essence, and I do always expect the service to start at 10:30 and end at 11:45, and plan around this.
Two Kingdoms is there in our thinking a lot.
In the kingdom of the right -- law mediates the agonistic striving such that no one can sell products for instance that may harm others.
In the kingdom of the left -- we have another kind of striving -- a striving to humble ourselves before the Lord.
I'm not sure if these Pez dispensers don't really confuse the Two Kingdoms in some way.
But I do think if they shoot very far pastors who can manage to get a wafer into the ululating chords of a congregant's mouth in the back row would be accorded points, if not in heaven, then at least in my record book.
Now I am afraid I got left and right kingdoms confused. I'll have to look it up. I'm left handed, so constantly reverse my directions.
People say, "Turn right!" And I have to really think that through.
My teacher in first grade said your right ahnd is the one you write with. That was a permanent messup for me, since I wrote with my left hand.
It continues to alter my sense of directionality.
lutherans jumping like seals in a zoo going after fish
it's been awhile but i do remember cioran expresssing something as close to admiration and faith (as close as he ever got) because of the antics of the saints
alluding to the fact that by modern standards they would be locked up or heavily medicated
in the tradition of lutheran understatement
should you not simp-ly state the
dedication as
"a pretty good mathemetician"
"a fairly decent guy"
"a good and average christian"
you want to avoid superlatives at all costs
"love for mankind renders saints uninteresting. their virtue has no biographical interest. when we talk of love, only god can make us ward off banality" - cioran
"to win the guilty kiss of a saint, i'd welcome the plague as a blessing" (ibid)
i can't imagine the embarrasment that stu must be going through having his name plastered up all over you blog --- it must be TORTURE --- if he has no recourse to god working his wonder in the context of this world stu will be left to wallow in his inarticulate shame -- not even a fancy math equation is going to get him out --- what a cruel fate
to be regaled to death by a lutheran
jh
And, Kirby, the postmoderns/progressives get the message of Jesus wrong (again) when they say that everyone is equal in such areas as mathematics and poetry.
Progressivism is little more than the incorrect application of the teachings of Jesus in the realm of interpersonal relations. We're all equal so ergo "everbody's special" and "free love."
The term "true" can enhance both man, mathematician, and Christian.
Are there are any other terms that can enhance all three without making one of them seem ridiculous?
Sterling, for instance, can be used as a superlative for man and mathematician, but not for Christian, as it has echoes of Judas and the thirty talents.
Golden has similar problems in that it recalls money a bit too much to enhance Christian.
We can say that someone is
Rotten
and it could serve equally to denounce all three --
rotten mathematician would mean something different from a rotten Christian.
It would have to do with being unable to add and subtract as opposed to being morally ratty.
Maybe it is easier to find words of denunciation than it is to find words of praise?
Stu brought up solid.
A solid mathematician is ok.
A solid Christian is not.
A soluble mathematician?
A soluble Christian?
A soluble man?
"True," per the actual inscription, with mathematician replaced by scholar, works very nicely!
how about stolid true and adeqaute
in everything he is...stu
and i do mean stolid
in an admirable lutheran way
you'd think by now someone some catholic would have invented the drive up church press a button get the readings a song some sermon words a little cupowine and a wafer a blessing and off you go
video is extra
everything is getting so damn mechanical or am i imagining things
jh
Adequate is a fun word to contemplate, JH. You are an adequate monk. I am adequate at feeding myself.
Inadequate would mean a C-.
Adequate means a C.
It's a world of difference.
A C will transfer to another college. C- will not.
Categories are really marvelous, as mechanical as they are, they function.
Quite adequate means perhaps a B-.
Or at least a C+.
It used to be a C+ would command RESPECT in places like Harvard.
Now it's a failing grade to some degree, what with grade inflation.
The Supremes used to sing the song about RESPECT.
What if they were called The Adequates.
What if the Supreme Court was called The Adequate Court.
I should check the etymology of adequate.
not the supremes dude
aretha franklin
no relation to ben
!!
Oh music.
Whenever it came to that area on the popular show Do you wanna be a millionaire, I always thought I'd have to call a lifeline.
Did Aretha Franklin have a band?
All classical music sounds more or less the same to me. All blues-based music sounds more or less the same to me.
Basically, I resent music esp. in public places because it gives people an excuse to not have to listen to me.
Just a little bit of music, and all respect for conversation goes right out the window.
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