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Is there a reason why theologians write like that? They even do it when they're writing for ordinary people.
If you don't know what I mean, grab a theology book and see how often you read:
- dense nounification of verbs like "the becoming", "being", "othering", "being the Church", etc,
- adjectives that sound like the product of Greek classes like "salvific", "pneumatological",
- Older English terms in the middle of sentences like "the mire", "despond", "thou".
I'm used to academic waffle but theology, which talks about God who deliberately went out of the way to be understood and to talk in words everyone, even the uneducated could understand, should maybe set the example for clarity and concreteness.
I think it's more academia in general than theology specifically.
During my sadly abortive tenure as a Humanities grad student, I got pretty sick of reading "foo qua foo" and "rôle" in academic articles. Lots of silly "ain't I smart?" filler words like that.
At least "X qua X" has some philosophical and historical backing, even though it is just as easy to say "as" as "qua," and doesn't convey any less meaning.
I could never find the origin of the custom of using "rôle," and it's literally just the French word for "role."
Obnoxious. 
@CharismaticBatman @multilingualchurch I really wonder whether the point is not to obscure, so that one's own sloppy thought may not be detected.
Well, I'd call it puffery before I'd call it obfuscation, but in many cases, it wouldn't surprise me.
The thing is, the mind can adapt to such language to the point that it becomes natural.
*cough* Hegel *cough*
@CharismaticBatman @royal Have you read Habermas?
@multilingualchurch @royal
I have not. What are they like?
@CharismaticBatman @royal Apparently Jürgen Habermas wrote lots of deep and meaningful writings. I have tried to read some. It flew over my head higher than a Chinese "weather balloon".
Ah, I thought you might have been referring to Gary Habermas ^___^
Any idea where I could get started on Jürgen? I love a challenge ^__^
Edit: I keep forgetting that I have to backslash escape caret symbols in my favorite emoticon when using Markdown. :/
@CharismaticBatman @royal Try "Democracy and the Public Sphere" and "Truth and Justification".
Sounds like a good excuse for a day visit to my University Library that I've been longing to do for a couple years now.
I so miss Uni. 
@CharismaticBatman @royal I'm near our National Library. Once you learn the system, everything opens up.
You mean the library system? Like how the stacks are organized?
@CharismaticBatman @royal You don't get to see the stacks there. I was thinking more about how to put in a reservation, how to find related books and when book drops happen as it's reference only.
Oh man, I couldn't deal with a hidden-stacks library. It's just not the same. There's something so soothing about walking the stacks and laying hands on a random book.
Both of my parents were professors, and I grew up spending a lot of time on campus (and specifically at the huge Perry-Castañeda Library) at UT Austin.
Big libraries always feel like home to me. More so than home, haha. ^___^
@CharismaticBatman @royal In the case of the National Library of Scotland, it's because they are a legal deposit library so if it was published in Scotland, they have a copy. A big chunk of their books are one of a few left in the world. Borrowing is forbidden but, if they happen to not have a book, they have ways of getting a copy.
I do love stack browsing too though. Looking forward to my uni library letting alumni back in.
That's really neat.
I'd love to see an electronic library like you see at the Jedi Temple in the Star Wars movies and animated series.
A library that is hidden-stacks-only should have digital rights to all their books and have some kind of virtual stacks where you can peruse any section you like on huge display screens, tap on a book spine that looks interesting, and read through it right there.
I was actually thinking this through in the shower this morning, lol. I'd have several virtual aisles of display screen "shelves," let the patron select which logical aisle they want (say, all historical fiction, or all linguistics texts, or even all works of C.S. Lewis), then peruse the virtual aisle, tapping on book spines, and reading through them. If they want to actually stop and read a book, they could swipe the book into an NFC button as a cart (no login id! only a physical button), then take that button to a viewing station that has a touchscreen at a comfortable reading angle. They could then sit and read through their selection of books while at the library.
@CharismaticBatman @royal I like physical books. I love putting in my order and then getting them from the desk in the reading room.
Yes, there's no really good replacement for a physical book.
eBooks during the era of #Skeumorphism got close, but now they're more abstract than ever. Not the same feel, by a long shot.
@multilingualchurch @CharismaticBatman @royal Exactly. So Jesus told parables that are understandable to ordinary people, yet profound in the number of different layers they contain. Would Jesus feel at home in a modern day seminary?
@JoeCool @multilingualchurch @royal
I'm conflicted about that question. On the one hand, Jesus could slice and dice theology with the best of them. On the other hand, too much of theology is about putting God in a comfortable box, so that the soul doesn't have to live in the state of constantly gazing at unapproachable light, unspeakable beauty, and unfathomable power.
I'm not saying that my faith is on solid footing all of the time or anything like that, but for me, I'd much, much, much rather be Mary of Bethany sitting at his feet than Gamaliel and Nicodemus debating theology, although I like that too.
@CharismaticBatman @multilingualchurch @royal Yes, I'm with you there. Another question: who was closer to the Kingdom of God: Nicodemus or Mary of Bethany?
@JoeCool @CharismaticBatman @multilingualchurch Hm. Was Nicodemus debating theology, or was Nicodemus seeking understanding? The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but they're not the same either.
@royal @CharismaticBatman @multilingualchurch Why did Nicodemus go visit Jesus late that night? To understand. You cannot enter the Kingdom of God without understanding. I fear that may theologians have debated theology and mistaken this for 'understanding'.
@JoeCool @royal @multilingualchurch
Given that Nicodemus donated a large amount of expensive spices for Jesus' burial, I'd like to think that he was in faith, and that he really did want to understand Jesus in John 3.
@CharismaticBatman @royal @multilingualchurch A theologian who wasn't 'in faith' wouldn't have bothered to meet with Jesus in the middle of the night.
@JoeCool @multilingualchurch @royal
Hmm, it's hard to not allow #TheChosen to color my opinion of #Nicodemus, as Eric Avari's portrayal was so incredibly alive to me. The scene where he kissed Jesus' hand had me weeping openly, it was so powerful. I'm getting a little misty-eyed just thinking about it. "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry" ... "Blessed are those who put their trust in Him"
*phew* *exhale*
If we believe that version of Nicodemus as being canonical (which is admittedly quite a leap), then Nicodemus truly believed, but lacked the will to sell all and follow Jesus. We know from the #GospelOfJohn that he asked earnest questions of Jesus, and contributed expensive embalming spices to Jesus' followers, so it's not a stretch to say that he likely was a follower of Jesus, and died in faith.
BUT Mary did not have as much to surrender. If she had the devotion to surrender her time, I think she might have been "closer to the Kingdom of God" than Nicodemus, but I can't quite make that claim. The accounts in Mark and John don't quite agree on who's house Jesus was at, but since the woman with the spikenard wasn't named in Mark's gospel, it's reasonable to say that it was Mary, Martha's sister, like John says.
But first of all, we must define what being close to the kingdom of God really is. I'm not sure I have a good answer, except I can surmise that it entails having a value system and a lifestyle that is molded by and in hot pursuit of God's kingdom.
In that light, is the faith of a wizened teacher of the law who is engrossed by the person of Jesus but not yet mature enough (in faith, that is) to "sell all and follow" less "close to the Kingdom of God" than the child-like faith of a teenage girl who wants nothing more than to sit by the Master and hear His words (but has much less, at least socially, to give up for His kingdom)?
I'm not sure I have an answer to that. The comparison is made difficult by no only the relative paucity of details of the lives of both individuals (as is usual in biblical accounts, journalistic depth not generally being a goal), but also the great difference between the two individuals and their station.
I'd like to think that both had a vital role to play in His kingdom, and that both died in faith, ready to receive a Martyr's crown (understanding a Martyr to be a witness, and not necessarily someone who was murdered for their faith).
@CharismaticBatman @multilingualchurch @royal Interesting observations. Perhaps the answers are in Jesus' parables "The Kingdom of God is like..." BUT to say that Nicodemus had 'more to surrender' doesn't wash with me. With Jesus there are no excuses -- the rich young ruler and the early-in-the-day vineyard workers have no more excuses than the leper or the beggar. Should I measure the cost of following Jesus by the world's standards?
@CharismaticBatman @multilingualchurch @royal By the world's standards it doesn't seem fair, but that's the whole point isn't it? Are we to use 'the World's standards' in any of this discussion? I have to give up my life in order to save it! It isn't easy.
@CharismaticBatman @multilingualchurch @royal note the word 'closer' -- this question wasn't intended to bash Nicodemus but to point out that Mary probably had fewer impediments to understanding the Kingdom of God than Nicodemus.
@royal @CharismaticBatman That is rather negative. It seems to do with what we reward people for.
@multilingualchurch @CharismaticBatman Yes, a little too cynical. It probably does have to do with incentives. I'm favorable toward the view that "if you can't explain your topic in plain language, you don't really understand it." Yet plain language might be discouraged by journal publishers, etc. I'm just on the edges of this world, so the incentives may well be lie elsewhere.
@royal @CharismaticBatman I'm blessed to be in a fairly new discipline but even there we have just enough philosophy and sociology stuff to be dangerous. Perhaps it's asking too much to call for stylistic rebellion but certainly adopting clear language standards can help.
There's muddy stream between the river of philosophy and the bog of sophistry. Some people get stuck in it. 
@royal Plain language isn't always easy to get to. Think of the most nuanced topic that you are both knowledgeable and passionate about. Then imagine trying to explain it to someone who doesn't know and doesn't care. It's not easy 
Also, there's a fine like between art and artifice. Some, in striving to bring out th greatest artistic value in whatever they are writing, may transgress into artifice for it's own sake, losing sight of the goal of communication and persuasion.
It's easy to do.
@CharismaticBatman @royal For me, artistic writing is writing that is clear and meaningful.
@CharismaticBatman @royal Explaining what we're passionate about should make it easier to explain.
I dunno, I think about trying to explain FOSS, Unix, and privacy to someone like my sister, who doesn't care about any of those things. It's difficult to do.
On the other hand, explaining the Gospel feels super easy, like He's explaining Himself through you.
Except with family members, for some reason. I always get super tongue-tied.
@CharismaticBatman @royal I wrote an email to my MP today explaining why insisting on a backdoor in end-to-end encryption is a horrible idea. 
Fantastic. I hope they listen. I live in Texas, so I'm not going to bother writing to the lizard that represents me. :/
@CharismaticBatman @royal The hard thing to explain is that a backdoor for the government is a backdoor for bad people too.
Exactly. There's no way to control backdoors. Once it's open, it's open. It's a dumb idea technically, and ethically wrong.
@CharismaticBatman @royal There's using a hammer to crack a nut but that idea is chopping everyone's hands off to stop a few thieves.
There's no sugar coating the real motive behind these bills: control. Total surveillance and control.