Baron Friedrich von Hugel
Posted in apologetics, reasons to believe, Christianity, spirituality, Catholic Church, Friedrich von Hugel on Aug 7th, 2009 3 Comments »
Well, after a dazzlingly lengthy hiatus, we’re back. This time I offer a few quotes from Baron Friedrich von Hugel, a writer whom I sense to be right in his views even when I don’t altogether understand them. About the family: Katie is doing well, is a very happy baby, is a joy to hang out with. Susan is getting an MRI tomorrow, so please pray about that. Nick has broken his foot, but is getting better. Sarah and Holly are busy with school. My wrestling match with OCD (and now depression) continues — so prayers are much appreciated. Some day I will be at a nice restful healthy place in life and will look back on these difficult times and barely remember them. Here are a couple more quotes from von Hugel:
“Religion has never made me happy; its no use shutting your eyes to the fact that the deeper you go, the more alone you will find yourself… Religion has never made me comfy. I have been in the deserts ten years. All deepened life is deepened suffering, deepened dreariness, deepened joy. Suffering and joy. The final note of religion is joy.”
“Christianity is a heroism. People seem sometimes to think it is a dear darling, not-to-be-grumpy, not-to-be-impatient, not-to-be-violent life; a sort of wishy-washy sentimental affair. Stuff and nonsense!”
Ever felt like God stopped returning your calls? This very personal episode (and aren’t they all?) begins on location in a parking lot at Georgia College & State University where wifey Susan teaches a class while I wait in the car. There is much ado about spiritual growth, the “three ways”, intimacy with God and/or the lack thereof, negative spiritual experiences which may cause some to bail on the Faith, Christian apologetics, Mother Teresa, C. S. Lewis, and more. Then, Susan returns, climbs behind the steering wheel and we are off homeward again to Macon, Georgia by way of Gordon, Georgia — a small town with a big, big hunger for elaborate Christmas light decorations. The new weekly pace for excuse me, ghidorah continues!
It’s our 2008 Halloween special, comparing classic and modern horrors and hearkening back to the glory days of monster fandom: the years when Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine could still be found on the magazine shelf at your local drugstore. God bless Uncle Forry, editor of FM, and Basil Gogos, frequent cover artist, both of whom are still with us so far as I know. (The image to the right here borrows from James Bama, I think, who did the art for the Aurora monster model kits.) I sort of trounce modern horror in this episode. Perhaps I should do a little more thinking about the subject, particularly the modern zombie film with reference to Kim Paffenroth’s book Gospel of the Living Dead and the essay collection The Undead and Philosophy edited by Green and Mohammad. Certainly the zombie has become the iconic monster of the late twentieth, early twenty-first century. Strange, though, that there is no particular actor celebrated for his or her performance as a zombie (isn’t that kind of strange?) as Karloff or Lugosi are still celebrated for their portrayals of the Frankenstein Monster and Dracula. It’s practically impossible to be a horror fan without a fave actor to hang your hat on — like Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney, or even Angus Scrimm! Lord willing, a real horror revival will occur in years to come based on talented performers and directors.
