Excreting money

Here is some toilet humour with a serious point. The first image is an ape defecating coins into a bowl. The second is a hybrid figure defecating coins into a bowl held by an ape. Both appear in a 14th century manuscript at the British Museum.

In a vision, a peasant called Thurcill saw a lawyer who had accepted bribes. Sent to hell, he was forced to swallow burning coins. The devils then pressed an iron cart-wheel, studded with spikes and nails, against his back and whirled it round, tearing and burning his flesh. This made him vomit up the money. He then had to collect the scattered coins and go through the process all over again.

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When the great lord passes, the wise peasant bows deeply and silently farts

Model of the Second Temple at Jerusalem, as in Jesus' day

Model of the Second Temple at Jerusalem, as in Jesus’ day

This is an Ethiopian saying, pertinent to the difference between what anthropologists call the ‘great tradition’ and the ‘little tradition’. I was studying its relevance to the Sermon on the Mount while on the way to a hospital.

‘Great’ refers to the ruling classes of agricultural empires and ‘little’ to the ordinary peasants. The ruling classes promote their understanding of reality, including their justifications for imposing taxes, using the available technology to make sure everybody assents.

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Speakers, shouters, killers and victims

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons

Here in Britain we have just seen politics at its worst.

Some time in the coming year Britain will have a general election. The political parties are gearing up, focusing on reassuring the voters and undermining their competitors. Establishment wisdom has it that divided parties lose votes. Meanwhile, a long way away, thousands of Palestinians are being killed. Both the Conservative and Labour Parties have traditionally supported Israel, currently the main killers. Labour members of Parliament (MPs) are divided.

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Postman Pat would never have behaved like this

Postman PatI’ve just watched Mr Bates vs the Post Office. I’m glad the programme generated some activity in defence of the people ripped off, but like everyone else I think it’s a disgrace that it was necessary.

The trouble with television programmes like this is that they encourage us to make the mistake we are only too tempted to make anyway – to blame specific individuals. Paula Vennells becomes the baddie. Instead of asking what is so wrong with our society that it produces people like this and systems like this, it demonises the individual. We are tempted to imagine that if the baddies are punished justice will be done. No it won’t. We need to change the way society operates.

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Should Christians believe in exorcisms?

Jesus casts out an evil spirit. Limbourg Brothers, Chantilly, France, c.1416

Limbourg Brothers, Chantilly, France, c.1416

Some people think Christianity is all about spiritual warfare: winning battles against the evil demons surrounding us. The spookier the better. Others think this is the sort of nonsense people used to believe before we had reason and science.

I don’t believe in them. I’m a monotheist. Nevertheless I’m a fan of Jesus. This is my way of putting the two together. I offer it in case it helps anyone make sense of the biblical-Christian tradition.

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The compassion in food banks

All Basket of fruit and vegetablesHallows Leeds, the church I usually attend, runs its own food bank. I’m not one of the volunteers myself, but this morning we heard from some of them, aghast at the amounts of food wasted while local people go hungry.

It’s like this. Massive amounts of food are on sale in supermarkets one minute and the next being dumped in bins. Volunteers at the food bank have put a lot of work into developing relationships with the staff, arranging to collect the food and offer it to the hungry at the food bank.

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Befriending and mistreating other animals

New-born calf

Source: Uberprutser via Wikimedia Commons

Reading Thomas Fudgé’s Medieval Religion and Its Anxieties, at first I found it hilariously funny.

But then my mood changed. What if we find it funny because we have harmful values?

 

 

Animal defendants

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Fear, emptiness and hope

Preacher on soap boxWhen I lived in Liverpool I quite often saw, in the pedestrian precinct, a hell fire preaching team. One man stood on a soap box, Bible in hand, warning us of the wrath to come while a couple of others handed out leaflets.

One day I sat on the pavement, next to one of the homeless men, asking what he thought of them. He was more Christian than me, very tolerant: ‘Each to their own’.

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John the Baptist and his disciple Jesus

Rubens, Feast of Herod, detail

Rubens, Feast of Herod, detail

The Christian gospels tell us Jesus’ public role began with his support for John. This coming Sunday churches will hear the first words of the earliest gospel, Mark, putting the relationship between them right at the start.

John, in turn, is described in the context of the Hebrew prophets. Those prophets had kicked up a fuss against kings for enriching themselves at the expense of the common people. As representatives of the common people, prophets often dressed in rags. They issued dire warnings to the rich and powerful that God would soon punish them.

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Why don’t more people campaign about poverty?

Quote by St John Chrysostom: 'Not to share our own wealth with the poor is theft from the poor and deprivation of their means of life; we do not possess our own wealth, but theirs'This post is a reflection on some Facebook correspondence I found helpful. The starting-point was the quotation from the fourth-century Christian theologian John Chrysostom, pictured here.

Some people responded by condemning him for his antisemitism, and attributing to his influence some of the antisemitism around today. Here I argue that we shouldn’t allow that to block our ears.

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