Hi all!
It's been a while. I know. I've been busy with homework. Anyone surprised? Not that I have a right to compain. It is what I signed up for.
I'll start with the light thoughts. Not much has happened in the last week or so. Iowa won both of its games. Last weekend against ISU (and they even came back in the end to win! I'm so proud!), and today against Illinois. The big showdown will be next week's game against Ohio State.
Otherwise I discovered a really great park in the southern edge of Ithaca that's great for a little bit of afternoon hiking. Tonight I finally went to the new Pirates movie. It certainly has its moments. A bit ridiculous at times but also amusing.
Now for some heavy thoughts. I'm really behind on this topic, but still wanted to comment on it. I'm sure most of you know that a couple weeks ago during his visit to Germany, the pope quoted a Kaiser from the middle ages who made a pointed question to a Islamic scholar about the use of violence as a tool for spreading religion. This quotation sparked major cry in the Islam world for no other reason than they are apparently incapable of understanding, or more likely caring, what the context in which this quote was used. When I first read about it in the German news, I was also shocked that the pope would say something like this. But the second thought which closely followed the first was, what was the context? I couldn't imagine that this was supposed to be a representation of what the pope's own beliefs are. I was then frustrated that none of the news sources that I read felt that it was important to post, or explain, the context of his quote. This is pretty bad journalistic practice in my opinion. Rather than just saying "obviously this is not what he ment", perhaps someone should have explained what he was trying to say.
So with a little help from Andy, I managed to track down a transcript of the speech itself. Here's are links in English and German for those of you who are interested.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_university-regensburg_en.html http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_university-regensburg_ge.html In his speech he discussed the place of reason in the study of religion. Ideas of those silly Greek philosophers still haven't died I guess. At the beginning of the speech he mentions a text he recently read that delt with the conversation between the bysantinish emperor and islamic scholar and used a quote from this converation to illuminate what he wished to discuss. I'm sure this is some sort of rhetoric device. Anyway. That was it. Nothing ment to insult the validaty of Islam. Simply to juxtapose Christianity and the study of Reason. His conclusion is even that because Christianity has developed within a culture which glorifies Reason (Vernuft), or more exactly "logos", that it only furthers what God expects (In the beginning there was "logos") by maintaining a dialogue between the cultures.
This is in any case my interpretation of what he was saying. I admit that I did not read every word and did not understand all that I did read. I encourage you to read it for yourself. It is in any case an interesting, well-written essay.
As far as the outcry goes, I, sitting here in my highly educated college town in my very Christian country, find it ridiculous. But attempting to put myself in their shoes, I can see how the Islamic world could feel that the Christian West, which is where the world's power (i.e. money) is currently concentrated, is out to get them. How does the world solve this? I don't know. I'm no genius, but as long as the Islamic world feels like there's a gross imbalance of power, they're going to be protest-happy.
Anyho! Enough for a Saturday evening. Later!
