posse comitatus

posse comitatus – n - The body of persons that a peace officer of a county is empowered to call upon for assistance in preserving the peace, making arrests, and serving writs; a body of persons so called into service.

This definition is okay as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough. I was more interested in the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which, to oversimplify a bit, forbids the military to be used as a police force. The PCA has been invoked by those who argue against use of armed forces to guard our borders. I can see the arguments in favor of the act itself, but I wonder if we shouldn't be paying more attention to the southern invasion.

By the way, the common term is posse.

The greatest posse novel I'm aware of is The Ox-Bow Incident, by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, which was also made into a good movie back in the 50s.

tenor

tenor - noun - the course of thought or meaning that runs through something written or spoken; purport; drift; the adult male voice intermediate between the bass and the alto or counteralto.

And, of course, who else to you think of as a tenor but the incomparable Luciano Pavarotti.

Lollard

Lollard – n - An English or Scottish follower of the religious teachings of John Wycliffe from the 14th to the 16th centuries.

Wycliffe (1320-1384) was an early reformer. Luckily for him, he had powerful protectors, which is why he died of a stroke instead of at the stake. 40 years after his death, his remains were exhumed, burned, and the ashes dumped in the Thames. His offense was claiming that scripture was the highest authority, only God could forgive sins (no priest required), indulgences were a scam, and the papacy and purgatory, not being scriptural, had no validity. I've stated before that I don't hold with Sola Scriptura, and Wolf was good enough to provide an example in support of my argument (work on the Sabbath), but I can't find the flaw in Wycliffe's arguments. Neither could John Hus (1372?-1415), who was burned at the stake by the Council of Constance. Neither could Martin Luther.

I know I have a tendency to get melodramatic, but I hope you'll take me at my word when I say that my study of Christian history has traumatized me. Once I get past the first eight centuries or so the story turns ugly. The early Christians were mostly sincere, dedicated, and courageous (they had to be). The stories of Paul, Ignatius, Polycarp, Perpetua and Felicitas, Irenaeus, Augustine, Gregory, Patrick, Columba, Columbanus, Boniface - I could go on for pages - are inspiring.

How did we get from them to men like the later popes? The first John XXIII was deposed by the infamous Council of Constance for, amoung other charges, rape, murder, and incest. Alexander VI, the former Roderigo Borgia, had eight children by three concubines; he had earlier celebrated his appointment as cardinal - at age 25 - with an orgy! Julius II, who commissioned Michaelangelo's painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, had three illegitimate daughters and a terminal dose of syphillis. Again, I could go on for pages. (On the other hand, there were still pious, holy Christians in the Church - Pope Nicholas V and Saint Catherine of Sienna are two prominent examples.)

The practice of burning heretics also bothers me. When a Gallic church burned eight heretics around 370, they were condemned up one end of Christendom and down the other - not least by the Bishop of Rome himself. Seven centuries later it was SOP. I make allowances for different times, different ways, but still - how could the idea of subjecting human beings to an agonizing death be reconciled with the teachings of Jesus?

I wish I had space enough and time to go into this more.

I'm undergoing a personal reformation, and I'm in turmoil. I don't subscribe to the Christianity for Dummies school, but I'm also no longer on board with their opponents. What's an aspiring Christian intellectual (don't laugh) to do?

(I hope I don't have to say that I'm not referring to Sola Scriptura Christians with that Dummies crack. You know what I mean. Also, instead of an Exquisite, I'm offering a picture of Wycliffe. More pretty girls coming next week.)

Footnote: Derivation of the word Lollard is uncertain. My sources think it may come from the Dutch word lollen (to mumble), a word applied to religious eccentrics and vagabonds.

Invitation: A member of our select group informs me that her friends sometimes check this blog. I offer them my apologies for my inappropriate Exquisite entry and my assurance that I intended no offense. I also invite their comments.

soprano

soprano - the uppermost part or voice; the highest singing voice in women and boys

Bet you didn't see that one coming!

baller

baller - n. - an implement for shaping food into a ball or removing a core

reactionary

reactionary - adj - Of, pertaining to, marked by, or favoring reaction, esp. extreme conservatism or rightism in politics; opposing political or social change.

That describes me fairly enough, although I'm in favor of major social and political change. I started out as a New Leftist, evolved into a standard liberal Democrat, and then into a conservative Republican. I now favor a sharp about-face and march backward. Let's see if we can find the point where we went wrong. It's probably too late, but I may be wrong.

Here's a trivia question. Name the United States president who started a war without congressional approval, suspended habeas corpus without congressional approval, imprisoned literally thousands of suspected traitors and opponents of the war (without charges and without legal representation), shut down hundreds of opposition newspapers, prevented at least one state legislature from convening, attempted to arrest the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, saw his cakewalk war turn into a prolonged bloodbath, and generally treated the Constitution as though it had been printed on perforated tissue. (See my comment for the answer.)

My latest Exquisite is William Bougereau's Little Gourmet (1895). Yes, I know she's just a little girl, but she's all the more exquisite for that. (I'm not at all embarassed to admit that I enjoy looking at pretty girls. The female of the species is intrinsically more attractive than the male. If that be sexism, make the most of it.)

alto

alto - noun - the range between soprano and tenor; the second highest instrument in a family of musical instruments (viola in the violin family)

I really enjoy music.

contravene

contravene - v. - to go or act contrary to, violate; to oppose in argument, contradict

What children do to their parents.

risque

risqué – adj - Daringly close to indelicacy or impropriety; off-color.

Good examples might be The Swing and Young Girl Playing With Puppy, paintings by John Honore Fragonard.

Today's Exquisite entry is Portrait of a Young Girl Reading (1776), my personal Fragonard favorite and definitely not risque. The picture resonates with me for many reasons, and not only because I find modest, pretty teenage girls attractive. I'd guess the subject to be about 16, and Fragonard has caught her at a peaceful moment, but her future is rather less attractive. She'll be in her late twenties when the French Revolution begins. Being evidently a member of the upper class, I can only hope she and her husband (surely she married) and her children (surely she had children) read the handwriting on the wall and left France; if not, she would have been in her early thirties when the Commitee of Public Safety kicked off the Reign of Terror. Assuming she and her husband didn't lose their heads, she'd have been in her early forties when the Napoleonic Wars began in earnest. Maybe her husband (and sons?) survived, maybe they didn't. She'd have been around 55 when a certain amount of tranquility was restored. Perhaps she had a happy old age.

transcend

transcend - verb - to rise above or go beyond; to be above and independent; exceed

divvy

divvy - v. - divide, share

We were having a conversation about slang and I thought this word was slang. It's not.

galumph

galumph - verb - To move in a clumsy manner or with a heavy tread.

I used to say this when I was trying to be a big monster walking. How fun to find out it's actually a word!

sola scriptura

Sola scriptura - n - The assertion that the Bible as God's written word is self-authenticating, clear to the rational reader, its own interpreter ("Scripture interprets Scripture"), and sufficient of itself to be the only source of Christian doctrine.

I take exception to this idea, which was put forward by Martin Luther as a keystone of the Protestant Reformation. Here's why.

In the 4th Century, most Christians, based on a close reading of the New Testament, accepted that Jesus Christ was God. An Alexandrian priest named Arius closely read those very same scriptures and concluded that Jesus was created by God, and was therefore not consubstantial, coeternal, and coequal with God. Other close readers of the NT, the Monophysites, concluded that Christ had only a single divine nature. A 5th Century bishop of Constantinople, another careful student of scripture named Nestorius, asserted that Jesus had two separate and distinct natures, divine and human, on the grounds that a human woman could not give birth to God (he also refused to believe that "a squalling infant was God"). These last two doctines called into question the validity of Christ's death as atonement for mankind's sins.

It would seem that scripture alone is not sufficient to arrive at truth. The seven generally recognized Ecumenical Councils were convened to resolve these and similar questions (plus some less provocative issues, such as when Easter should be celebrated).

There's a larger point, viz., that Christianity is the only religion in which reason is an integral component. I don't believe that was accidental. Christians have nothing to fear from truth. The application of rational thought to the historical record leaves our religion as sound today as it was in the 1st Century.

Today's less provocative exquisite entry is Reverie by English painter John William Godward, who specialized in women in Classical costume. I don't have a date for this work, but an educated guess would be 1910-1925.

modest

modest - adj - having or showing a moderate or humble estimate of one's merits, importance, etc.; having or showing regard for the decencies of behavior, speech, dress, etc.; limited or moderate in amount, extent, etc.

respect + humility = modesty

Out of respect for myself I will always strive to keep healthy and fit both mentally and physically. Out of respect those with whom I come in contact, I will not hold myself as more important than they and consider carefully their concerns and wishes. This, for me, defines modest behavior.

au naturel

au naturel – adj - In the natural state; naked; nude.

Now what made me think of that? Any ideas?

Today's exquisite entry has left me snowblind. All those bright, white, teeth. . .

profligate

profligate - adj - shamelessly immoral; dissipated; dissolute; recklessly wasteful

There was an article on the news yesterday about the famous polygamist in Utah (currently in prison) who asserts polygamy is a religious issue and is therefore protected under the constitution. If I understood correctly, the suit against him isn't so much related to the issue of polygamy as it is about the underage girls to whom he is either married or has arranged marriages for.

Mormon

Mormon - n - An ancient prophet believed to have compiled a sacred history of the Americas, which were translated and published by Joseph Smith as the Book of Mormon in 1830; A member of the Mormon Church.

I'm back to heresy, and, needless to say, I consider Mormons heretics. (Ditto for Jehovah's Witnesses; I'm not sure about Seventh Day Adventists.)

Wolf referred me to a great apologetics site, which I've been giving a real workout. The section on heresy is especially helpful, especially if (like me) you have trouble sorting out the Monophysites, Adoptionists, Nestorians, Patripassionists, Monarchians, Docetists, Arians, and Monothilites. Here's a link:

http://www.carm.org/

The fourth entry in our Exquisite series is again by Renoir. Since Natalie's otherwise occupied, I have a little more freedom, i.e., I can get away with more. Wolf, you started this thing, but I notice I'm been doing all the ball-carrying here.

covariance

covariance - noun - The expectation or mean value of the variable formed by multiplying the differences obtained by subtracting two given variates from their respective means; the product of the standard deviations of two given variates and the coefficient of correlation between them; a statistical measure of the variance of two random variables that are observed or measured in the same period.

Sheesh! I thought I knew what that meant!

(interesting reading here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covariance_and_contravariance_%28computer_science%29)

pulp

pulp - n - A magazine or book printed on rough, low-quality paper made of wood pulp or rags, and usually containing sensational and lurid stories, articles, etc.

Before there was television there were pulp magazines. A newstand of the 1930s was a wondrous sight: brightly-colored, action packed, sometimes sexy covers on magazines featuring an incredible variety of stories - mystery, detective, weird, science fiction, war, air war, sports, romance, humor, jungle adventures, Oriental adventures, spicy, and a number of series characters, including the Shadow, Doc Savage, the Spider, G8 and His Battle Aces, and many others. (Caveat: The covers could be sexy, but they promised a lot more than the fiction inside delivered.)

The typical pulp magazine paid a cent a word, and with hundreds of pulps at any given time there was a constant demand for fiction. It was a great time for a young writer to be alive. Alfred Bester said that the pulps gave the novice a place to learn his craft while getting the bad writing out of his system. Few such markets exist today.

The cent a word rate was pretty standard, but some of the pulpier pulps paid, as the old joke had it, "a quarter cent a word, payable on lawsuit." Still, at a cent a word, a 20,000 word story (about 35 printed pages or so) paid 200.00. 200 bucks went a long way in the great days of the pulps (maybe from about 1920 to 1955). L Ron Hubbard and Arthur Burkes routinely cranked out 10,000 words a day.

Naturally a lot of pulp fiction makes for painful reading today, but then much modern TV makes for painful viewing. Audiences then were no more sophisticated than audiences today. And some high-powered authors got their start in the pulps: Raymond Chandler, Tennessee Williams, Dashiel Hammett, Philip Wylie, Robert A Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Erle Stanley Gardner, and many others.

So much for the pulps.

Today's picture, "Exquisite" number three, is The Pink Rose by Charles Amable Lenoir. I hate to indulge in art-babble, but since Nat's not paying attention I will point out the obvious (to me) symbolism: innocence, virginity, pristine possibility. The pink rose. Beautiful.

ambit

ambit - noun - circuit or compass; the boundaries or limits of a district or place; an area in which something acts, operates or has power or control; extent; sphere; scope

Last night I was teaching SafeKids about their "circle of safety". That is the area around you over which you exert personal control. If you allow someone close enough to reach into that space, you risk capture by bad-guys. Sure wish I could have used this word, but a bunch of 5-11 year old kids just wouldn't have understood it and it would have taken as long to explain it as it did to just describe the concept.