Resurrection Of A Bookworm

 

https://quillette.com/2021/03/19/sex-drugs-and-antiquity/

A combination of a post from Facebook and an email to my friend Bobby.

You recently asked if I was reading any new books. here are a few. Two of them are light novels. The first is Ascendance of a Bookworm.  The manga,  the light novel and the anime. All so different in various aspects that are all quite interesting. 

Personally, I prefer to see the anime first for the visuals and color, then the manga for some more detail, and finally the light novel to see the original to gain even more detail and to experience the author’s original vision. Each one is informed by the last, so by watching them in reverse order, I see the most polished visual presentation which then contributes to my imagery as I read the other two.

Another one is Mushoku Tensei. The same as the above except there is a great deal of emotional depth to it. Some have condemned it as perverted (yes, even anime fans have done so) but in fact, while the main protagonist is a disgusting creep, the story is about his attempts to redeem himself when he’s given a second chance at life. In that context everything becomes very different in its implications.

Finally, I’ve been getting bored with Quillette. It’s becoming slowly but steadily radicalized. It’s hard to find anything in it now that isn’t unreasonable and knee-jerk conservative (old style conservative, meaning not the insanity that passes for the word today). This article surprised me coming from them. It certainly isn’t what I would call conservative. 

Also, I’m serious. I think I will have to break down and stretch my budget somehow to find the money to buy the book. No, I can’t get it from the library. I want to write notes in the margins. Libraries don’t like that. Or more accurately, librarians do not like that.

Very definitely they do not like it.  Do not  do this with library books.

https://quillette.com/2021/03/19/sex-drugs-and-antiquity/

 If the following excerpts don’t intrugue you and lead you to read the article, I can’t imagine what I could possibly do to get you interested.

I think I need to acquire the book.

> Was the original Holy Communion in fact a psychedelic Eucharist?

...  Miraculous wine clearly marks Jesus’s legacy in the Gospel of John, which also has Jesus calling himself “the True Vine.”

... Jesus the Wine God came to Rome.

... Christian wine is no ordinary wine. It is the blood of God that opens the gates of eternity, promising instant immortality.

... he urges us to make safe, delightfully intoxicating drugs as a positive human project.

... they make sober arguments for the right to intoxication.

What was Christianity originally like? What was its nature? How did people participate? The cruelty and fanaticism of the Proto orthodox was largely geared not only to crushing down those those first Christians and the faith as originally practiced, it was designed to completely destroy any memory or knowledge of it.