Rest and recreation
Feb. 12th, 2021 12:11 pmI'm on day four of my thirteen day break from work, and so far I have done very little productive, but done an excellent job of spending my non-productive time doing things I enjoy rather than wasting it. Well done me!
I've been reading Theology of the New Testament by Rudolf Bultmann, which maybe counts as a bit productive. He starts by talking about the message of Jesus, and then the kerygma (proclamation) of the earliest church, then the pre-Pauline Hellenistic church, and I'm now a couple of chapters into Paul himself. Volume Two then has Johannine theology and the development towards the ancient church. It's been really interesting to see how the doctrine and theology developed, and the various influences that came into play - although I do feel as though Bultmann speaks with remarkable certainty about things for which we have remarkably little evidence, and most of that implied. I've been particularly interested in the role of Gnosticism, both the ideas that were absorbed into Christian thinking, and the way the orthodoxy was shaped by reaction against the bits that were dismissed as heresy.
I've also read, or rather listened to, Troy, the latest of Stephen Fry's retellings of Greek legends, which was good fun. Fry reads the audiobook himself, which of course is delightful. Agamemnon is clearly channelling a more competent version of General Melchett, which works surprisingly well. One thing I hadn't realised is how little of the narrative of the Trojan War is actually covered in the Iliad. Fry covers a lot more - starting with the genealogies of the supposed founder of Troy, and telling bits of various background legends about the key protagonists. I'd picked up quite a bit of this background stuff from cultural osmosis, but there was also stuff that was new to me. I've now moved on to listening to the Iliad itself (the E V Rieu translation), which I'm quite enjoying, although I've just got to the Catalogue of Ships, which may take a little bit of soldiering through...
Whilst listening I've been busily crocheting. I'm making a bouquet of flowers for Ramona's funeral, partly because she always took quite an interest in my yarncraft, and partly because, although living flowers are lovely, these ones can be given to people as a permanent memento. I'm quite pleased with how they're coming out so far - particularly the roses.
( Photo )
Having finished watching The Queen's Gambit recently I also found myself with a hankering to learn to play chess, and got as far as reading a very few strategy articles, and playing one game with![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
leonato last night, in which he beat me fairly soundly. I'm going to try and get a bit more practice vs a computer and some more reading done over the next few days, and see if I can put up a slightly less embarrassing performance next week...
I've been reading Theology of the New Testament by Rudolf Bultmann, which maybe counts as a bit productive. He starts by talking about the message of Jesus, and then the kerygma (proclamation) of the earliest church, then the pre-Pauline Hellenistic church, and I'm now a couple of chapters into Paul himself. Volume Two then has Johannine theology and the development towards the ancient church. It's been really interesting to see how the doctrine and theology developed, and the various influences that came into play - although I do feel as though Bultmann speaks with remarkable certainty about things for which we have remarkably little evidence, and most of that implied. I've been particularly interested in the role of Gnosticism, both the ideas that were absorbed into Christian thinking, and the way the orthodoxy was shaped by reaction against the bits that were dismissed as heresy.
I've also read, or rather listened to, Troy, the latest of Stephen Fry's retellings of Greek legends, which was good fun. Fry reads the audiobook himself, which of course is delightful. Agamemnon is clearly channelling a more competent version of General Melchett, which works surprisingly well. One thing I hadn't realised is how little of the narrative of the Trojan War is actually covered in the Iliad. Fry covers a lot more - starting with the genealogies of the supposed founder of Troy, and telling bits of various background legends about the key protagonists. I'd picked up quite a bit of this background stuff from cultural osmosis, but there was also stuff that was new to me. I've now moved on to listening to the Iliad itself (the E V Rieu translation), which I'm quite enjoying, although I've just got to the Catalogue of Ships, which may take a little bit of soldiering through...
Whilst listening I've been busily crocheting. I'm making a bouquet of flowers for Ramona's funeral, partly because she always took quite an interest in my yarncraft, and partly because, although living flowers are lovely, these ones can be given to people as a permanent memento. I'm quite pleased with how they're coming out so far - particularly the roses.
( Photo )
Having finished watching The Queen's Gambit recently I also found myself with a hankering to learn to play chess, and got as far as reading a very few strategy articles, and playing one game with
leonato last night, in which he beat me fairly soundly. I'm going to try and get a bit more practice vs a computer and some more reading done over the next few days, and see if I can put up a slightly less embarrassing performance next week...
