Tag Archives: suffering

(Russian Resurrection) Andrei Rublev (Tarkovsky)

Posted on April 28, 2020 by zjb

I don’t have to say a lot to say about Christianity and cinema in Andrei Rublev (1966) by the great Andrei Tarkovsky, master of the long-shot form of the time-image. Just one quick comment about the structure of the film and the … Continue reading →

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Christians & Coronavirus (March/April 2020)

Posted on April 19, 2020 by zjb

True to form, Jewish religious response to the Coronavirus has been dominated by problems relating to halakhic practice and communal structure; about God not so much if at all. With thanks to Adam Brett, I wanted to see what the … Continue reading →

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(Idea & History) Hermann Cohen After Marx

Posted on September 19, 2019 by zjb

[Max Lieberman, Women Plucking Geese (1871)] In the introduction to the Religion of Reason, Hermann Cohen claims that the unity and uniqueness of the idea of God “elevates belief to a speculative height that by comparison all other problems become … Continue reading →

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Votive Objects & Material Religion

Posted on January 16, 2019 by zjb

Went to see “Agents of Faith: Votive Objects in Time and Place” at Bard Graduate Center Gallery. I understood that I was off to look at objects, but what are votive objects? Something loosely to do with “religion.” What I … Continue reading →

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(On Not Suffering) Caffeine Suppositories (Yom Kippur)

Posted on September 20, 2018 by zjb

After excruciating headaches this Yom Kippur, I appreciate that this definitely seems to be a thing. From the Forward, you  can read the article here about the use of caffeine suppositories to ease the horrible effects of withdrawal on the … Continue reading →

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A Christian-Pagan Philosophy of Life (“What Now? Remind Me”) (Joaquim Pinto) 

Posted on April 13, 2017 by zjb

Joaquim Pinto’s Portuguese language film What Now? Remind Me is too big a film to lend itself to a narrative or scene-by-scene exposition. Along with a conversation with the director, it was screened as a plenary session at “The Place … Continue reading →

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Son of Saul (Art At Auschwitz)

Posted on December 23, 2015 by zjb

Who cares about the Holocaust anymore? Who goes to see a Holocaust movie and what does one want from it? These were my thoughts going in to see Laszlo Nemes’ Son of Saul this afternoon. For some time now, so … Continue reading →

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Theology, Poetry, and Crossword Puzzles After Auschwitz (Jacob Petuchowski)

Posted on July 13, 2015 by zjb

Despite its dowdy title and drab cover, Jacob Petuchowski published Theology and Poetry: Studies in Medieval Piyyut as a popular and user-friendly book for the middle brow American Jewish reader. It’s a very modern book, a complex little thing with four … Continue reading →

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Theology, Poetry, and Crossword Puzzles After Auschwitz (Jacob Petuchowski)

Posted on July 13, 2015 by zjb

Despite its dowdy title and drab cover, Jacob Petuchowski published Theology and Poetry: Studies in Medieval Piyyut as a popular and user-friendly book for the middle brow American Jewish reader. It’s a very modern book, a complex little thing with four … Continue reading →

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“My People Was Burned to Death in Poland”  (Abraham Joshua Heschel)

Posted on February 17, 2015 by zjb

A world on fire. And no one cares. Whenever I work through Heschel’s Man is Not Alone, I spend a lot of time on his construction of the ultimate question. It’s not “Is there a God?” It’s not “why is … Continue reading →

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