Anger

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From Scandalous Liaisons (2007)

  “I’ll act the part of anything you need,” she said desperately. “The alternative is your leaving and our marriage ending. Despite the way you’re acting, I know that’s not what you want. You’re hurting. Allow me to help you.” Damn her. He could bear anything but her loss, and she knew it. Yet the monster inside him was determined to push her away. “I don’t want to make love, Olivia. I want to fuck. Is that what you want? Do you want to be fucked?” Her lips parted, and he watched her swallow hard. Desire mingled with the other emotions in her gaze. “Very well, then.” Sebastian ripped open the placket of his trousers to ease the unbearable constriction. His cock, hard and swollen, sprung free. “Lift your gown and lay on your stomach.” Her eyes widened. “Sebastian . . .” “Now,” he growled. He watched with primitive satisfaction as Olivia scrambled to do his bidding. His blood heated further as her shapely legs and luscious ass came into view. He stepped up to her and caressed the silken curve of her thigh, rubbing his erection in the valley between her buttocks. Bending over to bite her earlobe, he whispered, “I’m going to use you, wife. Hard and deep, all night. You won’t be able to walk in the morning.” Olivia whimpered, squirming against the edge of the mattress. He brought his hand back and spanked her. Hard. She cried out in astonishment. “Spread your legs. Wider.” Sebastian noted the wetness that dampened the curls of her sex. He ran his fingers through it. “Ummm. Always ready for me.” He spanked her again, admiring the imprint left by his hand. He was filled with a violent need to possess her, to claim her, to prove to them both that it was too late to turn back now. As horrid and twisted and unworthy as he was, she was bound to him. Forever. Sebastian licked the side of her face. “Are you scared, sweet?” Swallowing hard, she shook her head. “I-I . . .” “You what? You like it?” “Do anything . . . .” she breathed. “I like everything you do . . .” “Good girl.” He slid his cock between her thighs, thrusting back and forth to coat the length of his erection with her cream. She arched her hips into the erotic caress, and he rewarded her with the barest penetration. He teased her opening with a shallow plunge and then withdrew, relishing her protest. Sebastian slid his hands up her straining back, lifting her night rail as he went, licking along the curve of her spine. “Sweet Olivia. Obeys Daddy without question, but inside, she longs for a wicked man to ravish her.” His voice dropped to a husky murmur. “A pirate perhaps?” She gasped and bucked against the scorching heat of his erection. “Please . . . don’t tease . . .”

• From Scandalous Liaisons (2007)

  Stifling a yawn, Olivia perused the ballroom with a jaundiced eye. The event was a crush, therefore the room was hot and, despite the profusion of flowers, smelly as well. She had no desire to be here, but Dunsmore had insisted she attend. One would think that the last four months would have wrought some change in their feelings for one another, considering how closely they worked together to ensure her social success. But such was not the case. She detested the horrid man as much today as the day she had first met him. Unfortunately, left to her own devices, she’d had no recourse but to seek out the marquess’s assistance. She required his support to establish herself as Lady Merrick. Without him, the social acceptance that was due her would have been denied her. Personally, Olivia cared nothing for the Beau Monde’s regard, and if she’d had any choice, she would have remained at home and licked her wounds in peace. Her child, on the other hand, deserved a proper start in life, and it was for that reason alone she feigned interest in Polite Society. Her hard work was rewarded with unequivocal success. Even Dunsmore was impressed, and she’d sensed an almost imperceptible softening in his attitude toward her. He would be thrilled to learn that she was enceinte and that all of his machinations had the desired outcome, but the knowledge was too precious to share. She suspected he would take a perverse pleasure in obtaining the knowledge before Sebastian, and she refused to give him the satisfaction. It was the final act of kindness she would ever bestow upon her errant husband. She’d been devastated when he left, weepy and despondent. Then she’d turned furious. She remained furious. Olivia set her glass of lemonade on the tray of a nearby footman before she snapped the delicate stem in half. Sebastian had broken his word, left her to fend for herself among the wolves while he ran from his troubles. She would never forgive him for that. Never. “Trust me,” he wrote. Ha! He refused to trust her. Why should she be the only party in their marriage to extend such a simple courtesy? “My lady, would it be too much to hope that you still have a dance available?” Olivia turned at the sound of the familiar drawl, eyeing Carr Blake with a sigh. The man wasn’t truly evil like his uncle, just misguided and easily led. Regardless, she kept a close eye on him and maintained a rigid distance from his friendly overtures. The man had set out to deceive her in the most heinous manner imaginable, and that was an offense she would never forget. Still, she had appearances to maintain, and one of them was a feigned closeness to the Blake brood, distasteful as they all were. “Certainly. The set after next.” His blue eyes gleamed with excitement. “I am a fortunate man.”

• From Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (2009)

  troublesome for the Pope was the new openness in sexual mores and questioning of traditional gender roles. He gave the whole package of attitudes the striking blanket label ‘a culture of death’; and he was much more consistent than most American Evangelicals in his passionate commitment to the protection of human life. Alongside his hatred of abortion, a hatred which Evangelicals shared, he bitterly opposed the death penalty for criminals, so frequently exercised in the United States, and he also discountenanced President George W. Bush by his fierce condemnation of the renewed American invasion of Iraq in the Second Gulf War. Prominent in the culture of death for the Pope was artificial contraception. There was no question of revising Paul VI’s ban, even when it became apparent that the use of condoms was one of the most effective ways of curbing the worldwide spread of AIDS.70 John Paul’s consistency (for good or ill) in all this nevertheless fatally deserted the Vatican over one of the most painful issues in sexuality, the sexual abuse of children and young people by clergy. For the world to discover how widespread this had been over the span of living memory was bad enough; what was much worse was the exposure of the Church’s history of cover-up and callous treatment of those who complained, and the fact that this attitude was not effectively reversed during the 1990s. The problem sprang not simply from the defensiveness which is common to all monumental institutions. It was an inheritance from centuries of building an image of priesthood in which the priest by virtue of ordination became an objectively different being from other humans. It was easy to slide from that into an attitude which suggested that different moral rules applied to such a separate being.71 Particularly damaging was Pope John Paul’s consistent support for an ultra- conservative Catholic activist organization, the Legion of Christ, founded in mid-twentieth-century Mexico. Persistent accusations of sexual abuse against its founder, Marcial Maciel Degollado, a participant in the Cristero war in his youth, were ignored in Rome to the very end of John Paul’s pontificate. Not so under his successor Josef Ratzinger, Benedict XVI. In May 2006 a statement about Maciel was issued on behalf of Pope Benedict’s own successor as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that ‘considering his advanced age and his frail health, the Holy See has decided not to begin a canonical process but to “invite him to a reserved life of prayer and penance, renouncing all public ministry”.’72 At last the Vatican was taking seriously the scale of what was going on, which John Paul, with his own austere sexual integrity, seemed incapable of imaginatively appreciating. It was too late to prevent the decimation of congregations throughout the anglophone world and in Europe: an unprecedented blow to the authority of the Church in which ridicule, exemplified

• From Scandalous Liaisons (2007)

  She was all that her father had. To disappoint him or sadden him was more than she could bear. Phoenix searched her face for a long moment. Then he turned and left the cabin without another word, taking with him all of the crackling energy he exuded. Sebastian assessed the blessedly minor damage to his father-in-law’s ship and cursed his father for putting him in this predicament. He leaned against the railing and closed his eyes as the salty breeze ruffled his hair. The sea had been his demanding and quick-tempered mistress for five years now. Disregarding his past, she had welcomed him with open arms. She had soothed the hurts that had caused him to flee his home and had given him an existence as distant as possible from the one that had pained him. Now a new life had been created for him without his knowledge or consent. Miserable as he was to admit it, Sebastian had no doubt Olivia was telling the truth. What exactly the marquess had intended by marrying him off he couldn’t fathom. He hadn’t been in touch with any member of his family in years. What had they planned to tell the poor girl when she arrived and found her husband missing? He snorted. “Girl” was incorrect. Olivia Merrick was all woman. His woman. His wife. Hell and damnation. Sebastian kicked aside an abandoned sword and cursed so foully that all the men on deck looked his way. For all intents and purposes, he was married. To the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen and the daughter of Jack Lambert, one of the richest merchants in the world. If marriage had been a goal of his, he’d have been pleased. But he didn’t want to be married. He had no desire to return to England and assume the role that should rightfully have gone to his brother, Edmund. “Phoenix.” Sebastian turned to face Will, his first mate, a burly man whose enormous physique contrasted sharply with his harmless-sounding name. “What is it?” he asked curtly. “We found ’er ladyship’s things.” Will’s bushy mustache twitched. “I’ve never seen the like. A bed, and bath, and fresh water stored for the use of it. But when we tried to take ’er trunks into yer cabin, she damn near shot Red’s ’ead off.” “Shot him?” “Aye, wiv yer pistol.” Sebastian pinched the bridge of his nose in a vain attempt to ward off a headache. Damned vixen, he thought, but a reluctant smile curled his mouth nevertheless. Olivia had fire and spirit—qualities he admired in his bed partners. Good God! Horrified, he shook the thought right out of his head. No. He was not going to even think about bedding her. Bedding her meant keeping her, and he sure as hell wasn’t keeping her. She deserved better than a pirate. “I shall see to her,” he grumbled. “Have the men begin repairs to her ship. I want to return Lady Merrick to her father posthaste.”

• From Scandalous Liaisons (2007)

  She stilled, her eyes narrowing. “How do you know about my aunt?” “I know everything about every one of the members of my club. Especially those who enjoy lines of credit.” Remington’s thumb began an absentminded caress of the hollow of her elbow. Julienne felt the warmth of his touch all the way to her bones. “I know your parents died when you were very young and your Aunt Eugenia’s been your guardian for years. You and Montrose are always running roughshod over her. Your brother is brash, hotheaded, and still too young for the responsibilities of his title. You’re always bailing him out of one mess or another. And now I know how seriously you take that responsibility.” She looked away, flustered that he knew such intimate details. “Do you also know how sick to death I am of that chore?” she said finally, surprising herself with the admission. His voice turned soft and sympathetic. “I’m certain you must be. But you’ve done an admirable job. There’s not been even a breath of scandal attached to the La Coeur name.” Julienne looked up at him, overwhelmed by his nearness. She felt slightly tipsy, but she couldn’t blame it on the brandy. Lord Ridgely was presently wearing most of it. Remington led her across the room and pulled the bell. “I’ll have one of the courtesans give you a night rail. You’ll be comfortable. My hospitality is legendary.” She scowled. “That’s not all that’s legendary.” Unperturbed, he gave her a wink. A lock of silky hair fell across his forehead, and Julienne fought the unaccountable urge to brush it away with her fingertips. An attendant came, and Remington drew him aside. When the servant left, she tried again to reason her way out of trouble. “Mr. Remington, I must insist you allow me to leave. It is most improper for me to spend the evening here.” “And masquerading your way into my club is proper?” Remington’s brilliant gaze hardened with determination. “You’ve created an inconvenience for me, Lady Julienne. The least you can do is minimize the damage.” Everything they said about the man was true. Single-minded. Stubborn. Relentless. She could always slip away. She was good at— “Don’t even consider sneaking out,” he warned. “I’ve already instructed the attendant. You won’t get far.” “Of all the—!” she sputtered. Abruptly the wall opened, revealing a hidden passageway and a young, scantily dressed woman. “Escort my”—he shot her an amused glance and chuckled—“lady friend to the Sapphire Room, Janice. Give her a night rail, and order her a supper tray.” The courtesan’s eyes widened as she studied Julienne with obvious interest. With a hand at the small of her back, Remington propelled her toward the opening. He bent low, his lips brushing her ear. “Stay in your room until I send for you in the morning. I would hate for you to be seen without your disguise.”

• From Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982)

  The street and the sky and the people I passed were all covered with a veil of rage fastened to an iron ring that was anchored with a steel bolt through the middle of my chest. I had to get to work, which was now at a library in the Bronx. I huddled against the back wall in the Astor Place Station, afraid I was going to push someone or myself under an approaching train. I rode up to Morris Avenue, my eyes filmed in red, my hands shaking. I could not separate the pain of betrayal from the pain of raw fury. Fury at Muriel, fury at Jill, fury at myself for not killing them both. The train rocketed on, with a delay at 34th Street. If I could not let this poison out of me I would die. A blinding headache came and went, without increasing or lessening my agony. My nose started to bleed around Grand Central Station. Somebody gave me a tissue and a seat and I leaned my head back, closing my eyes. The pictures of mayhem that flashed across the screen of my eyelids were too terrifying. I kept my eyes open for the rest of the way. That morning, there was a staff meeting at the library. On these days, the staff took turns preparing tea, an old library custom. This week it was my turn. In the sparsely furnished, immaculate staff kitchen, I lifted a large pot of boiling water from the stove to pour it into the teapot standing in the sink. Out of the kitchen window I could see fuzzy buds on the acacia tree in the tiny backyard that separated the library from the row of tenements fronting on the next street. In the dampness of this overcast Monday morning, the brightness of the new green was startling. Spring was coming on inexorably and Muriel had slept with Jill on our middle-room couch a few hours ago. My left hand closed around the open mouth of the teapot as the steaming pot of boiling water rested in my other hand against the edge of the sink. The snake ring that Muriel had given me for my birthday curled around my left index finger, silver against my brown skin. I considered the back of my hand and my wrist as it disappeared into the cuff of my shirt and sweater. Almost casually, I realized what was about to happen, as if all of this was a story in some book that I had read thoroughly some time before.

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  plaything, and finally to sure sign that you have your hooks in them. Nor should you be afraid that betray him with a laugh— if you make yourself difficult people will flee—we only abandon those well, she is a woman of who bore us. The ride on which you take your victims can be tortuous but little wisdom." • "My never dull. At all costs, keep your targets emotional and on edge. Create dear, your principles . . ." I protested. • "Are enough highs and lows and you will wear away the last vestiges of their founded on the experience willpower. of a thousand years," she replied mischievously, running her white fingers through the dark fur. "The Harshness and Kindness more submissive woman is, the more readily man recovers his self-possession and becomes domineering; In 1972, Henry Kissinger, then President Richard Nixon's assistant for national security affairs, received a request for an interview from the fa-but the more cruel and mous Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci. Kissinger rarely gave interviews; he faithless she is, the more she ill-treats him, the had no control over the final product, and he was a man who needed to be more wantonly she toys in control. But he had read Fallaci's interview with a North Vietnamese with him and the harsher general, and it had been instructive. She was extremely well informed on she is, the more she the Vietnam War; perhaps he could gather some information of his own, quickens his desire and secures his love and pick her brain. He decided to ask for a preinterview, a preliminary meeting. admiration. It has always He would grill her on different subjects; if she passed the test, he would been so, from the time of grant her an interview proper. They met, and he was impressed; she was Helen and Delilah all the way to Catherine the extremely intelligent—and tough. It would be an enjoyable challenge to Great and Lola Montez. " outwit her and prove that he was tougher. He agreed to a short interview a — L E O P O L D VON SACHER- few days later. M A S O C H , V E N U S I N F U R S , To Kissinger's annoyance, Fallaci began the interview by asking him TRANSLATED BY JEAN MCNEIL whether he was disappointed by the slow pace of the peace negotiations with North Vietnam. He would not discuss the negotiations—he had made that clear in the preinterview. Yet she continued the same line of question-In essence, the domain ing. He grew a little angry "That's enough," he said. "I don't want to of eroticism is the domain of talk any more about Vietnam." Although she didn't immediately aban-violence, of violation. . . .

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  Because she has so many lacks, the Beauty is relatively easy to seduce, and if done right, you will have won not only a much prized catch but someone who will grow dependent on what you provide. Most important in this seduction is to validate those parts of the Beauty that no one else appreciates—her intelligence (generally higher than people imagine), her skills, her character. Of course you must worship her body—you cannot stir up any insecurities in the one area in which she knows her strength, and the strength on which she most depends—but you also must worship her mind and soul. Intellectual stimulation will work well on the Beauty, distracting her from her doubts and insecurities, and making it seem that you value that side of her personality. Because the Beauty is always being looked at, she tends to be passive. Beneath her passivity, though, there often lies frustration: the Beauty would love to be more active and to actually do some chasing of her own. A little coquettishness can work well here: at some point in all your worshiping, you might go a little cold, inviting her to come after you. Train her to be more active and you will have an excellent victim. The only downside is that her many insecurities require constant attention and care. The Aging Baby. Some people refuse to grow up. Perhaps they are afraid of death or of growing old; perhaps they are passionately attached to the life they led as children. Disliking responsibility, they struggle to turn everything into play and recreation. In their twenties they can be charming, in their thirties interesting, but by the time they reach their forties they are beginning to wear thin. Contrary to what you might imagine, one Aging Baby does not want to be involved with another Aging Baby, even though the combination might seem to increase the chances for play and frivolity. The Aging Baby does not want competition, but an adult figure. If you desire to seduce this type, you must be prepared to be the responsible, staid one. That may be a The Seducer's Victims— The Eighteen Types • 157 strange way of seducing, but in this case it works. You should appear to like the Aging Baby's youthful spirit (it helps if you actually do), can engage with it, but you remain the indulgent adult. By being responsible you free the Baby to play. Act the loving adult to the hilt, never judging or criticizing their behavior, and a strong attachment will form. Aging Babies can be amusing for a while, but, like all children, they are often potently narcissistic. This limits the pleasure you can have with them. You should see them as short-term amusements or temporary outlets for your frustrated parental instincts.

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  Many earlier black leaders had used cautious words, and had asked their followers to deal patiently and politely with their social lot, no matter how unfair. What a relief Malcolm was. He ridiculed the racists, he ridiculed the liberals, he ridiculed the president; no white person escaped his scorn. If whites were violent, Malcolm said, the language of violence should be spoken back to them, for it was the only language they understood. "Hostility is good!" he cried out. "It's been bottled up too long." In response to the growing popularity of the nonviolent leader Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm said, "Anybody can sit. An old woman can sit. A coward can sit. . . . It takes a man to stand." Malcolm X had a bracing effect on many who felt the same anger he did but were frightened to express it. At his funeral—he was assassinated in 1965, at one of his speeches—the actor Ossie Davis delivered the eulogy before a large and emotional crowd: "Malcolm," he said, "was our own black shining prince." Malcolm X was a Charismatic of Moses' kind: he was a deliverer. The power of this sort of Charismatic comes from his or her expression of dark emotions that have built up over years of oppression. In doing so, the deliverer provides an opportunity for the release of bottled-up emotions by other people—of the hostility masked by forced politeness and smiles. Deliverers have to be one of the suffering crowd, only more so: their pain must be exemplary. Malcolm's personal history was an integral part of his charisma. His lesson—that blacks should help themselves, not wait for whites to lift them up—meant a great deal more because of his own years in prison, and because he had followed his own doctrine by educating him- 114 • The Art of Seduction self, lifting himself up from the bottom. The deliverer must be a living example of personal redemption. The essence of charisma is an overpowering emotion that communicates itself in your gestures, In your tone of voice, in subtle signs that are the more powerful for being unspoken. You feel something more deeply than others, and no emotion is more powerful and more capable of creating a charismatic reaction than hatred, particularly if it comes from deep-rooted feelings of oppression. Express what others are afraid to express and they will see great power in you. Say what they want to say but cannot.

• From Bright Lights, Big City (1984)

  “How’s it going?” You start to laugh. She laughs too. You slap your thigh. She wants to know how it’s going. A very funny question. Hilarious. Amanda is a riot. You are laughing so hard that you choke. Stevie slaps your back. As soon as you catch your breath you start laughing even harder. Amanda looks alarmed. She doesn’t know how funny she can be. You want to tell her she’s a barrel of monkeys but you can’t speak. You are laughing. People are pounding your back. It’s funny. People are funny. Everything’s so funny you could die laughing. You can’t breathe. You can’t even see. “Drink,” Tad says. He is holding you up with one arm and holding a plastic cup with the other. “Let there be space,” Tad says to the faces around you. You don’t see Amanda’s. “What’s the matter,” Stevie asks. “He’s epileptic,” Tad says. “I know how to handle this.” She retreats, understandably. “I’m not epileptic,” you say. “No, just an emotional quadriplegic.” “I couldn’t believe it,” you say. “How’s it going? Can you believe she said that?” You start to laugh again. “Take a breather, Coach.” Tad deposits you in a Mies van der Rohe chair. “You think that’s funny,” Tad says, “wait till you hear this.” “What?” “Odysseus, right? You remember who he is?” “How could I forget?” “I finally figured out where I saw him before.” “With his hand on Amanda’s ass.” “No. Listen to this. I have this account at the agency. No need to name names. But there’s this old babe in Atlanta who runs a company and comes up to New York two or three times a year for a face lift and free meals on the agency’s expense account. Naturally, she expects company for the evenings. So we provide this service through a little outfit called ‘Dial a Hunk.’ Male escort service, very top drawer. And when I say

• From What Are Biblical Values? (2019)

  “He sent me to fish.”12 THE BOOK OF REVELATION Despite the theological tradition that social reform is useless in view of the impending apocalypse, the Book of Revelation is the book of the New Testament that comes closest to sharing the outrage of the prophets about social abuses.13 To be sure, Revelation does not advance any social programs, but it is unsparing in its criticism of Rome. Though often oblique, the criticism clearly targets Rome’s economic dominance.14 The beast from the earth “causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark of the beast or the number of its name” (13:16–17). The mark of the beast was the image of the emperor on Roman coins.15 Revelation 17 paints an indelible portrait of Rome as the whore of Babylon, “clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations” (17:4). The following chapter notes that “the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxury” (18:3). Revelation does not suggest that this situation can be changed by human power; it calls for divine judgment. It is clear, however, that one of the reasons for divine judgment is economic injustice, dramatized by the conspicuous consumption and luxury of Rome. Economic injustice is clearly seen as grounds for divine judgment, and Revelation registers a protest against it. Eschatology, the expectation of an imminent end to the present order, does not, then, lead automatically to social indifference. On the contrary, the expectation of divine judgment lends power to the denunciations of Revelation, just as it lent power to the protests of the Hebrew prophets. A similar prophetic tone can be found in the Epistle of James, which calls on rich people to weep and wail for the miseries that are coming upon them, because they have lived in luxury and defrauded their workers (5:1–6).16 CHRIST AGAINST EMPIRE ? In recent years, many scholars have argued that most of the New Testament can be construed as preaching resistance against the Roman empire.17 Arguably, the exaltation of a figure who had been crucified by the Romans and the symbolic use of the cross were implicitly critical of the empire.18 Paul is anti-imperial insofar as he advocates service of Christ rather than service of the emperor. But Paul does not make the alternative explicit. He never suggests that service of Christ is incompatible with service of the emperor. The time remaining is short. There is no need for political revolution.

• From Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (2009)

  without a great deal of fuss, first took matters further than priestly orders. Dr Penny Jamieson, ordained priest in 1983, was Anglicanism’s first woman diocesan bishop, elected by the faithful in a very traditional-minded Anglo- Catholic diocese, Dunedin, in 1989.49 In Geneva in 2001, the Rev. Isabelle Graesslé became successor to John Calvin, the first woman Moderator of the Reformed Church of Geneva’s Company of Pastors and Deacons. She has spoken to me of her delight after her election in laying a rose on the cenotaph which commemorates Calvin’s unknown grave, and telling him gently, ‘It’s my turn now.’ Graesslé was also responsible for a significant addition to Geneva’s monumental Wall of the Reformers: the first female name engraved on it, that of a feisty former abbess, Marie Dentière, whose contribution to the Genevan Reformation had not given Calvin any pleasure.50 OLD-TIME RELIGION: AFFIRMATIONS It is not surprising that such frighteningly rapid changes in society and the Church have provoked a strong reaction, which in fact extends beyond Christianity to all major world faiths. A sequence of political events at the end of the 1970s came to reveal over time that the narrative of advancing secularization, which during the previous decade had seemed so convincing in the seminar rooms of European and American universities, needed some modification. In 1977 the United States presidential election was a triumph for Jimmy Carter, a Southern Baptist Democrat who had openly declared himself born-again; in 1978 there came the election of Karol Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II; in 1979 Shi’ite ayatollahs seized control of the revolution which had overthrown the Shah of Iran. Throughout the world at the present day, the most easily heard tone in religion (not just Christianity) is of a generally angry conservatism. Why? I would hazard that the anger centres on a profound shift in gender roles which have traditionally been given a religious significance and validated by religious traditions. It embodies the hurt of heterosexual men at cultural shifts which have generally threatened to marginalize them and deprive them of dignity, hegemony or even much usefulness – not merely heterosexual men already in positions of leadership, but those who in traditional cultural systems would expect to inherit leadership. It has been observed by sociologists of religion that the most extreme forms of conservatism to be found in modern world religions, conservatisms which in a borrowing from Christianity have been termed ‘fundamentalism’, are especially attractive to ‘literate but jobless, unmarried male youths marginalized and disenfranchised by the juggernaut of

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  Use the Demonic Power of Words to Sow Confusion • 261 told how much wealth Caesar had left to the Roman people. This was the coup de grace—the crowd turned against the conspirators and went off to lynch them. Antony was a clever man, who knew how to stir a crowd. According to the Greek historian Plutarch, "When he saw that his oratory had cast a spell over the people and that they were deeply stirred by his words, he began to introduce into his praises [of Caesar] a note of pity and of indignation at Caesar's fate." Seductive language aims at people's emotions, for emotional people are easier to deceive. Antony used various devices to stir the crowd: a tremor in his voice, a distraught and then an angry tone. An emotional voice has an immediate, contagious effect on the listener. Antony also teased the crowd with the will, holding off the reading of it to the end, knowing it would push people over the edge. Holding up the cloak, he made his imagery visceral. Perhaps you are not trying to whip a crowd into a frenzy; you just want to bring people over to your side. Choose your strategy and words carefully. You might think it is better to reason with people, explain your ideas. But it is hard for an audience to decide whether an argument is reasonable as they listen to you talk. They have to concentrate and listen closely, which requires great effort. People are easily distracted by other stimuli, and if they miss a part of your argument, they will feel confused, intellectually inferior, and vaguely insecure. It is more persuasive to appeal to people's hearts than their heads. Everyone shares emotions, and no one feels inferior to a speaker who stirs up their feelings. The crowd bonds together, everyone contagiously experiencing the same emotions. Antony talked of Caesar as if he and the listeners were experiencing the murder from Caesar's point of view. What could be more provocative? Use such changes of perspective to make your listeners feel what you are saying. Orchestrate your effects. It is more effective to move from one emotion to another than to just hit one note. The contrast between Antony's affection for Caesar and his indignation at the murderers was much more powerful than if he had stayed with one feeling or the other.

• From Books That Have Made History: Books That Can Change Your Life (2005)

  11 This narrative poem describes a few days in the struggle between the Greeks and the Trojans that lasted more than 10 years. Before the events of the Iliad take place, the story began with a dispute among the gods. The goddess of discord brought to a banquet a golden apple to be given to the fairest goddess. The gods requested that Zeus decide which one was the fairest, and he delegated the decision to Paris. Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena offered bribes to Paris, and Paris chose Aphrodite, who offered him the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris thereby incurred the wrath of Hera and Athena. Helen, the wife of Menelaus, eloped with Paris. Agamemnon, the brother of Menelaus, led the fl eet that was to sail to Troy to retrieve Helen. However, the ships could not leave because there was no wind. A soothsayer indicated that the gods were outraged and would not be satisfi ed unless Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, was sacrifi ced. The winds came up, and the fl eet sailed to Troy. The struggle lasted 10 years, during which the Trojans were too bound by honor to give Helen back and the Greeks were too bound by honor to return home. What began as an expedition to retrieve honor became a 10-year war in the Middle East. Homer’s poetic genius was such that he chose one episode in the war to crystallize all the great themes. The story of the Iliad begins with the outrage of Achilles about the wrong done him by Agamemnon. Achilles believed that he had been dishonored and refused to fi ght; after his withdrawal, the Trojans came near to victory. To save the honor of Greece, Patroclus, a friend of Achilles, put on the armor of Achilles and died at the hand of Hector, the noblest of the Trojans. Achilles, motivated by the death of his friend and driven by honor and anger, then went into battle and killed Hector. He fi nally returned Hector’s body at the Achilles, hero of Homer’s Iliad bandaging the wound of his friend Patroclus. © Photos.com/Thinkstock.

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  In 1914, Frieda and Lawrence were married, but over the following years the same pattern repeated. He would scold her for her laziness, the nostalgia for her children, her abysmal housekeeping. He would take her on trips around the world, on very little money, never letting her settle down, although it was her fondest wish. They fought and fought. Once in New Mexico, in front of friends, he yelled at her, "Take that dirty cigarette out of your mouth! And stop sticking out that fat belly of yours!" "You'd better stop that talk or I'll tell about your things," she yelled back. (She had learned to give him a taste of his own medicine.) They both went outside. Their friends watched, worried it might turn violent. They disappeared from sight only to reappear moments later, arm in arm, laughing and mooning over one another. That was the most disconcerting thing about the Lawrences: married for years, they often behaved like infatuated newlyweds. Interpretation. When Lawrence first met Frieda, he could sense right away what her weakness was: she felt trapped, in a stultifying relationship and a pampered life. Her husband, like so many husbands, was kind, but never paid enough attention to her. She craved drama and adventure, but was too lazy to get it on her own. Drama and adventure were just what Lawrence would provide. Instead of feeling trapped, she had the freedom to leave him at any moment. Instead of ignoring her, he criticized her constantly— at least he was paying attention, never taking her for granted. Instead of comfort and boredom, he gave her adventure and romance. The fights he picked with ritualistic frequency also ensured nonstop drama and the space for a powerful reconciliation. He inspired a touch of fear in her, which kept her off balance, never quite sure of him. As a result, the relationship never grew stale. It kept renewing itself. If it is integration you are after, seduction must never stop. Otherwise boredom will creep in. And the best way to keep the process going is often to inject intermittent drama. This can be painful—opening old wounds, stirring up jealousy, withdrawing a little. (Do not confuse this behavior with nagging or carping criticism—this pain is strategic, designed to break up rigid patterns.) On the other hand it can also be pleasant: think about Beware the Aftereffects • 425 proving yourself all over again, paying attention to nice little details, creating new temptations. In fact you should mix the two aspects, for too much pain or pleasure will not prove seductive. You are not repeating the first seduction, for the target has already surrendered. You are simply supplying little jolts, little wake-up calls that show two things: you have not stopped trying, and they cannot take you for granted. The little jolt will stir up the old poison, stoke the embers, bring you temporarily back to the beginning, when your involvement had a most pleasant freshness and tension.

• From What Are Biblical Values? (2019)

  If there was no massacre of the Canaanites, as apologists for the biblical text eagerly agree, then there was no divine command mandating the conquest of the land.17 In fact, the supposed divine command dovetails too neatly with the interests of one party in the conflict to be accepted without suspicion. The story of the conquest does not necessarily tell us the wishes of God for the land west of the Jordan; it conveys only the aspirations of some Israelites or Judeans. Jewish tradition has usually dealt with the problem of violence in the conquest tradition by pointing out that the commands in Deuteronomy and Joshua concern specific peoples (Canaanites, Amalekites, etc.) who no longer exist.18 Extending the commandments by analogy to modern peoples like the Palestinians is not permitted. But if a text is regarded as sacred or canonical, it is difficult to exclude analogical applications. The text would lose its relevance for our time. If the kind of violence that is extolled in these texts now seems unacceptable, the question arises, should these texts still be regarded as authoritative and, if so, in what sense? THE ZEALOT IDEAL Violence in itself is not a biblical value, even in the story of the conquest. It is related, however, to a value that is sometimes proclaimed in the Bible and is often associated with religious fanaticism: zeal. The paradigmatic zealot in the Hebrew Bible is the priest Phinehas in Numbers 25.19 When Israel was staying at Shittim, in the course of the Exodus, the people began to have sexual relations with the women of Moab. One man, Zimri, brought a Midianite woman to his tent. When Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, saw it, he took his spear, followed them into the tent, and pierced the man and woman together. By modern standards this is an extreme act of intolerance. Yet Phinehas is rewarded with a covenant of eternal priesthood. For the biblical author, the distinct identity of Israel was at stake. (Intermarriage has remained a sensitive issue in Judaism down to the present day.) The word for “zeal” is the same word that is used to say that Yahweh is a jealous God. It bespeaks an absolute devotion, one that brooks no reflection or compromise. (Phinehas makes no attempt to persuade Zimri of the error of his ways.) In later times, some of the Judeans who resisted Roman occupation by violent means were called Zealots in reference to their religious motivation. It is sometimes argued that the exemplary dimension of Phinehas’s action was not its violence but his zeal for the Lord.20 But zeal is inherently violent, for it is intolerant. Yahweh is a jealous God who tolerates the worship of no other gods.

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  unappealing man like Claudius, not notice me, or care about my affairs with an obvious lack of with other men? But nothing she did seemed to matter to him. candor, and spread herself Claudius marks the extreme, but the spectrum of inattention is wide. A in long considerations about his ruin; his lot of people pay too little attention to the details, the signals another per- departure should be openly son gives. Their senses are dulled by work, by hardship, by self-absorption. anticipated, his tastes and We often see this turning off the seductive charge between two people, no- desires should be thwarted, tably between couples who have been together for years. Carried further, it his poverty outraged; she should let him see that she will stir angry, bitter feelings. Often, the one who has been cheated on by a is in sympathy with partner started the dynamic by patterns of inattention. another man, she should blame him with harsh words on every occasion; she should tell lies about 2. In 1639, a French army besieged and took possession of the Italian city of him to her parasites, she Turin. Two French officers, the Chevalier (later Count) de Grammont and should interrupt his sentences, and send him on his friend Matta, decided to turn their attention to the city's beautiful frequent errands away from women. The wives of some of Turin's most illustrious men were more than the house. She should seek susceptible—their husbands were busy, and kept mistresses of their own. The occasions of quarrel, and wives' only requirement was that the suitor play by the rules of gallantry. make him the victim of a thousand domestic The chevalier and Matta were quick to find partners, the chevalier perfidies; she should rack choosing the beautiful Mademoiselle de Saint-Germain, who was soon to her brains to vex him; she be betrothed, and Matta offering his services to an older and more experi- should play with the glances of another in his enced woman, Madame de Senantes. The chevalier took to wearing green, presence, and give herself Matta blue, these being their ladies' favorite colors. On the second day of up to reprehensible their courtships the couples visited a palace outside the city. The chevalier profligacy before his face; she should leave the house was all charm, making Mademoiselle de Saint-Germain laugh uproariously as often as possible, and let at his witticisms, but Matta did not fare so well; he had no patience for this it be seen that she has no gallantry business, and when he and Madame de Senantes took a stroll, he real need to do so. All these means are good for squeezed her hand and boldly declared his affections. The lady of course showing a man the door. was aghast, and when they got back to Turin she left without looking at — EASTERN LOVE, VOLUME II: him. Unaware that he had offended her, Matta imagined that she was over- THE HARLOT'S BREVIARY OF

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  velop a keen hatred of his students. Mut was in his late fifties, and had worked at the same school for many years. He taught Greek and Latin and was a distinguished classical scholar. He had always felt a need to impose discipline, but now it was getting ugly: the students were simply not interested in Homer anymore. They listened to bad music and only liked modern literature. Although they were rebellious, Mut considered them soft and undisciplined. He wanted to teach them a lesson and make their lives miserable; his usual way of dealing with their bouts of rowdiness was sheer bullying, and most often it worked. One day a student Mut loathed—a haughty, well-dressed young man named Lohmann—stood up in class and said, "I can't go on working in this room, Professor. There is such a smell of mud." Mud was the boys' nickname for Professor Mut. The professor seized Lohmann by the arm, twisted it hard, then banished him from the room. He later noticed that Lohmann had left his exercise book behind, and thumbing through it he saw a paragraph about an actress named Rosa Fröhlich. A plot hatched in Mut's mind: he would catch Lohmann cavorting with this actress, no doubt a woman of ill repute, and would get the boy kicked out of school. First he had to find out where she performed. He searched high and low, finally finding her name up outside a club called the Blue Angel. He went in. It was a smoke-filled place, full of the working-class types he looked down on. Rosa was onstage. She was singing a song; the way she looked everyone in the audience in the eye was rather brazen, but for some reason Mut found this disarming. He relaxed a little, had some wine. After her performance he made his way to her dressing room, determined to grill her about Lohmann. Once there he felt strangely uncomfortable, but he gathered up his courage, accused her of leading schoolboys astray, and threatened to get the police to close the place down. Rosa, however, was not intimidated. She turned all of Mut's sentences around: perhaps he was the one leading boys astray. Her tone was cajoling and teasing. Yes, Lohmann had bought her flowers and champagne—so what? No one had ever talked to Mut this way before; his authoritative tone usually made people give way. He should have felt offended: she was low class and a woman, and he was a schoolmaster, but she was talking to him as if they were equals. Instead, however, he neither got angry nor left—something compelled him to stay.

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  died, as if he were a relation. Nell, too, would show up at the palace on twenty years. If you want these occasions dressed in black, and would sorrowfully say that she was me to, I will tell you what happened to me a few years mourning for the "Cham of Tartary" or the "Boog of Oronooko"—grand ago. • At that time I had a relatives of her own. To her face, she called the duchess "Squintabella" and steady lover, a certain the "Weeping Willow," because of her simpering manners and melancholic Demophantos, a usurer living near Poikile. He had airs. Soon the king was spending more time with Nell than with the never given me more than duchess. By the time Keroualle fell out of favor, Nell had in essence befive drachmas and he come the king's favorite, which she remained until his death, in 1685. pretended to be my man. But his love was only superficial, Chrysis. He never sighed, he never shed Interpretation. Nell Gwyn was ambitious. She wanted power and fame, tears for me and he never spent the night waiting at but in the seventeenth century the only way a woman could get those Beware the Aftereffects • 421 things was through a man—and who better than the king? But to get in- my door. One day he came volved with Charles was a dangerous game. A man like him, easily bored to see me, knocked at my door, but I did not open it. and in need of variety, would use her for a fling, then find someone else. You see, I had the painter, Nell's strategy for the problem was simple: she let the king have his Callides, in my room; other girls, and never complained. Every time he saw her, though, she Callides had given me ten made sure he was entertained and diverted. She filled his senses with plea- drachmas. Demophantos swore and beat his fists on sure, acting as if his position had nothing to do with her love for him. Vari- the door and left cursing ety in women could wear on the nerves, tiring a busy king. They all made me. Several days passed so many demands. If one woman could provide the same variety (and Nell, without my sending for him; Callides was still in as an actress, knew how to play different roles), she had a big advantage. my house. Thereupon Nell never asked for money, so Charles plied her with wealth. She never Demophantos, who was asked to be the favorite—how could she? She was a commoner—but he ele- already quite excited, went wild. He broke open my vated her to the position. door, wept, pulled me Many of your targets will be like kings and queens, particularly those about, threatened to kill who are easily bored. Once the seduction is over they will not only have me, tore my tunic, and did everything, in fact, that a

• From What Are Biblical Values? (2019)

  In fall 2018 a Roman Catholic bishop, Robert Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin, a critic of Pope Francis, declared: “There is too much talk of love in the church and too little hatred of evil” (reported by the National Catholic Reporter, November 2–15, 2018, 26). 26. Soloveichik, “The Virtue of Hate,”46. 27. Ibid., 43–44. 28. Whether there was religious persecution in the Maccabean era has been questioned. See my essay “Temple or Taxes?” 29. See my essay “Cognitive Dissonance and Eschatological Violence,” 310–14. 30. Gyges reigned as king of Lydia from 716 to 678 BCE. He was the subject of several legendary stories preserved by the Greek historian Herodotus and also by Plato. 31. So Crossan, “Divine Violence in the Christian Bible,” 209; similarly, Frankfurter, “The Legacy of Sectarian Rage.” For a more balanced assessment see van Henten, “Violence in Revelation.” 32. Stratton, “The Eschatological Arena.” 33. See, e.g., Desjardins, Peace , Violence , and the New Testament, 62–110; Matthews and Gibson, Violence in the New Testament. 34. See Wessinger, “Apocalypse and Violence.” 35. Tacitus, Agricola 30 (trans. M. Hutton, revised by R. Ogilvie, Loeb Classical Library [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958], 81). 36. Lawrence, Apocalypse, 87–88. 37. Schüssler Fiorenza, Invitation to the Book of Revelation, 173; Schüssler Fiorenza, The Book of Revelation. 38. See Appleby, “The Unholy Uses,” 75. 39. Revelation 13:10. The text of this passage is uncertain. See Yarbro Collins, “The Political Perspective,” 206. 40. Stendahl, “Hate, Non-retaliation and Love,” 344–45. 41. On apocalyptic fantasy as catharsis, see Yarbro Collins, Crisis and Catharsis, 141–63. 42. Ibid., 69–73. 43. See Gager with Gibson, “Violent Acts and Violent Language.” 44. Josephus, Jewish War 2.259–60 (trans. H. St. J. Thackeray, Loeb Classical Library [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927], 425). 45. Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God, 108–9. 46. See Appleby, “The Unholy Uses,” 77. 47. Lincoln, “Symmetric Dualisms,” republished as chapter 2 in Lincoln, Holy Terrors. 48. Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament , 332. David J. Neville, in A Peaceable Hope, argues for a shalom -oriented canonical trajectory in the Bible. 49. See the balanced discussion in Desjardins, Peace , Violence , and the New Testament . 50. Aslan, Zealot, 144. 51. Martin, “Jesus in Jerusalem.” 52. See the refutation of Martin’s argument in Paula Fredriksen, “Arms and the Man.” 53. Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament , 322–23. 54. See Yarbro Collins, “Jesus’ Action in Herod’s Temple.” 55. Wink, Jesus and Nonviolence . 56. So Horsley, “ ‘By the Finger of God,’ ” 69. See also Horsley, Jesus and the Spiral of Violence . 57. Horsley, “ ‘By the Finger of God,’ ” 70. 58. John P. Meier, in A Marginal Jew, 5:261, regards the mixture of good and bad in this world as a typically Matthean theme. 59. See the thorough discussion in Meier, A Marginal Jew, 4:532–51. 60. So Williams, The Bible , Violence , and the Sacred, 243. Williams bases his approach on the work of the French philosopher René Girard.