Background for _Vineland_?

Madeleine Maudlin madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com
Tue May 22 11:52:14 CDT 2012 

Um, Mark.  But that was a long time ago, that email, I get fired up when it
comes to Christianity...

On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 11:50 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Who was Mr. K?
>
> On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 11:46 AM, Madeleine Maudlin
> <madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Woop, to be honest, not that it matters, I thought I was talking to Mr.K
> > there, not you, Mr.M.  I do not suppose that you are Christian.
> >
> >
> > On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 11:39 AM, Madeleine Maudlin
> > <madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> I disagree with everything you say about Aquinas.  Maybe the question
> is a
> >> little deeper than you're noticing.  Or you don't have a good answer, or
> >> even a valid answer.
> >>
> >> The stupid, undeep question, which neither you nor Orlando will answer,
> is
> >> why you believe it.  I understand fully why an uneducated and stupid
> child
> >> would believe it.  They're told to believe it.  But why you.  Who
> should by
> >> all sane accounts, know better.
> >>
> >> If neither you nor Michael are Protestants, or Christians, than forget
> >> about it.  Laugh at the pathetic Christians with me.  I only asked
> because I
> >> had decided that Bailey is a Protestant, and he said something about
> >> Protestants.  Great scholars, poor on the religion choices.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 11:24 AM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net>
> >> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> On 5/22/2012 10:17 AM, Madeleine Maudlin wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> I suppose you can't answer as to why Aquinas doesn't have his own
> >>>> Church.  Who knows.  But why be a Protestant?  What's it do.  What
> good
> >>>> is it.  Is it the Truth?  Path to eternal life in Heaven?  Do
> >>>> Protestants believe in heaven?  What is a Protestant?
> >>>>
> >>>> But more broadly, why be a Christian, is the question.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Because your parents were. Or more broadly because Western Civilization
> >>> was. It's a tradition thing.
> >>>
> >>> If you're Jewish, it doesn't mean you believe in the religious aspects
> or
> >>> practice them.  So why not the same for Christians?
> >>>
> >>> Aquinas didn't start his own church because he was quite happy with the
> >>> one that was already there . Switching from one Greek philosopher to
> another
> >>> doesn't really change Christian belief.  Philosophy is only a tool to
> try to
> >>> clarify things with.
> >>>
> >>> Any more of these deep questions need answerin'?
> >>>
> >>> P
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>> At first when I came across it on here I didn't believe it was a
> serious
> >>>> vibration, but now I believe that people on here are actual
> Christians.
> >>>>  This is shocking to me, because I've always been largely under the
> >>>> impression that well educated and intelligent people are /not/
> >>>> Christians.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Does it fit your personality?  Are you interested in the architecture?
> >>>>  Do you really think Jesus, the supposed Son of God, was nailed to a
> >>>> cross and died for your sins?  As that the clincher?  Does that notion
> >>>> turn you on?  Do you repent yours sins?  Or is that just for
> >>>> Catholics...?
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 9:38 PM, Michael Bailey
> >>>> <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com <mailto:michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>>
> >>>> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>    buncha good questions, here's another: that school that Mr Pynchon
> >>>>    sent his son to and donated signed books to, isn't that a
> Protestant
> >>>>    institution - I'm thinking Episcopal...
> >>>>
> >>>>    anyway, I was just opining - the Immaculate Heart College kind of a
> >>>>    PR3 situation, struck me - I also do a lot of posting and not
> enough
> >>>>    researching, but the nuns working out a new order of things and
> then
> >>>>    getting shown the door and that wonderful college, of which I
> think I
> >>>>    saw that Mary Tyler Moore was an alum, getting closed down, and
> >>>>    liberation theology falling victim to conservatism, and the contras
> >>>>    supported by the right-wing beneficiaries of Vatican conservatism,
> >>>>    gunning down that dude serving Mass, and that wonderful priest who
> >>>>    tried to unionize his brethren getting read the Riot Act by the
> >>>> wicked
> >>>>    Archbishop of Nottingham...
> >>>>
> >>>>    well it's the kind of stuff Protestants protest about, is how it
> >>>>    struck me
> >>>>
> >>>>    the jealous guarding of priestly prerogatives, the harsh
> disciplines
> >>>>    and rigid hierarchies and the chauvinism
> >>>>    (and just perhaps, untoward side effects of celibacy...)
> >>>>
> >>>>    -- like the Senator from Utah who really thought the ERA would
> spell
> >>>>    the end of the Republic, McIntyres was (the man who squats behind
> The
> >>>>    Man who works the Soft Machine) the kind of person it's really
> >>>>    tempting to think ill of, the sender of emissaries like Brock
> Vond...
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>    On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 10:25 AM, Madeleine Maudlin
> >>>>    <madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com <mailto:madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com>>
> >>>> wrote:
> >>>>     > I suppose I should have also inquired, is Pynchon a Protestant,
> >>>>    Aquinian?
> >>>>     >  Again, flying without clicking the links...
> >>>>     >
> >>>>     >
> >>>>     > On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 8:59 AM, Madeleine Maudlin
> >>>>     > <madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com <mailto:madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com
> >>
> >>>>
> >>>>    wrote:
> >>>>     >>
> >>>>     >> What's a Protestant do again?  Why be Protestant?
> >>>>     >>
> >>>>     >> I ask because I had reason to consider Christianity for a few
> >>>>    minutes
> >>>>     >> yesterday.  Now here's a passing question: you had neoPlatonism
> >>>> in
> >>>>     >> Christianity for what, the first half?  Then Aquinas brought in
> >>>>    Aristotle,
> >>>>     >> and made Christianity much, more sane, maybe, kind of like the
> >>>>    Protesters
> >>>>     >> did.  Why didn't Aquinas get his own branch of Christianity?
>  Or
> >>>>    did he?
> >>>>     >>  Are there Animist churches of Christ, is that the line they'd
> >>>>    be, are?
> >>>>     >>  Animist Catholics?
> >>>>     >>
> >>>>     >>
> >>>>     >> On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 2:26 AM, Michael Bailey
> >>>>     >> <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com
> >>>>    <mailto:michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>>>     >>>
> >>>>     >>>
> >>>>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisters_of_the_Immaculate_Heart_of_Mary
> >>>>     >>>
> >>>>     >>> Must say (as a Protestant, and you're free to say similar
> stuff
> >>>>    about
> >>>>     >>> John Calvin and most definitely Martin Luther if you're a
> >>>> Catholic)
> >>>>     >>> that McIntyre guy sounds like a real dick!
> >>>>     >>
> >>>>     >>
> >>>>     >
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>    --
> >>>>    "Strength you will acquire naturally, if you do plenty of work; and
> >>>>    dexterity you will acquire unconsciously with practice; but style
> you
> >>>>    can only acquire by constant attention, and then only if you have a
> >>>>    clear idea of what to aim at." - A. F. Jenkin
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>
> >
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20120522/9fd688d1/attachment.html>

More information about the Pynchon-l mailing list