o1mnikent

I checked Language Log yesterday (thrice) and found a post confirming what Nathan had already told me: the best of Language Log will soon be published in book form. Coming soon to a retailer near you… Far From the Madding Gerund and Other Dispatches from Language Log by Mark Liberman and Geoffrey K. Pullum. If you have a remote interest in linguistics, you’ll want to put this on your summer reading list. If you find yourself regularly saying things like, “[friend/enemy], that’s not grammatically correct” or “George Bush does talk like an idiot” or “Kent was right after all – again!”, then this book is for you. This book will soon join the ranks of Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things and The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax in the area of totally awesome/rad books about linguistics. Make sure it’s on your bookshelf or in your hands at all times.

(I’d also like to point out that among the considered [and eventually rejected] titles was Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, and Language Log is from a Whole Nother Galaxy.)

I’ll admit, when Ratzinger became pope last year I was a bit skeptical that he would sustain the kind of change initiated by John Paul II. It turns out my fears are not becoming completely realized (although I still remain somewhat skeptical). It appears that Benedict is at least attempting to influence international policy in much the same way that John Paul did in the late 70s and early 80s.

In his first Easter message as pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI today urged nations to use diplomacy to defuse nuclear crises — a clear reference to worries over Iran — and prayed that Palestinians would one day have their own state alongside Israel.

On Christianity’s most joyous day — which happened to fall on Benedict’s own 79th birthday — the pontiff also prayed for Iraq’s relentless violence to cease.

From the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, Benedict reflected on the globe’s troubled regions shortly after he celebrated Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square, which was packed with 100,000 pilgrims and tourists on a breezy, hazy day.

“Today, even in this modern age marked by anxiety and uncertainty, we relive the event of the Resurrection, which changed the face of our life and changed the history of humanity,” Benedict said in the traditional papal “Urbi et Orbi” message — Latin for “to the city and to the world.”

The good news is, among other things, a social Gospel. Keep up the good work, Benedict.

What language should I borrow to thank you, dearest Friend,
For this, your dying sorrow, your mercy without end?…

Judas, Peter

because we are all
betrayers, taking
silver and eating
body and blood and asking
(guilty) is it I and hearing
him say yes
it would be simple for us all
to rush out
and hang ourselves

but if we find grace
to cry and wait
after the voice of morning
has crowded in our ears
clearly enough
to break our hearts
he will be there
to ask us each again
do you love me

-Luci Shaw

Just got back from two days in Georgia, seven in Florida, and two more in Nashville. I have ten days of email to respond to and more to blog about than time will allow, so for now, I’d like to plug three new blogs…

One
WA diaspora might be interested in Paul and Sheila’s photoblog of the life and times of Connor Ryan at connorsiegfried.blogspot.com.

Two
My uncle, who is the pastor of River Terrace Church in Lansing, Michigan and Ph.D. in near-eastern history, begins his sabbatical next Monday. Clay and Adria will be spending time at Iona, Taize, various other points of interest in Europe, and concluding with a three month study at Regent College. They’re blogging at peripateticpastor.blogspot.com.

Three
Ron Rienstra has recently begun a collaborative forum for worship planning and leading ideas at http://worshiphelps.blogs.com. The most recent post comes from Pete Armstrong at Sanctuary in Seattle, where the worship arts team combined Psalms of lament with Sufjan Stevens.

Happy reading.