So other classes may be suspended for Labor Day, but not ours! Today we’re going to discuss revelation. Not the Book of but how God is revealed to humans. (As an aside, one of my professors once told me to remember that the biblical book is the Book of Revelation, not Revelations. Now every time I hear someone say Revelations, I think, “Oh no!” and now you will too!)
Anyway, when Christians talk about revelation (not the Book of) they’re talking about how they receive knowledge about God that is authoritative. We all know how hard it is to get truthful knowledge about other things—enter Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s marriage—so imagine how much harder it is to evaluate what’s true when it comes to an ineffable, abstract, possibly-non-existent being! That’s why Christians have said there are several reliable places in which God is revealed. These vary slightly from denomination to denomination, but I am going to talk about four common ones here: Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience. Together they are known as the Methodist Quadrilateral, and they are commonly accepted sources in many traditions. [click to continue…]
Now that we’ve all had a week to cool down after the heated conversation about Ginny, I say we forge ahead in the gender discussion and talk about my favorite character, Hermione Granger.
At Prophecy (and later at LeakyCon) I did a presentation in which I contend that Hermione subverts many common expectations of femininity. What are these expectations? Let’s take a look at some of her classmates: Lavender and Parvati constantly giggle, gossip, and gussy themselves up. They dedicate their time to the “woolly” and “imprecise branch of magic,” Divination. Lavender is nothing if not melodramatic in her relationship with Ron. Parvati curls her eyelashes around her wand to impress the new “dreamy” Divination teacher Firenze. In many ways these two girls represent some of the most pervasive stereotypes of teenage girls: superficial and focused more on boys than their studies.
One of the most apt ways to describe Hermione, on the other hand, is logical and studious. She prefers Arithmancy and Ancient Rune; she almost always raises her hand in class and never apologizes for knowing the answer. She’s also able to express her emotions openly, if not always productively when it comes to Ron. Hermione is not a perfect character, nor does she attempt to be (outside of class anyway). And she’s not a stereotype; she is complex and refuses to be pigeon-holed by fellow characters and readers.
So where does the feminist part come into play? And what the heck does “third wave” mean? [click to continue…]
By Matthew
Results:
What upcoming movie are you most looking forward to?
- The Half-Blood Prince (49%)
- Prince Caspian (15%)
- The Hobbit (12%)
- The Dark Knight (10%)
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (6%)
- X-Files 2 (2%)
- The Screwtape Letters (2%)
- Avatar (Last Airbender- M. Night Shaymalan) (2%)
- Avatar (James Cameron director) (1%)
- Halo (Directed by Peter Jackson) (1%)
- Iron Man (0%)
Total Votes: 164
No surprises there considering this is a Harry Potter blog.
Now the new poll.
Who do you think is the Most Good character in the Harry Potter series?
At times we have discussed evil here on SoG and shades of evil and so I thought it might be interesting to examine Goodness.
I have been thinking that this area of examining the books excludes, to some degree, Rowling’s opinions as “Good” to one person will mean something completely different to what you or I percieve as good. Rowling’s opinions will not = canon in this circumstance.
So fire away!
Arabella Figg on 
Jessica on 
revgeorge on 
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