Chaitanya Jyothi Museum Opening, 2000

RAMANAM
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.  Amen.

Countrymen,

ORBIS NON SUFFICIT
SOLUS DEUS SUFFICIT

Headline:

[George Washington] University event aims to combat Christian Privilege

A clever student might see that and think:

If Christians are so privileged, I should become one.

A pusillanimous bishop might see that and think:

I need to jump on this bandwagon before it runs over my pension.

An orthodox theologian might see that and think:

Of course Christians are privileged, that is the import of the New Testament and the Nicene Creed, not to mention Patristic Theology and Christian Monasticism. It is entirely about the privilege — and it is a privilege, not a payoff — of living in Βασιλεία του Θεού. Why else would one be a Christian and accept all that obligation, bother, danger and derision?

Βασιλεία του Θεού
Kingdom of God

Update 1: There is a sizable and noisy cohort of soi-disant Jews who do not, whose ancestors did not, and whose descendants will not, accept the Advice of Gamaliel.  Actually, these are Talmudists, not Jews, because Judaism ceased to exist in 70 AD when the Army of Titus destroyed the Temple at Jerusalem, the one which all the while ran blood so much even the Romans were incensed, though tolerant of it.

The same cohort produced two spectacular impoverishment, one of the Christian Evangelium (The Good News) — specifically the Parable of the Good Samaritan — and one of the universal touchstone known as The Golden Rule.  The cohort diminished The Good News and The Golden Rule first to kerygma (narrative) and then to politics (violence).  These impoverishments are known variably but with abiding sorrow throughout the world as Socialism, Humanism, Liberalism, Positivism, Communism and Progressivism.  They are counterfeits of their originals: Christianity and Common Sense.

And that same cohort has managed to transfer their mad epistemology and barking politics — Communism — to cohorts, mainly racial, outside their own.  Still, reality is not fooled and Gamaliel’s caution proved sage advice for sententious hotheads.  It always will.  God lives in hearts, not corpses.

It takes tremendous courage to resist the lure of appearances.  The power of being which is manifest in such courage is so great that the gods tremble in fear of it.

Paul Tillich, The Courage to Be

Update 2: Scott Johnson: Actually, Socialism Does Work

AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA