NP: Mr. K

Tue May 22 12:38:01 CDT 2012

"For the benefit of Mr. Kite,
there will be a show tonight,

on tambourine...."

The Hendersons will all be there. 

________________________________
 From: Madeleine Maudlin <madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com>
To: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> 
Cc: Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net>; pynchon-l at waste.org 
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 12:52 PM
Subject: Re: Background for _Vineland_?

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/20120522/2b01c654/attachment.html>