Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

T.S. Eliot's Ash Wednesday - Analysis & Reflection by Ron Dart

Ash Wednesday by T. S. Eliot

 

I
Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn
Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope
I no longer strive to strive towards such things
(Why should the agèd eagle stretch its wings?)
Why should I mourn
The vanished power of the usual reign?

Because I do not hope to know
The infirm glory of the positive hour
Because I do not think
Because I know I shall not know
The one veritable transitory power
Because I cannot drink
There, where trees flower, and springs flow, for there is
nothing again

Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place
I rejoice that things are as they are and
I renounce the blessèd face
And renounce the voice
Because I cannot hope to turn again
Consequently I rejoice, having to construct something
Upon which to rejoice

And pray to God to have mercy upon us
And pray that I may forget
These matters that with myself I too much discuss
Too much explain
Because I do not hope to turn again
Let these words answer
For what is done, not to be done again
May the judgement not be too heavy upon us

Because these wings are no longer wings to fly
But merely vans to beat the air
The air which is now thoroughly small and dry
Smaller and dryer than the will
Teach us to care and not to care Teach us to sit still.

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death
Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

Review of Monika B. Hilder's "Letters to Annie: A Grandmother’s Dreams..." by Ron Dart

Monika B. Hilder, Letters to Annie: A Grandmother’s Dreams of Fairy Tale Princesses, Princes, & Happily Ever After (FriesenPress, 2022).

Review by Ron Dart

“And I must say, girl, I can’t think of a more exciting field of study than the one of theology, imagination, and the arts”—and so ends Monika Hilder’s beauty of a book, Letters to Annie, 33 letters written by Omi Barbara from the time Annie was born to her 25^th birthday, Omi being eighty-eight when the final missive was penned.

There is a wise and generous, gracious and kindly way that Monika weaves together the perennial wisdom of multiple fairy tales, the layered life lessons packed into such tales, and the careful knitting together of Biblical insights and fairy tales in this must-read of a book.

I was reminded, as I sat with each letter, in a different way of more than Erasmus’ 4000 adages (with commentary and annotations) and Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes by Louis Markos. Both Markos and Hilder draw deeply from the grace-filled wisdom of myth and fairy tales, and both are substantively grounded in the mother lode of the Inklings (mentors and friends), MacDonald, Lewis, Sayers, Tolkien, Chesterton, and L’Engle, given their needful nods and due. We are also, given their significance in the fairy tale genre, walking side by side with Grimm, Andersen, Wilde, and Perrault, and the timeless beauty of Shakespeare and Milton offering us their epic vision in tales told.

There is an underlying theme and thesis in Letters to Annie that needs to be pondered and unpacked in a needful way. We dwell in an ethos of much cynicism and deconstruction—such a path walked too far can and does lead to soul and life paralysis and impotence. Most cynics are not cynical of cynicism just as most deconstructionists lack the courage to deconstruct deconstructionism. The epic vision of life that myths, fairy tales, Shakespeare, Milton, the Inklings, and the Bible offer has been marginalized and is held with a great deal of suspicion in our ethos. When we turn from the large macro-vision of the human journey, we often shrink to micro-tales in the culture wars just as when the secular negates the sacred, the secular becomes the sacred—therefore the human soul, mind, and imagination, shrinks and goes round and round in the smallest circle turns, as Rilke rightly noted when such moves are made. Letters to Annie comes as a challenge to such an approach to thought, word, and deed, and does so as a thoughtful grandmother kindly and sensitively shepherds her ever-growing granddaughter throughout her first 25 years of life, a dream vision of enchantment via fairy tales: the sacred and magic key.

There is in fairy tales, as in myths, the notion that the journey is fraught with challenges and perils, “Agon” is the Greek word from which we get agony, protagonist, antagonist, or Milton’s Samson’s Agonistes. The future path of each protagonist and antagonist (princesses, princes, witches, ogres, dragons, etc.) in fairy tales and myths is about growing into the challenges (“agon”) of the journey and, for the most part, overcoming, and in the overcoming of the challenges becoming a fairer, finer, and more mature princess and prince, “happily ever after,” the oft contested ending when real life meets fairy tale. Monika, to her credit, visits, again and again, this “happily ever after” ending to many fairy tales, such approaches more comedic than tragic. There is much massaging of such an approach to the life-fairy tale tension as more nuance and refinement is pondered in Letters to Annie, no flinching from the hard questions of sadness, suffering, and the tragic on our all too human journey. Letters to Annie does cover many of the disappointments, betrayals, and confusions of the faith and life journey and the dangers such challenges pose to the aspiring (or not so aspiring) princesses and princes—many discerning insights can be gleaned, when read wisely and well, from fairy tales—Monika certainly asks of her readers much deeper and layered reads of such classic tales, tales sadly so domesticated and sanitized by the Disney industry.    

I worked with Amnesty International for about 15 years, and in those years I met many a noble princess and prince who for a variety of reasons faced into the unjust political context of their time and suffered terribly (some tortured to death, others years of solitary confinement, some freed from their cells but psychological damage for the rest of their years)—in short, decidedly no “happily ever after”. I’m married into a family of German Roman Catholics who opposed Hitler in the 1930s, many within the family were sent to death camps and exterminated, some slowly starving to death, others housed with those who had multiple illnesses and diseases—good people but goodness crucified with no resurrection in time or history.  Most of us have favourite novels—Doctor Zhivago is in my top ten. The finale to Zhivago is Zhivago’s tender poems, and a poem that is repeated is “Fairy Tale” about the perennial prince who is meant to slay the dragon and rescue the princess. “Fairy Tale” by Zhivago, though, has the dragon unseating the prince, the horse charging the dragon, both damaged beyond repair, prince and princess, future unclear and unsure, in an ambiguous place—certainly no “happily ever after”.  I have also watched many dear friends die slow, slower and sad deaths, years of physical suffering, drugged to prevent intense pain.

I agree with Monika that cynicism is a cul-de-sac, and it is essential when facing into the dire tragedies that war, poverty, political conflicts, and much else create that we seriously know how to tell fairy tales that discern how to live within the comedic-tragic tension, God the Shepherd and Father (to use but two classical Biblical metaphors) often silent, eclipsed or seemingly absent. And we can’t only explain the tragic by a flaw in the character of those who suffer as did Aristotle or many of Shakespeare’s tragic characters.

How do we, in short, infuse the tragic into the “exciting field” of theology, imagination, and the arts that includes the comedic and the tragic, that includes “happily ever after,” but prevents such a position from becoming a bromide that ignores the stubborn and obstinate nature of the tragic? Such is the future of fairy tales and myths.

Ron Dart               

Before Tolkien 1: Richard Wagner's THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG: Then and Now - Ron Dart

David M. Odorisio (ed.), "Merton and Hinduism: The Yoga of the Heart" review by Ron Dart

David M. Odorisio (ed.),  Merton and Hinduism: The Yoga of the Heart, Fons Vitae, 2021.

Thomas Merton, like the proverbial fox, rambled across much terrain and in such roaming saw and revealed much in a variety of challenging areas. Merton was not the only Roman Catholic in the 20^th century to see and articulate the need for deeper interfaith contemplative dialogue, but he was certainly one of the most evocative, accessible and articulate in doing so. Fons Vitae, to their courageous and hard-won credit, deserve many a kudo for bringing together in a splendid collection of tomes, Merton’s fox-like landscape traversed. But, Merton was also very much like the hedgehog, deeper burrowing and much wisdom gleaned from such burrowing. The latest and final text on Merton and his contemplative interfaith dialogue, Merton and Hinduism: The Yoga of the Heart, edited by David M. Odorisio, is a beauty and bounty not to miss. 

The portal of Merton and Hinduism is opened by David Odorisio’s lengthy and incisive “Introduction,” the path and direction of the book made plain and clear for the curious and interested reader. Part I “Hinduism and Christianity in Context: Historical and Comparative Perspectives” threads together six superb essays that reflect on Merton, Hinduism, Yoga and Hesychasm (3 of the essays are on Hesychasm). Part I provides a general overview of the larger topic of Christianity and Hinduism, Merton more in the shadows and offstage. Part II, “Merton and Hinduism: Dialogue and Deep Learning in the Cave of the Heart” has thirteen essays that drill and bore into Merton’s varied engagement with forms of Hinduism from an variety of varied angles, including his friendship with different scholars and practitioners of Hinduism. Part III, “Merton on Hinduism: The Yoga of the Heart”, for the most part, includes many articles by Merton on Hinduism (10 to be sure). Part IV, “Appendix: Reading Thomas Merton Reading Hinduism and Yoga: A Bibliography of Sources” is a fit and fine ending for those keen to delve deeper and further into Merton’s burrowing and probes. There are six black-white photographs in Merton and Hinduism that add to the, mostly, textual book.

David M. Odorisio has walked the extra mile not only to synthesize material that many know about by Merton on Hinduism but he has also unearthed much that has not been written by Merton on Hinduism and articles about Merton on Hinduism—this makes Merton and Hinduism a motherlode and gold mine of sorts that will set new standards for further studies on Merton on Hinduism, Indian religion and the East.  Many of the essays in Merton and Hinduism have been published before but the bringing together of such articles into a polished and needful tome makes this a must read text for Merton keeners. I was fortunate, when younger, to correspond with Bede Griffiths and I was somewhat disappointed there was not an article that dealt with Merton and Griffiths in a fuller and more comprehensive way and manner, Griffiths a more mature and deeper thinker, in thought, word and deed than Merton on Hinduism. An article on Merton, Griffiths and Hinduism could have revealed much about both Merton’s fox like approach and, at times, his lack of hedgehog depth. There is, also, a fine photograph of Coomaraswamy and Tagore in Merton and Hinduism (p. 201) and although Dekar’s article on Merton and Gandhi covers much needed terrain, Merton, in many ways, had more affinities with Tagore than Gandhi. In short, an essay on Merton and Tagore just as an article on Merton and Griffiths would have enriched and fleshed out this timely and, in some ways, timeless volume on Merton’s explorations into the Indian and Hindu soul.   

I suppose a small yet insignificant quibble I have about this expansive book is the lack of an Index, and Index making it possible to navigate more nimbly topics, themes and people that interest the curious reader. But, this is but a fret and misstep in an otherwise superb book. 

There is no doubt that Fons Vitae and David M. Odorisio have excelled, yet once again, in articulating Merton’s fox like traversing of the terrain of Hinduism. As mentioned above, Merton did do his hedgehog like burrowing, but when Merton is compared with those like Griffiths, his leanings are decidedly more fox like than hedgehog. And yet, Merton and Hinduism: The Yoga of the Heart brilliantly illuminates the compelling reality that Merton also had distinctive hedgehog tendencies, ever burrowing in many needful and necessary places---truly an “A+” gift of a tome. This will be a standard source book for future studies on Merton and Hinduism.

Ron Dart  

"The Adages of Erasmus" - Philosophy, Formation and Wisdom - Ron Dart

The Adages of Erasmus: Philosophy, Formation, and Wisdom 

I can hardly say what nectar, sweet as honey, I sip from your most delightful Adages, rich source of nectar as they are, what lovely flowers of every mind I gather thence like a honeybee, carrying them off to my hive and building them into a fabric of what I write. To their perusal, I have devoted two hours each day.

—Niccolo Sagundino

As an expression of the Renaissance love of antiquity and as a work of instruction and reference, the Adages is unsurpassed in its sweep… There is a close relationship between the Adages and Erasmus’ other widely known works, from The Praise of Folly to the Colloquies.

—William Barker       

As a synthesis of classical and Renaissance proverb lore the Adages has never really been superseded.

—William Barker

There is a way of doing philosophy that is about parsing various arguments, using inductive, deductive, and logical arguments to reach reasonable conclusions, or studying the different positions of philosophers across the centuries of time. Such an approach to thinking and being has played a prominent role in shaping how the discipline, understanding and significance of philosophy are practiced. But, there is another approach to philosophy that comes as a check, balance, and counter to these rather orthodox tendencies. This approach is more concerned about wisdom and insight, formation and ordering desires, and the use of parables, stories, myths, and varied folk tales to illuminate the journey. It was such an understanding of philosophy that held Erasmus and his ever-growing Adages.

The Adages drew deeply and thoroughly from the Greek and Latin wisdom traditions and the Christian internalization of such an aphoristic and parabolic approach to insight, short stories are portals into the larger cathedral of seeing the journey in a fuller and more discerning way and manner. The Adages went through many an edition and grew larger and more expansive as reflections as the compilation developed.

The initial publication of the Adages left the press in 1500, while Erasmus was still a young man in his early 30s. The turbulence of the emerging reformation was still in the future. The 818 proverbs listed in the 1500 edition were shorter, commentaries on them briefer. But, each of the 818 graphic tales told, each summarizing markings to note on the journey are keepers not to miss. The growing interest in such wisdom tales meant Erasmus was inspired to add to his collection. Erasmus took to Italy in 1508 and, when there, met one of the foremost printers of the time: Aldus Manuzio. Manuzio walked the extra mile to encourage and support Erasmus in his journey with proverbial aphorisms, the “hasten slowly” and symbol of the dolphin and anchor but a pointer to the layered tale of “The Labours of Hercules”.  The 1508 edition of the Adages was much expanded. The 3260 aphorisms now included a growing commentary on them. But, in Erasmus’ sagacious and applied way, he blended the aphorism as a timeless insight to a timely application to the dilemmas and challenges of the early 16th-century ethos. In short, the timeless wisdom and myths of the classical tradition could still speak in a timely way to the obvious problems of Erasmus’ historic and troubling context.    

One of the more perennial adages that held both the classical way of thinking (much concealed in the literal and external, much more revealed in the deeper internal probes) was the myth of “The Sileni of Alcibiades.” I supervised an MA thesis that was completed in 2005 called “The Silenus Metaphor: The Inner Spirit Theology of Erasmus. and the Colloquies”.  The external reality of Silenus tends to be offensive, bordering on the grotesque and lacking appeal, whereas the inner reality of Silenus is ripe with beauty, insight, and wisdom. Those who only see with the physical eye see not—those who have been trained to see with the inner, searching, and spiritual eye see much that the literal and empirical eye sees not. Such is, when understood aright, the purpose of the proverb, adage, and folk tale.

The third and more engaged social and political commentary of the Adages was published in 1515. Margaret Phillips has called this Erasmus’ “Utopian edition”—gone are the wisdom saying that merely float above time and history—the 1515 edition does have a tendency to apply such insights to the pressing social, political, religious, and economic issues of the time. The reformation was heating up in both the Roman Catholic and potential Protestant tribes and Erasmus was alert to such realities—his first revised edition of the New Testament was published in 1516—many were the revisions that questioned the Vulgate and offended the conservative Roman Catholic Sanhedrin.

The Adages continued to grow in size and scope as an eager audience delighted and were charmed by such compact and succinct summaries of insights and longer commentaries on them. Some of the adages grew in length, such as “War is sweet to those who have not tried it,” which became a bestselling booklet. Another work, “Twice cooked cabbage is death,” which refers to something said that is silly that can be initially tolerated but when mindlessly repeated, again and again, tests the patience to the tolerant extreme.

The fourth edition of the Adages was published in 1517-1518, the fifth edition in 1520, the sixth in 1523, the seventh in 1526, the eighth in 1528, the ninth in 1533, and the final edition months before Erasmus’ death in 1536. The final total of adages reached a staggering 4151 by the end of Erasmus’ formal publishing journey. After the death of Erasmus, additions were made to the rather large and imposing collection and many were the shorter and more abridged versions.  There can be no doubt, though, that Erasmus used the adage and proverbial approach to formation and wisdom to highlight how the classical world that he has inherited had much wisdom and insight, and by common grace, saw deeply and meaningfully into the substantive issues of our all too human journey.

The publication of The Adages of Erasmus in 2001 (more than 20 years now since its publication) by the University of Toronto Press is, in many ways, a tome more than worth the owning—like Sagundino, I would agree, the nectar is indeed sweet, lovely flowers visited, honey bees of insight carried to the hive of the mind--a daily lingering and inwardly digesting of them essential for a deeper formation of desires and longings to their true home, hearth, and end. Even though The Adages of Erasmus does not include all the 4151 adages, there is more than enough in this bounty of the book to be a hiking companion until our journey comes to an end.

Ron Dart                             

St. Stephen's University 2022 "Resonance" Address - Dr. RON DART

Dr. RON DART - St. Stephen's University (New Brunswick) "Resonance" Address
to Graduate Studies students (around the world) in the Theology & Culture Program

RON DART - Degree of Doctor of Ministry and Humanities, Honoris Causa. 
Hooding speech by Dr. Joseph McGinn, St. Stephen's University

Ron Dart is a professor at the University of the Fraser Valley, in Abbotsford, BC and a long-time friend of SSU. In the past, Ron visited our campus to deliver lectures and is currently active in recruiting students into our grad studies programs. He also regularly supervises or acts as second reader for our MA theses. 

Ron is an activist, an academic, and a prolific author. After working with political refugees through Amnesty International in the tumultuous 80s, he was recruited by Fraser Valley College (now UFV) for his experience and expertise in political philosophy and religious studies. He has served there since 1990, while also supervising PhD students (including Dr. Jersak).

Ron Dart has also given significant leadership as a volunteer advisor, chairperson, board member, contributor and/or editor in many other venues, including:

• Political Science advisor to the Stephen Leacock Home/Museum
• National Executive of the Thomas Merton Society of Canada
• Middle East Coordinator for Amnesty International
• Co-Editor of Clarion Journal 
• Founder of the Contemplative Order of the Sons of the Holy Cross
• Board member with the Alpine Club of Canada 

Ron has authored forty books that deal with the interface between literature, spirituality, and politics. We look forward to his next visit to St. Stephen’s University and it is my pleasure to confer on him the Degree of Doctor of Ministry and Humanities, Honoris Causa. 

A Jazz Evening with Merton, Hesse, Buber and Eliot - Ron Dart & Jazzthink

A Jazz Evening with Readings from Merton, Hesse, Buber and Eliot.

Readings by Ron Dart.

Hosted by Brian Fraser
Brentwood Presbyterian Church 
Jazzthink

A Jazz Evening with erton, Hesse, Buber and Eliot - Ron Dart & Jazzthink

A Jazz Evening with Readings from Merton, Hesse, Buber and Eliot.

Readings by Ron Dart.

Hosted by Brian Fraser
Brentwood Presbyterian Church 
Jazzthink

Erasmus and Logos: "Sermo" or "Verbum"? The Difference It Makes - Ron Dart

Ash Wednesday III: Theology & Tragedy - Ron Dart

III

At the first turning of the second stair
I turned and saw below
The same shape twisted on the banister
Under the vapour in the fetid air
Struggling with the devil of the stairs who wears
The deceitful face of hope and of despair.

At the second turning of the second stair
I left them twisting, turning below;
There were no more faces and the stair was dark,
Damp, jaggèd, like an old man's mouth drivelling, beyond repair,
Or the toothed gullet of an agèd shark.

At the first turning of the third stair
Was a slotted window bellied like the figs's fruit
And beyond the hawthorn blossom and a pasture scene
The broadbacked figure drest in blue and green
Enchanted the Maytime with an antique flute.
Blown hair is sweet, brown hair over the mouth blown,
Lilac and brown hair;
Distraction, music of the flute, stops and steps of the mind
over the third stair,
Fading, fading; strength beyond hope and despair

Climbing the third stair.
Lord, I am not worthy Lord, I am not worthy but speak the word only.

Ash Wednesday II: Dante, Beatrice & the Tightrope - Ron Dart

II
Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper-tree
In the cool of the day, having fed to sateity
On my legs my heart my liver and that which had been
contained
In the hollow round of my skull. And God said
Shall these bones live? shall these
Bones live? And that which had been contained
In the bones (which were already dry) said chirping:
Because of the goodness of this Lady
And because of her loveliness, and because
She honours the Virgin in meditation,
We shine with brightness. And I who am here dissembled
Proffer my deeds to oblivion, and my love
To the posterity of the desert and the fruit of the gourd.
It is this which recovers
My guts the strings of my eyes and the indigestible portions
Which the leopards reject. The Lady is withdrawn
In a white gown, to contemplation, in a white gown.
Let the whiteness of bones atone to forgetfulness.
There is no life in them. As I am forgotten
And would be forgotten, so I would forget
Thus devoted, concentrated in purpose. And God said
Prophesy to the wind, to the wind only for only
The wind will listen. And the bones sang chirping
With the burden of the grasshopper, saying

Lady of silences
Calm and distressed
Torn and most whole
Rose of memory
Rose of forgetfulness
Exhausted and life-giving
Worried reposeful
The single Rose
Is now the Garden
Where all loves end
Terminate torment
Of love unsatisfied
The greater torment
Of love satisfied
End of the endless
Journey to no end
Conclusion of all that
Is inconclusible
Speech without word and
Word of no speech
Grace to the Mother
For the Garden
Where all love ends.

Under a juniper-tree the bones sang, scattered and shining
We are glad to be scattered, we did little good to each
other,
Under a tree in the cool of day, with the blessing of sand,
Forgetting themselves and each other, united
In the quiet of the desert. This is the land which ye
Shall divide by lot. And neither division nor unity
Matters. This is the land. We have our inheritance.

Ash Wednesday (pt 1): T.S. Eliot - the Eagle Chained & Unchained - Ron Dart

Ash Wednesday by T. S. Eliot

 

I

Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn
Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope
I no longer strive to strive towards such things
(Why should the agèd eagle stretch its wings?)
Why should I mourn
The vanished power of the usual reign?

Because I do not hope to know
The infirm glory of the positive hour
Because I do not think
Because I know I shall not know
The one veritable transitory power
Because I cannot drink
There, where trees flower, and springs flow, for there is
nothing again

Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place
I rejoice that things are as they are and
I renounce the blessèd face
And renounce the voice
Because I cannot hope to turn again
Consequently I rejoice, having to construct something
Upon which to rejoice

And pray to God to have mercy upon us
And pray that I may forget
These matters that with myself I too much discuss
Too much explain
Because I do not hope to turn again
Let these words answer
For what is done, not to be done again
May the judgement not be too heavy upon us

Because these wings are no longer wings to fly
But merely vans to beat the air
The air which is now thoroughly small and dry
Smaller and dryer than the will
Teach us to care and not to care Teach us to sit still.

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death
Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

 

Jim Forest: Crooked Yet Straight - by Ron Dart

Ron Dart with Jim Forest

Jim Forest: Crooked Yet Straight

Jim Forest crossed the river, unexpectedly, January 13 2022—he was 80 years of age. Many were the seeming crooked paths taken and yet each was his paradoxical straight trail home. Jim and I met, initially, when I was on staff with Amnesty International in the 1980s and he was on staff with the International Fellowship of Reconciliation. Many a handwritten and typed letter crossed the ocean from Holland to Canada and back in those years and as emails became the standard way of communicating, they became our dependable bird of delivery.

Most who know Jim are acutely aware of his journey as a “red diaper baby” to the military, to Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker, friendship with Thomas Merton and Daniel Berrigan (he wrote biographies of each of them). Then Jim’s turn to Orthodoxy and founding of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship, the “Peace” vision ever held high. Such a straight yet crooked line pilgrimage is tracked, in a compact way, in his autobiography of sorts, Writing Straight with Crooked Lines: A Memoir (2020). Jim’s final book was on Thich Nhat Hanh, Eyes of Compassion: Learning from Thich Nhat Hanh (2021). There were also the many intricately illustrated children’s tales and book on the Beatitudes which are must-reads. There is so much that could be said about Jim’s living and written journey, his wife, Nancy, as he said in Writing Straight “one of my editors long before it ever crossed our minds that we might marry each other” (322)---such a lovely photo of  Jim and Nancy together on page 322.

I have been on the National Board of The Thomas Merton Society of Canada (TMSC) for more than 20 years and the TMSC invited Jim to Canada to speak on Merton a few times, Jim’s photographs of each visit more than worth the heeding and seeing. The fact that Jim lived in Holland many a decade, Erasmus was from Holland, Erasmus was, probably, the most significant “peace theologian” of the 16^th century and Erasmus an icon for mine, meant we had much in common on the Erasmus journey. Jim sent me many a photo of Erasmus from Holland, and we were invited to write a book together, by Orbis, on Erasmus. We never did do such a book but many were our affinities with the crown prince of “peace theology.”

It was just a matter of time before Jim and I were on the same path again with the American Beats. Merton had an interest in them, Jim did also and I published a book, Thomas Merton and the Beats of the North Cascades (2008) that Jim wrote a kindly “Foreward” to. It is, though, the many walks (when Jim was on the west coast of Canada, he bunked in with us), conversations, extensive correspondence, generous vulnerability, and life lived with its crooked yet straight line homeward that will forever massage my soul, mind, and imagination---rest well my dear friend, well done.

amor vincit omnia

Ron Dart             

Becoming Neighbors" - Kinship with Refugee Claimants - Anika Bauman with Ron Dart

CLICK HERE to order your copy of Anika Bauman's Becoming Neighbours: Five Values for a World of Welcome. 

CLICK HERE to visit kinbrace.ca.

Ron Dart - Homer, Xenophilia & Christian Formation

The Culture Wars: Plato, Shakespeare, Hesse, Eliot with Ron Dart

Antigone & the Vaccine Polarization - Ron Dart

Whose God? Deconstructing False Images (from Irenaeus to C.S. Lewis) - Ron Dart & Bradley Jersak

C.S. Lewis & the Last Battle: Whose Version of Aslan (God)? 
by Ron Dart

Of Heretics, Kings & Foxes
by Bradley Jersak

Louis Markos' "Myth Made Fact" - Review by Ron Dart

Louis Markos, Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes (Classical Academic Press, 2020).

There can be little doubt that the challenge, burden, and vocation of Louis Markos has been to make it abundantly clear that classical western mythology (and philosophy), like the Jewish heritage, is an apt and significant preparation for the coming of Christ and Christianity. There has been, sadly so, a tendency within some forms of Christianity, to demean and caricature Classical Greek and Roman thought and set it in opposition to Jewish thinking. Such a collision and clash between Athens and Jerusalem, the Academy and the Church, gratefully so, has not been the dominant approach to faith and learning within historic Christianity, but such an approach has done much to shape and define a tendency and leaning within substantive parts of protestant and evangelical Christianity. There has been a desperate and definite need to overcome such simplistic ways of understanding the Athens-Jerusalem tensions that post-apostolic and patristic Christianity engaged in, thought through, and lived forth. It was this more nuanced dialogue by classical Christians with their Classical heritage (always discerning the wheat and chaff, gold and dross) that, in most ways, created Western Civilization and the best of Christian Humanism.

It is to the credit, therefore, of Louis Markos that he has given himself, in an attentive manner, to ponder how the early church interacted with the Classical Tradition and the perennial relevance for those of us today who live, increasingly so, in a post-Christendom, post-Christian and post-structuralist context. The publication of From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics (2007) and From Plato to Christ: How Platonic Though Shaped Christian Thought (2021) are but two of a variety of books birthed by Markos that insightfully and intricately weave together the nuanced relationship of Classical philosophy and literature as a form of common grace and general revelation. It is, though, with the publication of Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes (2020) that we are taken on a deeper dive into the richness and fullness of, mostly, Greek myth and the relationship of Greek myth to both Jewish thought and the emerging Christianity of the Bible and classical Christian thought and culture.

Myth Made Fact is front-loaded with endorsements and accolades (Foreword and Preface) that legitimate the larger rehabilitation and renovation project of Markos. The “Introduction” by Markos, “More than Balder”, sets the larger aims and goals in an apt and appropriate context and setting. In short, Markos is not only interested in Greek and Roman myth (he is also interested in comparative mythology) as a form of scholarly archival and museum research. He is much more committed to recovering and representing many of the perennial truths in Greek and Roman mythology that are applicable today for soul formation and a renewal of the classical virtues.

Myth Made Fact brings to frontstage 50 classical myths that reach across the ridges of time, the 50 myths divided, wisely and discerningly so, into six parts: 1) Journeys and Origins, 2) Platonic Myths, 3) The Four Great Heroes, 4) The Tragic House of Thebes, 5) The Tragic House of Atreus and 6) Love Lost and Found. Each of the myths retold is combined with a section that deals with “Reflections” and “Applications”. Markos, in these “Reflections” and “Applications” threads together passages from the Bible and larger historic events that bring to life the myths and compare-contrast them with Biblical stories.

There is, therefore, an ongoing and discerning approach, a careful weighing of Biblical, Classical myths and classical Christian reflections on the relationship between Classical myths, the Bible, and Classical Christianity—such a method evokes much in the longing heart, mind, soul, and imagination.

There has been a tendency within some forms of Christianity to be focused on the Bible and ignore how Christianity, post-Gospels, Paul and catholic epistles interpreted and applied their faith in a classical civilization (many of the early Christians who were not Jews from the 2^nd to the 7^th centuries were trained in classical literature). The dilemma of such an approach to Christianity (memoricide as a serious problem) means many modern forms of Christianity lack a minimal understanding of why most early Christians found classical myths, philosophy, literature, and theology attractive and valuable as a stepping stone to their commitment to Christianity. Myth Made Fact walks the extra mile to explain and articulate why immersion in classical myth, literature, and philosophy can enrich and deepen our understanding of Christianity. This has been the historic approach of Christianity and the recovery of such an approach is taken wisely and well in Myth Made Fact. This is also, as Markos rightly notes, why the modern mythmaking of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, and Star Wars (each and all drawing from classical myths) have such an abiding appeal.  

Myth Made Fact is brought to a fit and fine end with the “Epilogue: Beyond Greece and Rome” and “Appendix A-B-C” that are portals of sorts that point the way to yet further trails to take on the Classical myth-Christian journey pathway. In short, the waymarks are ample, the challenge being one of going on the journey. I might also add that in this hefty tome there are some fine paintings that illuminate and richly illustrate the myths in a visual manner.

There has been, in the last few decades, a decided movement to explore the often forgotten classical heritage of Christianity in our age that tends to be rootless, fragmented and divided (both in the church and world). It is this recovery and renovation project that is part of a larger attempt to halt the deterioration of faith and culture in a context that has no anchor or moorings. Louis Markos is, rightly so, playing a significant role in this larger project and his work in classical myth and literature (often ignored in such a rehabilitation process) should be welcomed and applauded, Myth Made Fact but one pillar in the cathedral of this rebuilding effort.

Ron Dart            

Paul Zizka's "Aloft: Canadian Rockies Aerial Photographs" - review by Ron Dart

Ron Dart

Paul Zizka, Aloft: Canadian Rockies Aerial Photographs (RMB, 2021).

There are photographic books on the Canadian Rockies worthy of a few scans and there are superb books on the Canadian Rockies—such is Aloft. The title and subtitle offer the curious the visual nature of this bounty of a book. The photographs are, indeed, taken from above the Rockies and the photographer is very much aloft, the “Introduction” by Zizka worthy of a reflective read (as are his visual gifts).

The photographs taken reflect all the seasons in the Canadian Rockies and track the varied faces and forms of the Rockies in a sort of ordered journey, Rundle Range and Three Sisters near Canmore taking the lead and initial bow, Mount Assiniboine area stepping on stage to strut its sheer beauty. Then, it’s to Banff, Lake Minnewanka, Sulphur Mountain, Mount Louis and Mount Norquay ski hill bounties not to miss.  The photographic journey turns northward to Castle Mountain, Sunshine Meadows (summer and winter on display), Bourgeau Lake, Shadow Lake, Storm Mountain and Shadow Lake Lodge next on the Rocky Mountain and Taylor Lake aloft tour. It was inevitable, of course, on the photographic overview of the Rockies that Lake Louise and Moraine Lake would be next to visit, their expansive and epic-like grandeur worthy of multiple meditative moments. Those who have lingered and trekked in the area are amply rewarded by photographs of Eiffel Lake, Sentinel Pass, Lake Agnes (tea hut ever-present), Temple, Victoria-Lefroy and Louise Ski Hill, of course. Lake Louise freezes in the winter and the shoveled Lake near Chateau is cleared and turned into rinks to skate on (many pleasant memories of skating on Louise in winter). Zizka has eloquently captured the golden beauty of the alpine larches in the early autumn, Abbot Hut above the higher tea hut suitable for many a night stay (such tales to be told from Abbot Hut). The photographic pilgrimage continues to the ever-charming Lake O’Hara region with its rich and layered history, Yoho, many trails done there and Takakkaw Falls a place not to miss (many a night spent sleeping at the base of it). The turn is then made, ever aloft, to Kootenay National Park, the Icefields Parkway the journey ever northward from an aerial perspective, Bow Lake highlighted (treks taken from there worth the doing as is kayaking on the lake), Peyto Lake frontstaged (the starting point for the Wapta Traverse).

The aerial overview maintains a northwards flight, Saskatchewan and Athabasca Glaciers illuminated, crevasses noted and Mount Athabasca (climb worth the effort) duly noted, tourist trips part of the photographic package. Jasper National Park, rightly so, comes into attractive and compelling hue, Fortress Lake, Hooker Icefield and Chisel Peak but tasters and teasers. But, to Jasper and Edith Cavell, Fairmont, Chevron and Ramparts, Tonquin Valley and Amethyst Lakes photographs not to miss (nor, in the Rockies, treks not to miss). Humber Provincial Park is given its prominent places as is Mount Alberta and the ever attractive Maligne Lake, Mt. Robson and Berg Lake next on the agenda as Jasper is left behind.

There is much more that could be said about this photographic and aerial overview of the Canadian Rockies, but for those who have done many of the trips in the area, skated, skied, trekked, hiked and climbed many of the peaks, Aloft is a memory massager and reminder of the vast, compelling, immense and perennial appeal of the Canadian Rockies. Aloft is certainly worth the purchase and the photographs, descriptions and vividness of the tour a journey not to miss.

montani semper liberi

Ron Dart                       

Good News! Ron Dart's "The Beatitudes: When Mountain Meets Valley" is back in print

The contemplative tradition within the West tends to define the spiritual journey in three phases: purgative, illuminative, and unitive. This classification tends to ignore the fact that the contemplative journey has substantial political, social, and economic implications as well. Many modern mystics have recognized this failure in understanding and defining the contemplative pilgrimage. That is why a fourth stage has been added: transformative. It seems to me that the Beatitudes embody all four phases: purgative, illuminative, unitive, and transformative. This makes perfect sense, of course, Jesus understood the waymarks of the mature and integrated faith journey, and the Beatitudes best embody such a path between peak and valley.

This missive is a brief reflection and commentary on the rip-rap steps that make up the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes can tell us much about the deeper meaning of the time-tried path to the eternal peak. They can also ensure that we do not lose our footing as we traverse the slopes where mountain and valley meet.