Owner: Thursday Night Gumbo URL:http://thursdaynightgumbo.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2007 20:33:21 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: We're two guys — Woodward and Vehige — who get together every other Thursday for dinner (gumbo, if we can), a movie, and conversation about everything from theology to pop culture. We decided to start this blog because we thought our discussions were just Site statistics:Click here
Vehige: 5 Random Things About Us 1970-01-01 00:59:59 This blog is too new to be tagged for a meme . . . which means I have to engage in some blatant self-promotion. But, then, Thomas over at American Papist offered an open invitation.Now, the correct title of this meme is "5 Random
Things About Me," but since Thursday Night Gumbo is a team blog, I'll offer 5 random things about us.1. We both have the same first name -- Jeff -- which is why we go by our last names.2. We both like baseball. 3. We both like strong, black coffee. 4. We're both a little embarrassed that we like asinine, slap-stick humor, such as Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and Happy Gilmore. 5. There is a 25-year age difference between us; I'll leave it up to you to figure out which one of us is older. (Hint: pay careful attention to movie selections.)I tag the folks over at Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex and Steve McEvoy over at Book Reviews and More as a thanks for blogrolling us. Read more:Vehige
Vehige: Writers and Their Work 1970-01-01 00:59:59 A continuation of a conversation that began with a post by Vehige
, which Woodward followed with two posts of his own -- here and here.From Isaac Asimov's memoir, I.Asimov:When I was handing out Hugos in Pittsburgh in 1960, one of the winners was "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes, which I had loved. It was surely one of the best science fiction stories ever written, and as I announced the winner, I grew very eloquent over its excellence. "How did Dan do it?" I demanded of the world. "How did Dan do it?"At which I felt a tug on my jacket and there was Daniel Keyes waiting for his Hugo. "Listen, Isaac," he said, "if you find out how I did it, let me know. I want to do it again."It seems to me that all great writers -- or should I say, every writer who has written a great story -- understand that at a certain point that they are not in control of their work. Many, many writers say that books seem to "write themselves." Alfred Bester, another science-fiction writer from the old d Read more:Writers
Vehige: Another Meme 1970-01-01 00:59:59 There's another meme circulating throughout the Catholic blogosphere:Who are the five Catholic (or Christian) bloggers whom you would most like to meet in person, but have not (yet)?We were tagged by the folks over at Cosmos~Liturgy~Sex. As as they have noted, proper meme protocol does not allow us to reverse it and say that we'd like to meet them . . . though I would certainly like to meet anyone who came up with a name such as Cosmos~Liturgy~Sex for an orthodox Catholic blog. I'll get that pot of gumbo going!(By the way, we tagged you all on a different meme.)Since there two of us, we decided to name the six Catholic bloggers we'd most like to meet, and we would each take three.Vehige
's PicksJimmy Akin because we could talk theology or science fiction.Fr. Shane Tharp and Fr. Stephen Hamilton over at Catholic Ragemonkey because we could talk theology or horror films.Jeff Miller over The Curt Jester because I often take religion and theology far too seriously and would hope some
Vehige: Interpreting Scripture -- A Response 1970-01-01 00:59:59 To understand this post, you probably need to read the two posts preceding it -- my original post on the topic, and Woodward's response.It seems to me that it is precisely because God is the author of Scripture
that we can allow for an innumerable number of personal interpretations of Scripture -- at least as many interpretations as there are people. For in his infinite mind, God knew before time began how each one of us would read and interpret the Bible. As He inspired the sacred authors, He kept each one of us in mind -- not in a general sense, but, rather, in a personal sense -- so that we can really say that God wrote the Bible for me, just as I can really say that Jesus died for me -- not in a general sense, but in a personal sense.There is a caveat to this, and that's the Church. We should not, as many people do, see the Church as robbing us of our freedom to interpret Scripture as we want. Rather, we should see the Church as helping us in our conversation with the Father Read more:Vehige
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Vehige: Booked by 3 Meme 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Since Thursday Night Gumbo is a blog about books (among other things), this meme I found over at Book Reviews and More seems like a good one to participate in.1. Have you read (up to 3) authors recently you want to read more by?(1) A. G. Sertillanges. I'm almost finished with his book, The Intellectual Life, which teaches one how to engage in independent thought and study in much the same way Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book teaches one . . . um, well, how to read a book.(2) Henri Daniel-Rops. A few months ago I read his short life of Christ, which I passed on to Woodward. It's was short (about 200 pages), but very good. I have his Daily Life in Palestine at the Time of Christ sitting on my bookshelf, and I'm really interested in reading his multi-volume series on the history of the Church.(3) Rudyard Kipling. I'm a stay-at-home dad who is home schooling his kids, and so I plan to use the opportunity to give myself the education I never had. I'm halfway through The Jungle Book Read more:Vehige
, Booked
Vehige: Addition to Sidebar 1970-01-01 00:59:59 We've decided to start a "Post of the Month" feature on our sidebar.I'll pick what I consider to be Woodward's best post of a month, and he'll pick what he thinks is my best post of the month. Maybe sometime in the future -- when we have more readers -- we'll open this up to a vote. Maybe we'll do a Post of Year. We'll have to wait and see.Anyway . . .For January 2006, Woodward picked my post on a personal interpretation of Scripture, and I picked Woodward's post on the Dr. Seuss book, Horton Hears a Who, and the Gospel of Life. Read more:Vehige
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Vehige: Heaven and Earth 1970-01-01 00:59:59 In his fourth essay in Values in a Time of Upheaval, Cardinal Ratzinger wrestles with the relationship between the true, the good, and the majority opinion that presupposes democracy. In his post on the essay, Woodward outlined why Ratzinger thought that reason alone could not be the foundation for a just government. In this post, I'd like to reflect on the theological foundation Christians must assume if they desire to participate in the temporal order as a Christian.What is so startling about this essay, which is entitled "What is Truth?", is that Cardinal Ratzinger sets up the pieces so well that you reach a point of despair. If relativism is a precondition for democracy -- if the majority opinion that determines how a democracy will run can be wrong about what is true and good -- if in our pluralistic society there can be no philosophical consensus of metaphysical reality and ethical behavior -- if the state exists solely to provide freedom so individuals can do what they will -- Read more:Vehige
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Woodward: Pro-Life Fiction 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Since I am not myself a "speculative fiction" fan, I don't have much to contribute on this topic. I hear Tim Powers talked about a lot, and one of his stories -- "The Way Down the Hill" -- is frequently cited as having an anti-abortion message. (Powers himself is a Catholic.) If anybody has read it, I'd be interested in what they think.Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," of course, is quite a powerful exploration of the subject. In particular, it vividly portrays two truths about abortion that are not often enough commented on: (1) the extent to which men -- the fathers of the babies -- are themselves the agents of abortion; and (2) the necessity of euphemism in making abortion a tolerable choice. ("The man," as he is referred to in the story, is a master of the pretty misrepresentation. Pay attention to the way he talks about "the operation, not really an operation at all," in which "they just let the air in and then it's all perfectly natural." You get the sense that, given Read more:Woodward
, Fiction
Vehige: Pro-Life Fiction 1970-01-01 00:59:59 FIRST THINGS: On the Square » Blog Archive » Searching for Pro-Life Fiction
Joseph Bottum forgot Harlan Ellison's story "Croatoan," which you can find in Strange Wine. It's a story more about responsibility than it is about pro-life, but, still, it's effective -- especially when the man meets some of his children in the tunnels under the city.What's particularly interesting is that Bottum has to turn to genre fiction -- particularly speculative fiction -- to find "pro-life" stories.Any thoughts on why that is? Read more:Vehige
What is Thursday Night Gumbo? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 It all started with The Iliad.Having both read Homer's epic a few months before the movie Troy was released, we were interested in seeing how the struggle between Achilles and Hector played out on the big screen.Never having the chance to see it in the theaters (thankfully), we watched it one Thursday
night in November 2005.In the course of the after-movie discussion (we both despised Troy), the movie We Were Soldiers came up. Vehige had seen it and loved it, but Woodward hadn't. So we decided to get together on another Thursday night and watch it.Now we had seen a movie neither one of us had seen, then a movie Vehige had seen but Woodward hadn't, so it seemed only logical that Woodward pick a movie for us to watch that he'd seen but Vehige hadn't. He picked Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, which Vehige loved, and that's how our Thursday night movie watching started.For the last year, we've stuck to this rotation -- mutual pick, Vehige's pick, Woodward's pick -- and, consequent Read more:Night
, Gumbo
, Thursday Night Gumbo
Vehige: Is a Personal Interpretation of Scripture a Valid Interpretation? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Woodward wrote a very interesting piece on the Dr. Seuss book, Horton Hears a Who, which, in turn, prompted the following anonymous comment:This is a nice perspective when it comes to all books but one. Unfortunately, too many practice their faith in this manner, but that isn't the point of your post, and I am a bit off topic. I like your writing style.It seems to me that the book to which the writer refers is the Bible. Woodward also understood this to be the case, as he writes in his response:I agree with you, assuming that the book we're talking about is the Bible, that we are not entitled to our own individual interpretations of it, no matter how reasonable and responsibly thought out those interpretations might be. To belabor my analogy one step further -- the Bible does not come with a "What This Book Means" instruction sheet, but it was entrusted to a divinely established institution that DOES have the authority to say "what this book means" -- the Catholic Church.So your dist Read more:Vehige
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Woodward: A Matter of Conscience 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Over the years, I have involved myself, as a lay volunteer, in a number of parish catechesis programs - high school religious education and RCIA. This involvement has always been rewarding, although the reward in some cases has been primarily the opportunity to confront the "Vatican II-changed-everything" approach to Catholic religious education. The centerpiece of that approach is invariably a class on "the role of conscience in Catholic moral teaching"That, at least, is what the class is usually called. What it actually turns out to be is a class on why it's perfectly okay for Catholics to practice contraception as long as one is "following one's conscience" The lesson could be just as effectively taught by explaining to students why it's perfectly okay to rob banks as long as one is "following one's conscience," but somehow bank robbery never enters the curriculum. Contraception always does.There is nothing really wrong with teaching Catholics about conscienc Read more:Woodward
Woodward: Booked by 3 Meme 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Okay, I'll do this. I told Vehige earlier that he would have to handle all of Thursday Night Gumbo's meme responses and pop-psych personality profile tests because I find the whole phenomenon a bit in-bred and self-absorbed. He responded that I was becoming...well, let's just say that he encouraged me to "lighten up" So it's off with the grumpy-old-man hat and on with the good-sport blogging fraternity hat, and away we go. (Actually, this might not be so bad. Thursday Night Gumbo is, after all, a blog about books, so I might well have gotten around to expressing most of these opinions separately in other contexts anyway.)1. Have you read (up to 3) authors recently you want to read more by?Last summer in the pages of the New York Times I came across the best sports essay I have ever read -- "Federer as Religious Experience," by David Foster Wallace. Then just a week or so ago, Amy Welborn linked to a short story in the New Yorker that I found very provocative. Turns out it Read more:Booked
, Woodward
Vehige: What happened at Thursday Night Gumbo 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Meal: Manicotti, salad, steamed squash and zucchini, French bred. Thanks to my wife for preparing the manicotti.Dessert: Vanilla ice cream, cinnamon ice cream.Movie: Fear Strikes Out (Woodward's pick). I thought it was a great movie, and a great father-son story. Anthony Perkins does a fabulous job. I give it an "A" (I loved it!).Conversation topics: Child rearing, home schooling, world history, reading habits, Dickens, Latin, Tolstoy, Anthony Perkins, blogs, books, movies, Wagner. We talked quite bit about which book we're going to read once we finish Cardinal Ratzinger's Values in a Time of Upheaval.Funny happening: When my two-year-old was so busy waving goodnight to Woodward that he missed the doorway and walked smack into the wall.Next ThursdayNightGumbo
: February 22. Read more:Vehige
, Thursday Night Gumbo
Vehige: Spring Training 1970-01-01 00:59:59 This morning, the Sports section of the local paper had a SpringTraining
preview. It was a sight for sore eyes, to be sure. Last season ended with such a whimper I wondered if it was the end of baseball.On the grand scale, the 2006 World Series was pathetic. The St. Louis Cardinals, only one game above .500 last year, should never have been allowed in the playoffs -- and they end up winning the World Series. And the Detroit Tigers made so many errors you started wondering if Bill Buckner was one of their coaches.On the local scale, our home team, the Texas Rangers, crawled over the finish line. The manager they had hired to make something out of this team -- Buck Showalter -- was canned. They lost one of their top players, Gary Mathews Jr., to a rival, the Angels. And the youngest GM in all of baseball couldn't seem to close the deal on any major player to improve this team.Yet, the realizing that spring training is less than two weeks away is cause for rejoicing. I often tell my old Read more:Vehige
, Spring Training
Vehige: My New Blog 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Some of our readers will remember that I, Vehige
, had a blog previous to Thursday Night Gumbo. It was called Vir Ecclesiasticus, and it was dedicated to theology and catechesis.After three months, I decided I didn't like the direction Vir Ecclesiasticus was going. I asked Woodward if he'd be interested in starting a team blog and . . . well, you know. However, I still want to write articles on the faith. But Thursday Night Gumbo just doesn't seem to be the right place for these kinds of articles. So I decided to start a third blog, this one dedicated only to explaining the faith as simply and clearly as I know how.I went back to WordPress for this blog for the simple reason that one of the templates allows me to make the blog more like a web page. Blogger is easier to use, but I WordPress gives me exactly what I'm looking for with this new venture. Come and visit me at The Catholic Witness. I'm still in the process of getting some things organized, so please excuse the mess.
Woodward: More Baseball Reading 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Vehige has made some fine recommendations. And I do agree with him about The Boys of Summer. Here are a few other good books to start getting us in the mood.How Life Imitates the World Series Why Time Begins on Opening DayTwo collections of essays by Tom Boswell, sportswriter for the Washington Post. The pieces date from the 1970s and early 1980s, and much of Boswell's attention understandably focuses on the Baltimore Orioles, his "home team" But Boswell loves baseball so much, and he is so knowledgeable about both the past and present of the game, that his writing will be of interest to any fan, regardless of what team they root for. I was disappointed to discover that both these books are now out of print. (That happens to me a lot lately.) But check the library or a used book store; they're worth hunting for.You Know Me, AlRing Lardner's classic epistolary novel about baseball in the years before World War I. A revealing portrait of much that has changed about the game, and Read more:Woodward
, Reading
Vehige: Review of The Tomb of Horrors by Keith Strohm. 1970-01-01 00:59:59 As I previously noted, as soon as I found out The Tomb of Horrors
existed, I wanted to read it. It's based off an old Dungeons & Dragons module, which, when I was a kid, I longed to play, but never had the opportunity. Never missing an opportunity to return to my youth, I grabbed the chance to play the game vicariously—through the imagination of Keith
Strohm.The BasicsThe story line runs thus. Our hero, Kaerion, along with his trusty side-kick, the elf Gerwyth, join up with the nobles of a collapsing kingdom in order to retrieve a lost treasure with the hopes of restoring the kingdom to some of its former glory. Unbeknownst to them, another group, led by an evil cleric, is seeking this same treasure, but not for such noble purposes. The sought treasure is that of an long-dead, sinisterly evil wizard who has buried himself, along with his fortune, in an underground tomb—the Tomb of Horrors.At the heart of this novel is the interior journey of Kaerion. At one time, he was the Read more:Vehige
Vehige: Conscience, Truth, Church 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Woodward has already commented on Cardinal Ratzinger's fifth essay in Values in a Time of Upheaval, the essay entitled, "If You Want Peace...." I must second his opinion that this is the best treatment I've ever read on the relationship between the conscience and the Church
. Where was this essay when I was taking moral theology at the University of Dallas? (Hey Dr. Lowery, if you happen upon this post, make sure you read this essay!)I've never quite understood the relationship between our conscience, our duty to follow it (even if it is in error), our duty to form the conscience, and the role of the moral authority of the Magisterium in the life of a Catholic. I've always accepted that somehow these tenets of the faith, although they seem to contradict one another, really do form a harmonious whole. Thanks to our Holy Father, I now understand how that whole is formed.We must first make a distinction between the morality of conscience and the morality of authority. In today's world Read more:Vehige
, Truth
Vehige: My New Approach to Lent 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Surprisingly, Lent begins in less than ten days. Now I'm normally not the kind of person who likes to share my own spiritual life with others. I don't mind talking about the pious practices exhorted by the Church or by the great saints, but I've never been inclined to talk about my own spiritual life. I'm not a saint — at least not yet! — so there's nothing I can say with words that hasn't already been said with the sweat, tears, and even blood, of a Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Francis de Sales, or Maximilian Kolbe.That being said, I feel inclined to talk about what I plan to do for Lent — and perhaps even to share some of my experiences throughout Lent — for the simple reason that I'm approaching Lent with a very different mindset than I have in years past. I don't think it's too arrogant to assume that what's new for me may also be new for a reader or two.In years past, Lent has always been a time of self-denial as well as increased spiritual reading. T Read more:Vehige
Saint Leo the Great: Recognize the dignity of your nature 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Our Lord Jesus Christ, born true man without ever ceasing to be true God, began in his person a new creation and by the manner of his birth gave man a spiritual origin. What mind can grasp this mystery, what tongue can fittingly recount this gift of love? Guilt becomes innocence, old becomes new, strangers are adopted and outsiders are made heirs. Rouse yourself, man, and recognize the dignity
of your nature
. Remember that you were made in God's image; though corrupted in Adam, that image has been restored in Christ.Use creatures as they should be used: the earth, the sea, the sky, the air, the springs and the rivers. Give praise and glory to their Creator for all that you find beautiful and wonderful in them. See with your bodily eyes the light that shines on earth, but embrace with your whole soul and all your affections the true light which enlightens every man who comes into this world. Speaking of this light the prophet said: Draw close to him and let his light shine upon you an Read more:Saint
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Woodward: An O'Connor Reading List 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Back in the mid-1980s a collection of Flannery O'Connor
's book reviews was published under the title The Presence of Grace. The book is now out of print, but it's available through amazon.com from a number of used book dealers at prices ranging up to $95 (almost enough to make me want to part with my copy!).The reviews were written for various diocesan newspapers between February 1956 and April 1964, just a few months before O'Connor's death. They provide an interesting picture of at least part of what O'Connor was reading during the years of her own greatest productivity as a writer. Those were also years of ferment (as they say) within the Church, a Church that was poised in the late 1950s and early 1960s on the brink of some exciting -- and some menacing -- changes. Just to illustrate the point: the August 4, 1962 edition of her own diocesan paper published O'Connor's reviews of both The Cardinal Spellman Story and Hans Kung's The Council, Reform and Reunion. It was an ag Read more:Woodward
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Woodward: "What Must We Do?" 1970-01-01 00:59:59 That is the question Pope Benedict poses as the title of his seventh essay in Values in a Time of Upheaval. The question signals that Benedict is moving from a theoretical exposition of his views on the interplay of religion and politics to a practical application of those views. The point at which theory becomes practice is always where things get complicated in life, and I found things getting very complicated in this section of the book.Many of the assertions that Benedict makes in these essays fall into one of two categories: analyses of historical fact (offered as evidence of the central role that a shared Christian sensibility has played in the development of European civilization); and calls for specific application of that Christian sensibility to the problems that civilization now faces or is likely to face in the future. On some of these points, I find Benedict's transition from theory to practice, from exposition to application, a bit unsteady. Here are a couple of examples Read more:Woodward
Vehige: Heaven Gives Focus to Life on Earth 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Instead of writing a post on Cardinal Ratzinger's Values in a Time of Upheaval, I am going to cite few passages that speak of the need of an awareness of heaven in order to give focus and to life here on earth.Too many people think that if one is focused on heaven, then they are of no good in the here and now. This point is not lost on Ratzinger:The suspicion that Christians neglect life here on earth because they constantly dream only of the life to come came to infect believing Christians themselves, including those who preached God's Word. We were told that Christians shared only half-heartedly in the work of constructing the world, which could have been better and more humane long ago if only Christians had not practiced "flight from the world." The task now is to make the earth a better place to live.Thus runs the argument. Here is Ratzinger's response.Well, these ideologies [that make this claim] have not made it [i.e., the world] better and more humane. It is precisely the on Read more:Vehige
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Woodward: This World and the Next 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I thought about commenting on Pope Benedict's allusion to the Gorgias in my previous post. But I had already spent so much time nitpicking the Pope's analysis of 20th-century history that I was hardly up to the task of starting a whole new argument on the subject of Platonic eschatology. Perhaps it's a good sign that I'm reluctant to disagree with the Pope -- even in those areas where I'm perfectly free to disagree with a pope. He's not just the Vicar of Christ, after all. He's also a very, very smart man, which means that if I find myself disagreeing with him, chances are either (1) that I'm just wrong, or (2) that I have misunderstood what he is saying. I thought that Benedict's comments on the very frequently heard criticism of Christians - that we are oblivious to the demands of everyday life because we are just waiting to die and be with Jesus - were true but incomplete. Plato certainly had what can be perceived as a pre-Christian, "preparation-for-the Gospel" ins Read more:Woodward
, World
Vehige: Sammy Sosa 1970-01-01 00:59:59 If this works out for the Texas Rangers, it might be the biggest deal of the seasons.I have a lot of hopes for this team this year. The AL West isn't as strong as it has been in the past. The new manager, Ron Washington, seems to imbued the players with a new vigor. Hank Blalock has finally admitted that he needs to study hitting in order to become a better hitter. Michael Young, the league's best clutch hitter, is finally hitting in the Number Three spot, which means he should rack up the RBI's, particularly if Kenny Lofton and Frank Catalanotto hit the way they're capable of. The pitching rotation, though it lacks a bona fide power pitcher, is nothing to sneeze at. And, finally, the bullpen might be the best in the American League -- if not all of baseball -- if Frank Francisco and Eric Gagne can return to the form of a few years ago.All that being said, I fear they're going to disappoint me again. Read more:Vehige
, Sammy
Vehige: What happened at Thursday Night Gumbo 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Meal: Hamburgers, baked beans, potato salad.Dessert: Chocolate ice cream.Movie: Two episodes from Firefly: "Home" and "Jaynestown." I know we announced that we were going to watch the old noir film, Touch of Evil, but for the first time Netflix failed us; the movie didn't arrive in time. It will be our next movie.Conversation topics: Lent, spiritual reading, Stephen King, H. P. Lovecraft, Star Trek, T.V. vs. the movies, philosophy in pop culture, the value (if any) of pop psychology, formation of the clergy, baseball, sociology of religion, how to re-evangelize a post-Christian culture, Peter L. Berger's A Rumor of Angels, Cardinal Ratzinger's Values in a Time of Upheaval.Next ThursdayNightGumbo
: undecided. Read more:Vehige
, Thursday Night Gumbo
Vehige: Catholic Blog Awards 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Well, I'm a little late getting this up. And feel a little foolish, to. In total, we only got thirteen (13) votes. Does 10 votes in one category and 3 in another really qualify us as "nominees"?We're certainly glad that we were nominated -- considering that Thursday Night Gumbo had been in existence for a mere three weeks before the voting.But we promise all of you who have supported us in this our struggle that we are dedicated to the great task that looms before us over the next two score and twelve weeks to provide you, our loyal readers, with the most diverse and perspicacious blog in the Catholic
blogosphere. Read more:Vehige
, Awards
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