Category Archives: Uncategorized

FROM WHENCE COMES OUR HELP?

Posted on July 22, 2015 by stanwiedeman

Several weeks ago the federal government negotiated an $18.7 billion deal with BP to satisfy all state and federal claims against the oil company induced by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The penalties were mitigated by allowing the company to make … Continue reading →

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WHAT IS TRUTH?

Posted on February 15, 2013 by stanwiedeman

When Suzi Parker posted her blog in the Washington Post Tuesday, she had no idea that she had strayed into the land of Oz, where things are not what they appear to be. Parker posted her article, “Sarah Palin tries to stay relevant” on her blog site, She the People. She had done her homework as many bloggers do, researching her topic on internet sites. But this time she made the mistake of citing information as factual from a web Continue reading →

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PI AND REALITY (Part 2)

Posted on February 1, 2013 by stanwiedeman

Florence Stratton offers a brilliant discussion of Martel’s book in her essay, “‘Hollow At the Core’: Deconstructing Yann Martel’s Life of Pi” in the literary journal, Studies in Canadian Literature (found at http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/scl/article/view/12746/13689). She writes, “Life of Pi is organized around a philosophical debate about the modern world’s privileging of reason over imagination, science over religion, materialism over idealism, fact over fiction or story. The extreme poles of this debate are represented in the latter part of the novel by the two officials from the Japanese government.” Continue reading →

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PI AND REALITY

Posted on January 17, 2013 by stanwiedeman

Although it received 11 Oscar nominations, including best picture, Life of Pi has attracted much attention outside the Screen Actors Guild, given its philosophical and religious underpinnings. Adapted for the screen from Yann Martel’s novel, the movie does not drown out these themes with its remarkable cinematography and special effects. Continue reading →

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A SUBLIME GRACE

Posted on January 9, 2013 by stanwiedeman

Valjean had experienced only the harsh and dispassionate force of the law, but he was now the victim of a sublime grace at the hands of a merciful and compassionate bishop. The bishop urged him to use the money from the silver to make himself an honest man. Then the bishop anoints him with these words, “Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to what is evil but to what is good. I have bought your soul to save it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.” Continue reading →

Posted in Grace, Movies, Redemption, Suffering, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments