Kevin Stilley

  • Home
  • Blog Posts
  • On the Air
  • Quotes
  • Site Archive

Archives for February 2012

February 25, 2012 by kevinstilley

Studying the Bible — R.C. Sproul Explains Why & How

Why Study The Bible – R.C. Sproul

R.C. Sproul answers the question, “Why Study the Bible”. Many own a Bible – it is a perennial bestseller — but few are those who actually study it.

Private Interpretation – R.C. Sproul

The Science of Interpretation — R.C. Sproul

Literal Interpretation — R.C. Sproul

Literary Forms (part 1) — R.C. Sproul

Literary Forms (part 2) — R.C. Sproul

Reading the Bible Existentially — R.C. Sproul

The Historical Narrative — R.C. Sproul

The Explicit & The Implicit — R.C. Sproul

Parallelisms – R.C. Sproul

Scripture & Culture — R.C. Sproul

Principle vs. Custom — R.C. Sproul

Related Books:

Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover

Filed Under: Bibliology, Blog, Spiritual Growth, Video Tagged With: Bible, Bible Interpretation, Bibliology, hermeneutics, R.C. Sproul, Scripture

February 23, 2012 by kevinstilley

Poverty

It is not easy for men to rise whose qualities are thwarted by poverty.
~ Juvenal

The lack of money is the root of all evil.
~ Mark Twain

One thing I’ve noticed is that the houses you built for your cars are far bigger and much nicer than the houses we have for our families.
~ Christian from a third world nation

Filed Under: Blog, History, Quotes Tagged With: poor, poverty, wealth

February 22, 2012 by kevinstilley

Dave Ramsey – select quotes

If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.

Filed Under: Blog, Family, Theology Tagged With: budget, Dave Ramsey, economy, Finances, Financial, Money

February 22, 2012 by kevinstilley

Friendship – select quotes

.

.

The making of friends who are real friends is the best token we have of a man’s success in life.
~ Edward Hale

He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.
~ Ali ibn Abi Talib, A Hundred Sayings

One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible. Friendship needs a certain parallelism of life, a community of thought, a rivalry of aim.
~ Henry Adams

Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.
~ Aristotle

A true friend is one soul divided into two people.
~ Aristotle

I get by with a little help from my friends.
~ The Beatles

A friend is the only person you will let into the house when you are Turning Out Drawers.
~ Pam Brown

Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it’s all over.
~ Octavia Butler

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years of trying to get other people interested in you.
~ Dale Carnegie

Sometimes our hearts get tangled
And our souls a little off-kilter
Friends and family can set us right
And help guide us back to the light.
~Sera Christann

Woman –a foe of friendship, an inescapable punishment, a necessary evil.
~ Saint John Chrysostom

You might as well take the sun out of the sky as friendship from life: for the immortal gods have given us nothing better or more delightful.
~ Cicero, in On Friendship

Fire and water are not of more universal use than friendship.
~ Cicero, in On Friendship

In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends.
~ J. Churton Collins

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.
~ Dinah Craik

I felt it shelter to speak to you.
~ Emily Dickinson

It’s the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.
~ Marlene Dietrich

No one knows with any certainty whether any act of friendship or love is real or simply a calculated ploy to get something from someone else.
~ David Dorsey, in The Force

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.
~ Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal that I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness, with which one chemical atom meets another. Sincerity is the luxury allowed, like diadems and authority, only to the highest rank, that being permitted to speak truth, as having none above it to court or conform unto.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, in Friendship

The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.
~ Elisabeth Foley

It is a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his.
~ Benjamin Franklin

True friendship comes when the silence between two people is comfortable.
~ D.T. Gentry

Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.
~ Kahlil Gibran, in The Prophet

True friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable.
~ Dave Tyson Gentry

A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.
~ Arnold Glasow

The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers, and cities; but to know someone here and there who thinks and feels with us, and though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.
~ Goethe

A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.
~ Grace Pulpit

Bubba was my best good friend.
~ Forrest Gump

Never explain – your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.
~ Elbert Hubbard

Your friend is that man who knows all about you, and still likes you.
~ Elbert Hubbard

Character is so largely affected by associations that we cannot afford to be indifferent as to who and what our friends are. They write their names in our albums, but they do more, they help make us what we are. Be therefore careful in selecting them; and when wisely selected, never sacrifice them.
~ M. Hulburd

One of the principal functions of a friend is to suffer (in a milder and more symbolic form) the punishments that we should like, but are unable, to inflict upon our enemies.
~ Aldous Huxley, in Brave New World

My father always used to say that, when you die, if you’ve got five real friends, then you’ve had a great life.
~ Lee Iacocca

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
~ John 15:13

Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That’s why it’s a comfort to go hand in hand.
~ Emily Kimbrough

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.
~ C.S. Lewis

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
~ Abraham Lincoln

The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships.
~ Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to Joseph Gillespie, 13 July 1849

If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give.
~ George MacDonald

I always felt that the great high privilege, relief and comfort of friendship was that one had to explain nothing.
~ Katherine Mansfield

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.
~ Katherine Mansfield

I’ll lean on you and you lean on me and we’ll be okay.
~ Dave Matthews Band

Friendship is a cadence of divine melody melting through the heart.
~ Charles Mildway

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh!” he whispered. “Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”
~ A.A. Milne

We need very strong ears to hear ourselves judged frankly, and because there are few who can endure frank criticism without being stung by it, those who venture to criticize us perform a remarkable act of friendship, for to undertake to wound or offend a man for his own good is to have a healthy love for him.”
~ Michel Eyquen de Montaigne, in Essays, Bk. 3, Ch. 13

She is a friend of mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It’s good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.
~ Toni Morrison, Beloved

Hold a true friend with both of your hands.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.
~ Anaïs Nin, diary entry, March 1937

We have been friends together
In sunshine and in shade.
~ Caroline Sheridan Norton

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing, and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.
~ Henri Nouwen, in Out of Solitude

And when somebody knows you well, well there’s no comfort like that. And when somebody needs you, well there’s no drug like that.
~ Heather Nova

Constant use will not wear ragged the fabric of friendship.
~ Dorothy Parker

You can always tell a real friend; when you’ve made a fool of yourself he doesn’t feel you’ve done a permanent job.
~ Laurence J. Peter

Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend.
~ Plautus

Friends can be said to “fall in like” with as profound a thud as romantic partners fall in love.
~ Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
~ Marcel Proust

A friend loves at all times, and kinsfolk are born to share adversity.
~ Proverbs 17:17

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
~ Proverbs 18:24

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
~ Proverbs 27:6

To attract good fortune spend a new penny on an old friend, share an old pleasure with a new friend and lift up the heart of a true friend by writing his name on the wings of a dragon.
~ Chinese proverb

Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends.
~ Czech proverb

The road to a friend’s house is never long.
~ Danish proverb

When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.
~ Japanese Proverb

Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty.
~ Sicilian Proverb

Life without a friend is death without a witness.
~ Spanish Proverb

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.
~ Swedish Proverb

A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.
~ Donna Roberts

Friends never betray you, only people you thought were your friends.
~ T.Mike Runger

A friendship that can be ended didn’t ever start.
~ Mellin de Saint-Gelais, Oeuvres poétiques

O wise man, wash your hands of that friend who associates with your enemies.
~ Saadi

To like and dislike the same things, that is indeed true friendship.
~ Sallust

One’s friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human.
~ George Santayana

In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
~ Albert Schweitzer

A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter;
he who finds one finds a treasure.
A faithful friend is beyond price,
no sum can balance his worth.
~ Sirach 6:14-15

In giving advice seek to help, not to please, your friend.
~ Solon

A friend is a present you give yourself.
~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
~ Sun Tzu

The language of friendship is not words but meanings.
~ Henry David Thoreau

The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.
~ Henry David Thoreau

True wealth can not be found in your bank account. It can only be found in those you call friend. Those with whom you share your deepest feelings. And those who accept you for who you really are.
~ Mary Vandergrift

Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends.
~ Virginia Woolf

Are we not like two volumes of one book?
~ Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities.
~ William Arthur Ward

Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.
~ Flavia Weedn

A friend can tell you things you don’t want to tell yourself.
~ Frances Ward Weller

There is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one’s self, the very meaning of one’s soul.
~ Edith Wharton

A true friend stabs you in the front.
~ Oscar Wilde

Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.
~ Oscar Wilde

Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.
~ Oprah Winfrey

If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.
~ Winnie the Pooh

A good friend is a connection to life – a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.
~ Lois Wyse

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
~ The Bible, 1 Corinthians 15:33

A real friend is someone who would feel loss if you jumped on a train, or in front of one.
~ Author Unknown

A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked.
~ Author Unknown

Friends are family you choose for yourself.
~ Author Unknown

Friends are kisses blown to us by angels.
~ Author Unknown

Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait for the answer.
~ Author Unknown

If you’re alone, I’ll be your shadow. If you want to cry, I’ll be your shoulder. If you want a hug, I’ll be your pillow. If you need to be happy, I’ll be your smile. But anytime you need a friend, I’ll just be me.
~ Author Unknown

The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you’ve had.
~ Author Unknown

There are big ships and small ships. But the best ship of all is friendship.
~ Author Unknown

__________

Book Cover

__________

RELATED

  • Master List of Great Quotes

__________

Filed Under: Blog, Quotes Tagged With: best friends, Blog, Chandler, Friends, friendship, love, Quotes, relationships, Ross

February 18, 2012 by kevinstilley

Happiness in Aristotle’s Ethics

Aristotle opens this work with the claim that “Every art and every inquiry, and similarly, every action and every intention is thought to aim at some good.”  Is he right? (page 1)

There are three major streams of inquiry in western philosophy; (1) metaphysics, (2) epistemology, (3) axiology.   What questions/answers do these streams represent?  Which of these is illustrated in Aristotle’s Ethics? (page 1)

When Aristotle speaks of virtue, to what is he referring?

What, according to Aristotle, is “the good”? (page 1)  How does his terminology relate to that of Plato?  (pages 5-6) Do they both have the same definition of “The Good”?

Why does Aristotle say that a young man is not a proper student of politics?  (page 3)  Do you agree with Aristotle?

What does Aristotle believe to be “the highest of all goods achievable by action”? (page 3)  How comfortable are you with this truth claim?

Describe Aristotle’s concept of “happiness.” (page 3, 8) Building on his definition of happiness he writes, “then the good for a man turns out to be an activity of the soul according to virtue, and if the virtues are many, then according to the best and most complete virtue.  And we should add ‘in a complete life’, for one swall does not make a spring, nor does one day; and so too one day or a short time does not make a man blessed or happy.”  What is his point(s)? (page 10)

We will be reading about Plato’s ethical system later in the course.  For now, it is sufficient to note that while “happiness” was at the center of Aristotle’s system of ethics, “justice” was at the center of Plato’s system of ethics (and, of course “The Good”).   Around what would you build your own system of ethics?

Aristotle describes “three kinds of life [people].”  What are they?  Can you describe them?  (pages 4-5) 

Why does the life of a money-maker not make a fourth category?  (page 5)

When describing his disagreement with the Platonists, Aristotle says that “it is sacred to honor truth above friendship.”  Have you ever been put in a position where you had to make this choice? How does this tension exist in the various elements of your life?  Family?  Academic?  Theology?

What does Aristotle mean when he says that man is by nature political?  (page 9)

Would Aristotle participate in a small-group ministry?

Aristotle notes three kinds of good?  What are they?  Which does he say is the most important?  (page 11)

Aristotle’s ethical sytem emphasizes action.   Why?  (page 12)  How does this compare and contrast with a New Testament ethic?

Aristotle puts forward the question as to “whether happiness is acquired by learning or by habit or by some other form of training, or wheter it comes to us by some divine providence or even by luck.”  Do theologians agree on the answer to this question?  What do you think?

Why do you have to wait till the end of a man’s life to determine whether or not he is happy?  Who is the Solon that Aristotle is referring to? (page 14)  Do we then base happiness on a man’s fortunes?  (page 15)  Would Aristotle approve of the premises behind the Sermon on the Mount?

When comparing justice and happiness, which does Aristotle say is more praised and which is more godlike or better? 

What does Aristotle believe about the relationship between religion and politics?  (page 18)

Filed Under: Blog, Books, History, Philosophy Tagged With: Aristotle, Blessed, happiness, Plato, Politics, virtue

February 15, 2012 by kevinstilley

Antigone – discussion questions

What is the background for this drama? What has happened before the events of this drama?

Ismene says, “You ought to realize we are only women, not meant in nature to fight against men, and that we are ruled, by those who are stronger, to obedience in this and even more painful matters.” (lines 70-74) Do Antigone and Ismene differ in their understanding of what is appropriate for man/woman roles? What about Creon?

Antigone says (line 84), “I would not ask thee. No! if though shouldst wish to do it, and wouldst gladly join with me. Do what thou wilt, I go to bury him; and good it were, this having done, to die. Loved I shall be with him whom I have loved, Guilty of holiest crime.” What does it mean to do holy things criminally?

Ismene says to Antigone, “You have a warm heart for such chilly deeds.” What is her point? (line 101)

Do you think Antigone wants to die? Why, or why not?

Creon is a kind of academic? What do you think, do academics make good leaders?

What is the purpose of the bumbling lines of the Sentry? Is his speech nonsense or wisdom?

When Nelson Mandela was serving time in a South African prison, the prisoners received permission to put on a Christmas play and chose to perform Antigone. Why do you think they selected this play? How do lines 490 and following reflect this element of the play?

How do the words and actions of Antigone compare with those of Jim Elliot?

At what point does standing up for what you believe become insolence?

Is Antigone trying to defend Ismene when she refuses to let her be blamed for Antigone’s actions?

Can it be said that the actions of Creon and Antigone reflect their worldviews? Where do the philosophies of Creon and Antigone clash?

Creon talks about the danger of “pleasure in a woman.” (lines 700-710) Is he right?

The address to Haemon (line 630) is attributed to Ismene in all the oldest manuscripts. How does the drama change if Ismene is actually the speaker for this?

Haemon argues for compromise. (lines 768-775) Is compromise good or bad?

Creon asks, “Should we that are my age learn wisdom from young men such as he is?” How would you answer this?

Creon accuses Antigone of wickedness. What determines whether or not she is wicked?

Does this play pit nomos against physis? Where?

Creon asks, “Should the city tell me how I am to rule them?” Why is this question important? Who does the city belong to?

What is Haemon’s point when he tells Creon, “You would be a fine dictator of a desert”?

Can something be lawful and unjust? (line 805)

The Chorus tell Antigone that it is her own self-willed temper that has destroyed her? Do you agree? If not her temper, then what? Noble action? Something else?

Antigone claims that that a sibling is one’s most important relative? (lines 961-969) Do you agree? Why does Antigone believe this?

Antigone believes that the gods want her brother buried. Creon believes that the gods do not what his nephew buried. (lines 1090 -1101) Why do they both believe something different?

Creon has a record of following the advice of Teiresias. Why does he not follow his advice this time? (lines 1110 and following)

You have been asked to do family counseling for this cast of characters; where do you start?

What do you take away from a reading of Antigone? Have you learned anything? What are the questions raised by the play? Are the questions answered?

Aristotle’s was quite interested in the ambiguity of action. The same action can be understood to be both good and bad, good under one description, bad under another. In Sophocles’ Antigone, for example, the fundamental conflict of action is whether or not Antigone should bury her brother, a deed simultaneously commanded and prohibited. Can you think of events in real life that illustrate this ambiguity of action that is the phenomena of tragic conflict?

_____________

Sophocles’ – A Timeline

500 – Birth of Sophocles
490 – Battle of Marathon
480 – Battle of Salamis
468 – First victory at Dionysia at age 32 with Triptolemus (lost)
461 – Democratic reforms of Ephialtes
447 – Parthenon begun in Athens
443 – Head of the Athenian Treasury
442 – Antigone
440 – Held Athenian Generalship
440s – Ajax
431 – Start of Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta
430 – Oedipus Tyrannus
429 – Death of Pericles
420–10 – Electra
425 – Trachinian Women (might be earlier: ca. 450)
415 – Athenian Expedition to Sicily
413 – Special Government Commissioner
409 – Philoctetes
406 – Death of Sophocles
405 – Defeat of Athens by Sparta
404–3 – Rule of Thirty Tyrants in Athens
401 – Oedipus at Colonus

Filed Under: Blog, Books, History, Philosophy, Politics Tagged With: Aristotle, drama, Greek, irony, Sophocles, theater, Tragedy

February 10, 2012 by kevinstilley

Oedipus the King – discussion questions

What were your initial thoughts about the character of Oedipus?  Did your thoughts about him change as you read through the drama?

“Dramatic irony is a relationship of contrast between a character’s limited understanding of his or her situation in some particular moment of the unfolding action and what the audience, at the same instant, understands the character’s situation actually to be.” Where do we see dramatic irony in this drama?

Why was Teiresias hesitant to share what he knew about the death of King Laius?

Did Teiresias really believe that it would be better for everyone if truth were to remain undisclosed?  Jocasta also asks Oedipus to stop investigating his lineage (line 1063).  Is truth always best known.  Always best shared?  Is it always best for guilt to be made public?  In government?   In marriage?  In the church?  Is ignorance bliss?  Is bliss the greatest good? 

Oedipus says, “Indeed I am so angry I shall not hold back a jot of what I think.”    Can kings afford to get angry?  Other leaders?  Pastors?  What should leaders do with their anger? [Anger – select quotes]

The Chorus advises Oedipus that “those who are qick of temper are not safe.”  Oedipus responds that plots must be dealt with quickly.  (lines 615-620)  Which one is right?

Teiresias is blind but sees.  Oedipus has eyes but is blind. (line 413)  Why is Oedipus, the man who solved the riddle of the Sphinx, so slow to solve the riddle of his own identity?

At what point does steadfastness and perseverence become mere obstinancy? (line 550)

Creon says to Oedipus, “But do not charge me on obscure opinion without some proof to back it.  It’s not just lightly to count your knaves as honest men, nor honest men as knaves.  To throw away an honest friend is, as it were, to throw your life away, which a man loves the best.”  Have you ever been accused falsely?  Betrayed?  Have you ever accused a friend or family member on the basis of “obscure opinion without some proof to back it?  do you think that this is a major problem in the church?  In politics?  What does the Bible say about this?

What does Creon mean when he says “time in the only test of honest men, one day is space enough to know a rogue”?

Oedipus asks, “Was I not born evil?  Am I not utterly unclean?”  What is the Christian response to these questions?

The Chorus contrasts insolence with eager ambition. (lines 874-884)  Are they opposites? 

Jocasta declares, “Now when we look to him [Oedipus] we are all afraid; he’s pilot of our ship and he is frightened.” (lines 921-922)  Can leaders show fear?

Freud was fascinated with this drama, particularly that element of it described by Jocasta, “As to your mother’s marriage bed, –dont fear it.  Before this, in dreams too, as well as oracles, many a man has lain with his own mother.  But he to whom such tings are nothing bears his life most easily.”  Should we just gag and go on, or is there something  in this that should be considered by us?

Why did Oedipus blind himself?  Do you believe his explanation for why he blinded himself? 

Creon refuses to banish Oedipus until he has consulted the gods.  How does this compare with the manner in which Oedipus governed?  Do you think Creon will prove to be a great leader as he takes over the reigns of government?

The last line of the drama is “Count no mortal happy till he has passed the final limit of his life secure from pain.”  Huh?  How does this compare with what Aristotle says about happiness in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics?  With what Solon says about happiness when discoursing with King Croesus?

Who (or what)  is to blame for this great big mess? The gods?  Oedipus?  Jocasta? Fate?  (MSNBC reported that it was George Bush’s fault.)

Where do we see hubris in these lines of text?  Where do we see the conflict between the forces of nomos and physis?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Some notes on Oedipus from Aristotle’s Poetics:

“Reversal of the Situation is a change by which the action veers round to its opposite, subject always to our rule of probability or necessity. Thus in the Oedipus, the messenger comes to cheer Oedipus and free him from his alarms about his mother, but by revealing who he is, he produces the opposite effect.”

“Recognition, as the name indicates, is a change from ignorance to knowledge, producing love or hate between the persons destined by the poet for good or bad fortune. The best form of recognition is coincident with a Reversal of the Situation, as in the Oedipus.”

“A perfect tragedy should, as we have seen, be arranged not on the simple but on the complex plan. It should, moreover, imitate actions which excite pity and fear, this being the distinctive mark of tragic imitation. It follows plainly, in the first place, that the change of fortune presented must not be the spectacle of a virtuous man brought from prosperity to adversity: for this moves neither pity nor fear; it merely shocks us. Nor, again, that of a bad man passing from adversity to prosperity: for nothing can be more alien to the spirit of Tragedy; it possesses no single tragic quality; it neither satisfies the moral sense nor calls forth pity or fear. Nor, again, should the downfall of the utter villain be exhibited. A plot of this kind would, doubtless, satisfy the moral sense, but it would inspire neither pity nor fear; for pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune
of a man like ourselves. Such an event, therefore, will be neither pitiful nor terrible. There remains, then, the character between these two extremes- that of a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty. He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous- a personage like Oedipus, Thyestes, or other illustrious men of such families.”

“A well-constructed plot should, therefore, be single in its issue, rather than double as some maintain. The change of fortune should be not from bad to good, but, reversely, from good to bad. It should come about as the result not of vice, but of some great error or frailty, in a character either such as we have described, or better rather than worse. The practice of the stage bears out our view. At first the poets recounted any legend that came in their way. Now, the best tragedies are founded on the story of a few houses- on the fortunes of Alcmaeon, Oedipus, Orestes, Meleager, Thyestes, Telephus, and those others who have done or suffered something terrible. A tragedy, then, to be perfect according to the rules of art should be of this construction.”

“Fear and pity may be aroused by spectacular means; but they may also result from the inner structure of the piece, which is the better way, and indicates a superior poet. For the plot ought to be so constructed that, even without the aid of the eye, he who hears the tale told will thrill with horror and melt to pity at what takes Place. This is the impression we should receive from hearing the story of the Oedipus. But to produce this effect by the mere spectacle is a less artistic method, and dependent on extraneous aids. Those who employ spectacular means to create a sense not of the terrible but only of the monstrous, are strangers to the purpose of Tragedy; for we must not demand of Tragedy any and every kind of pleasure, but only that which is proper to it. And since the pleasure which the poet should afford is that which comes from pity and fear through imitation, it is evident that this quality must be impressed upon the incidents.”

Filed Under: Blog, Books, History, Philosophy Tagged With: Family, Freud, government, Oedipus, secrets, Sophocles, truth

February 9, 2012 by kevinstilley

Take Control of the Cure & Destroy Its Source

This is the way that I would have covered the recent Komen / Planned Parenthood kerfuffle if I had been part of the news media.

Filed Under: Apologetics, Blog, Politics Tagged With: abortion, Breast Cancer, Komen, Planned Parenthood

February 9, 2012 by kevinstilley

Prometheus Bound – Discussion Questions

What is the sin for which Prometheus is being punished? What comes from Prometheus? (lines 504-505)

What emotions or ideas is Aeschylus trying to evoke as he describes the circumstances that led to the prosecution of Prometheus?

Hephaestus does not like the role he is playing in the punishment of Prometheus.  Why? Is he sympathetic with the “cause” of Prometheus, or with Prometheus’ himself?

Might claims that “only Zeus is free” (line 50).  Is this the message of the whole drama?  Who is free?  Is even Zeus free?  The Chorus claims that even Zeus cannot escape what is fated? Prometheus says, “So must I bear, as lightly as I can, the destiny that fate has given me; for I know well against necessity, against its strength, no one can fight and win.” (line 103) Does Aeschylus believe this?  How does this compare with what you believe about God and freewill?

Hephaestus has chosen sides; he is alligned with Zeus and Prometheus is, therefore, the enemy.  Might indicates that it is wrong to pity an enemy.   How might this situation be reflected in our own culture?

Several references to the newness of Zeus’ rule are made (i.e. “the new Prince” – line 97; “new are the statesmen… and new are the customes…” – lines 148, 149, “new” – line 312; etc.).  In what way is Zeus (and the Olympians) new?

How did Zeus become King of the Gods?

“When first the Gods began their angry quarrel, and God matched god in rising faction” (lines 201-202), Prometheus chose to side with Zeus.  So, why is Zeus not more understanding of someone who has been his ally? (hint: lines 227-229)

Of all the possible deities, demigods, and demons that could have been cast in this drama, why Io?

Zeus loves Io.  Really?  What kinds of love are reflected in this drama?

Prometheus gives hope to mankind, but has no hope that Oceanus can get Zeus to relent.  Why the paradox?  “Prometheus” means “Foreseeing One”.  Io asks him to tell her the fate that awaits here and he indicates it is better not to know.  Do you agree with him?  Would you want to know what awaits you in the future if you could?  How would it change the way you live your life if you knew what awaited you in the future?

Victor Frankl, a Nazi concentration camp survivor, asserted “Freedom to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”  Is Prometheus an example of this? Or, is there more to it than that?

In what ways is this drama about “power”.  Political power? Economic power? Sexual power?  Power over ones own circumstances?  Power over ones own will?  Power to effect change?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Aeschylus, classics, drama, Freewill, power, Prometheus, Zeus

February 8, 2012 by kevinstilley

Agamemnon – Discussion Questions

Were you able to pick up on the nature of the curse upon the House of Atreus? Where did the curse originate? How? How does the curse relate to all that is taking place?

What does Agamemnon do that puts him at odds with Clytemnestra? Is Agamemnon responsible for what he did and what was done to him? Does he have free will? Did Clytemnestra have free will, or was she simply the agent of alastor, the blood-demon? Why did this family keep feeding the blood-demon? The Chorus more than once seems to indicate that those involved cannot escape the evil cycle in which they find themselves. How do you respond to this?

How does Christian theology compare with the Greek notion of moira or destiny, a thing “woven” of innumerable converging forces?

How does this play fit Aristotle’s definition of a tragedy as being concerned with the “actions of admirable people”? How sympathetic a character is Clytemnestra? Do you think Aeschylus intended his audience to applaud or condemn her husband’s murder?

Does this play tell us anything about the way women were understood in ancient Greece?

How does the watchman describe Clytemnestra? Is there foreshadowing taking place in his speech? What other kinds of foreshadowing are found in in the drama?

Hubris (excessive pride) shows up in many Greek tragedies. Does it play a role in this drama? Does it show up more emphatically in terms of plot or character?

What other emotions and/or character traits are demonstrated?

Where do you see “love” in this drama?

Is “justice” a major concern of the characters in this drama? With Aeschylus?

How does Aeschylus use the prophecies of Cassandra to advance the action?

Why does the Chorus believe that a wife killing her Lord (kyrios) is worse than Agamemnon’s killing of Iphigeneia?

What is the role of the Chorus in Agamemnon? If the Chorus was omitted, how would the play be different.
And, Aegisthus? The Herald? The Watchman?

What does this production tell us about the gods?

Where is “the rule of Law” in this production? (Hint: Aechylus is setting up this theme to be explored in Eumenides)

In Poetics, Aristotle claims that the least important of all the components of a tragedy is “spectacle” (those aspects of the tragedy that contribute to its sensory effects: costumes, scenery, the gestures of the actors, the sound of the music, the resonance of the actors’ voices, etc. ). He believes that the impact/influence of a tragedy is not dependent upon its performance, but can be read as a text. What do you think you missed out on by reading the text rather than viewing it at the theatre (the “seeing place”)? What would Aristotle say about the answer you just gave?

Could James Dobson have helped this family?

Can you identify any from our own time who struggle with dilemmas similar to those of Agamemnon?

How does this tragedy compare with the biblical accounts of Jephtahah? With Abraham? With the death of Jesus?

Is what way does this drama reflect the events of Genesis 3?

Video Clips:

  • Lord of the Rings – Lighting of the Beacons

More Study/Discussion Questions:

  • http://www.uark.edu/campus-resources/dlevine/Agamemnon.html
  • http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/agamemnon.html
  • http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/agamemnon/study.html
  • http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/agamemnon.htm
  • http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng222/aeschylus_agamemnon.htm
  • http://www.temple.edu/classics/oresteia/index.html

____________________________

TIMELINE FOR AESCHYLUS
(from the Great Books of Greeks and Hebrews course guide)

525 – Birth of Aeschylus
510 – Tyrant Hippias expelled from Athens
490 – Battle of Marathon; Athens defeats Persia under Darius
484 – Aeschylus’s first victory at Dionysia
483 – Discovery of silver in Athenian mines at Laurion
480 – Battle of Salamis; Athens defeats Persia under Xerxes
477 – Establishment of the Delian Confederacy led by Athens
472 – The Persians
467 – Seven Against Thebes
463? – Suppliant Women (written sometime between 466 and 459)
462 – Ephialtes strips the Aristocratic Aerepogus Council of power
458 – Oresteia (Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, The Furies)
457 – Athens completed the long walls between the city and the harbor to defend against Spartan aggression
456 – Died in Gela, Sicily

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Family, History Tagged With: Agamemnon, Oresteia

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »

Recent Blog Posts

  • Discussion Questions for “The Language of God”
  • Billy Graham knew where he was going
  • Interesting quotes from “The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln” by Stephen L. Carter
  • The Bible – select quotes
  • America’s Christian Heritage
  • Christian Involvement In Politics
  • Freedom – select quotes
  • Kevin Stilley on For Christ and Culture Radio
  • Early Western Civilization classroom resources
  • Early Western Civilization Final Exam

Currently Reading

Frankenstein

Twitter Feed

Tweets by @kevinstilley

Connect With Me On Twitter

Follow_me_on_Twitter

Connect With Me On Facebook

Receive My Monthly Newsletter


Copyright © 2021 · Executive Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in