Will Art Save the World? (Week 9)

the happiness of married moms, childbirth as crucifixion, talking trees, mythopoetics, free birth

Reading

Books

• Mansfield Park, Jane Austen — The Hamlin Street Book Club read Jane Austen last month, and I just finished it up before we meet tonight. I’ve not been wowed by this one; I much prefer Middlemarch by George Eliot, which we read last October, and which is similar in period and genre to Mansfield Park. I think Eliot (who writes under a pen name) paints a much clearer picture of the human person, and especially human persons in relationship to others. Meanwhile, Austen’s characters seem more one-dimensional and thus unbelievable. A favorite quote, however: “[Sir Thomas] feared that principle, active principle, had been wanting, that [his daughters] had never been properly taught to govern their inclinations and tempers, by that sense of duty which can alone suffice. They had been instructed theoretically in their religion, but never required to bring it into daily practice. To be distinguished for elegance and accomplishments—the authorised object of their youth—could have had no useful influence that way, no moral effect on the mind. He had meant them to be good, but his cares had been directed to the understanding and manners, not the disposition; and of the necessity of self-denial and humility, he feared they had never heard from any lips that could profit them.”

  

• The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt — In yet another book club, this one a long-distance mini club with childhood friend Suzanne Fletcher, I’m reading The Goldfinch. Reading books together is such a fun way to keep in touch with long-distance friends! Cards on the table: I was not a fan of The Secret History by Donna Tartt, which I read last summer. The plot was… underwhelming, and absolutely depraved. However, Tartt is an incredible writer, and I think her powers have only increased since writing The Secret History, which came out in the 90’s. The Goldfinch, which debuted in 2013 and has since been adapted to the silver screen, is a dazzling display of language, and I’m enjoying it immensely. No thing goes unnoticed by Tartt. I’m hoping this book will be the marriage of language and plot that The Secret History was unfortunately not. (I’m amazed Tartt spends 10 years writing her tomes! The quality is better for it.) I’m also looking forward to watching the movie after I finish the book! No spoilers!

Bible

Deuteronomy (The Message & ESV Illuminated Journals) — (audio & print)

• “Know this well, then. Take it to heart right now: God is in Heaven above; God is on Earth below. He’s the only God there is. Obediently live by his rules and commands which I’m giving you today so that you’ll live well and your children after you—oh, you’ll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you.” ‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭4‬:‭39‬-‭40‬ ‭MSG‬‬

• There’s a lot of repetition in Deuteronomy so far of the phrase, “God, your God.” The more common translation is the Lord God, or the Lord your God. I like how “God, your God,” emphasizes Israel and thus also who God is: His people’s.

• “And this is what will happen: When you, on your part, will obey these directives, keeping and following them, God, on his part, will keep the covenant of loyal love that he made with your ancestors: He will love you, he will bless you, he will increase you. He will bless the babies from your womb and the harvest of grain, new wine, and oil from your fields… You’ll be blessed beyond all other peoples…”

  ‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭7‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭(excerpted) MSG‬‬

Articles / Essays

• The Power of Art in a Political Age, David Brooks, New York Times — “I haul myself off to museums and such with the fear that in a political and technological age, the arts have become less central to public life, that we don’t seem to debate novels and artistic breakthroughs the way people did in other times, that the artistic and literary worlds have themselves become stultified by insular groupthink, and this has contributed to the dehumanization of American culture. But we can still stage our mini-rebellions, kick our political addictions from time to time, and enjoy the free play of mind, the undogmatic spirit and the heightened and adrenalized states of awareness that the best art still provides.”

• The Married-Mom Advantage, Brad Wilcox and Wendy Wang, The Atlantic — “As tough as motherhood was during COVID, mothers were both happier and more financially secure than childless women during the pandemic. This gap existed before COVID, but it continued during the worst days of the pandemic and has remained since then… Challenging as they were to care for while many schools were closed, kids seem to have brought a sense of direction, connection, and joy to the average mother’s life during the pandemic, at a time when so many other social ties were cut off.“

• Related: I saw an Instagram post this week from Abbey Wedgeworth, in which she was giving advice for moms who struggle with animosity or resentment toward their husbands when their job requires them to work late or travel. One of the things she said she does during those times is remember single mothers and pray for them, as solo-parenting is their norm rather than their anomaly.

  

• Heartbeat of the World: On natality, motherhood, and keeping Christmas all the year, Caitrin Keiper, Comment — “The red blood of childbirth prefigures the blood that will be shed for humanity’s salvation, signified by the red stripes on a peppermint stick.”

• Make Birth Free: It’s Time the Pro-Life Movement Chose Life, Elizabeth Bruenig, The Atlantic (July 2022) — “This would require veteran pro-lifers to take on a trifecta of onerous tasks: moving on from a narrow fixation on regulating the practice of abortion itself; taking up welfare as a cause just as worthy of political agitation as abortion; and overcoming a veritable addiction to liberal tears, indisputably the highest goal of American politics at this point in time, and which militates against human flourishing in every case. It’s time the pro-life movement chose life.”

• The Speaking Tree, Eleanor Parker, Plough — “In order to become the remedy for the apple of the Garden of Eden, God chose to become both the fruit of Mary’s body, loved and cherished, and the fruit of the Cross, broken and torn – crushed so that the juices of life might flow.”

• “Myth Became Fact,” C.S. Lewis, from God In the Dock — “For this is the marriage of Heaven and Earth: Perfect Myth, and Perfect Fact: claiming not only our love and obedience, but also our wonder and delight, addressed to the savage, the child, and the poet in each one of us no less than to the moralist, the scholar, and the philosopher.” http://judithwolfe.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/files/2017/08/Myth-Became-Fact.pdf

  

• Lent Seek & Wonder, Dawn Lueke, Church of the Resurrection — “Teaching our children through Lent is like preparing a garden in spring. We need to tend to our children at home to help them connect the dustiness of Ash Wednesday to the Joy of Easter.”

Poetry

The Dream of the Rood
author unknown (c. 700-799 AD)

Wondrous was that victory-beam,
and I stained with sins,
wounded with wickedness.
I saw the tree of glory
adorned with drapery,
shining with joys,
decked with gold;
gems worthily wrapped the Ruler’s tree.
But through that gold I could perceive
ancient wretches’ hostility,
so that it first began
to bleed on the right side.
I was entirely afflicted with sorrow;
I was afraid at the fair vision.
I saw that eager beacon
change its clothing and colour;
at times it was drenched with moisture,
soaked with the flow of sweat;
at times it was adorned with treasure.
But I, lying there a long while,
beheld, sorrowful, the Saviour’s tree,
until I heard that it spoke.
The best of trees began to speak words.

Writing

• Author’s page, WORLD Magazine

Loving

• Trader Joe’s chocolate croissants 😍🤤 Better than the bakery! A special Sunday treat, as John and I have given up sweets for Lent.

Remembering

This Week

This Time Last Year