Anxiety

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 Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  12:16–2116. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18. And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21. So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. THEOPHYLACT. Having said that the life of man is not extended by abundance of wealth, he adds a parable to induce belief in this, as it follows, And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. BASIL. (in Hom. de Avar.) Not indeed about to reap any good from his plenty of fruits, but that the mercy of God might the more appear, which extends its goodness even to the bad; sending down His rain upon the just and the unjust. But what are the things wherewith this man repays his Benefactor? He remembered not his fellow-creatures, nor deemed that he ought to give of his superfluities to the needy. His barns indeed bursting from the abundance of his stores, yet was his greedy mind by no means satisfied. He was unwilling to put up with his old ones because of his covetousness, and not able to undertake new ones because of the number, for his counsels were imperfect, and his care barren. Hence it follows, And he thought. His complaint is like that of the poor. Does not the man oppressed with want say, What shall I do, whence can I get food, whence clothing? Such things also the rich man utters. For his mind is distressed on account of his fruits pouring out from his storehouse, lest perchance when they have come forth they should profit the poor; like the glutton who had rather burst from eating, than give any thing of what remains to the starving. GREGORY. (Mor. 15. c. 13.) O adversity, the child of plenty. For saying, What shall I do, he surely betokens, that, oppressed by the success of his wishes, he labours as it were under a load of goods.

• From Augustine: Philosopher and Saint (2005)

  22 emoH daoR ehT—snoissefnoC :5 erutceL • The Augustinian theme of Reason and Authority—what we understand with our minds and what we believe by faith in the divine and authoritative teaching of the Church. Augustine’s Conversion (“Confessions” 8) • A growing sense of crisis leads to Augustine’s conversion: (cid:405) Temporary skepticism: No longer a Manichaean but not yet a Catholic, young Augustine adopts a position In the famous scene in the of skepticism (5:14.25). garden in Milan, Augustine (cid:405) Many years’ delay: It’s been hears a voice tell him to “take about a dozen years reading and read.” the Hortensius, and he still hasn’t dedicated his life to seeking wisdom! (6:11.18). (cid:405) The need for free time: How can he pursue philosophy when he has no time to read and think but has to spend all his time teaching rhetoric—mere empty words! (6:11.18.) (cid:405) No more excuses: His present mode of life comes to seem increasingly untenable and inexcusable. (cid:405) The key obstacle: He is engaged to be married and has sent away his concubine but can’t seem to give up sex—and so takes another concubine while he’s waiting to marry an underage Christian heiress (6:13.23–15.25). • Do walls make a Christian? Augustine hears the story of Victorinus, a rhetorician and philosopher who converted to the Christian faith and discovered that private belief wasn’t enough: He needed to enter the walls of the Church and be baptized (8:2.3–5). • The problem of will: (cid:405) The will in self-con(cid:192) ict: Augustine wants to dedicate his whole heart to the pursuit of wisdom, but he can’t give up his sexual habit. He dramatizes this problem as an inner con(cid:192) ict between two competing wills (8:8.19–9.21). .noisiviD shpargotohP dna stnirP ,ssergnoC fo yrarbiL

• From Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out (2014)

  Later they learn about the fantastic supernatural claims of “Master Li” and his singular status as the “living Buddha.”699 The personality-driven nature of the group isn’t completely evident at the beginning. But eventually, as the recruit becomes more deeply involved and his or her training progresses, he or she will learn that the supposed healing benefits of the group essentially depend on the supernatural powers of Li Hongzhi.700 Researcher Robert Cialdini, author of the book Influence , identified six basic principles of influence.701 These principles of influence can be used as tools to persuade anyone about almost anything, through carefully crafted advertising, sales gimmicks and fund raising. For example, the high-pressure sales and investment schemes that employ a “bait and switch” approach. This occurs when a shopper is lured in with the promise of one thing but subsequently moved to buy something else. In much the same way, cults can attract attention and interest by presenting themselves deceptively to lure in a potential recruit and then switch to something else as the recruitment process is completed. The unsettling truth about cults is that virtually anyone might be targeted and then successfully recruited. We are all more vulnerable and suggestible when we are suffering depression, feeling lonely, experiencing a difficult transition period, or trying to navigate in a new environment. This vulnerability is something most first-year college students experience. That is probably why many cults routinely target college and university campuses for recruitment. We are all more vulnerable at particular times to persuasion techniques. Anyone experiencing a personal trauma or setback, such as a death in the family, relationship problems, or some other personal ordeal, may experience a certain level of temporary vulnerability. Cults often exploit such transitional difficulties as an opportunity for recruitment. In this sense destructive cults can be seen metaphorically as a kind of seeping ooze, penetrating people through the cracks in their lives. In a rapidly changing world, people sometimes feel overwhelmed and anxious. Cults can present themselves as a solution or appear to respond to almost any dilemma. In this way they may pose as would-be providers of relief or the arbiters of certainty. Everyone at certain times wants assurance about difficulties and answers to perplexing questions. There is also a human need for security and sense of safety. Cults often feed on fear and insecurity, using such human frailties as a means of leveraging cult recruitment. Loneliness can also become a window of opportunity. The very human need for family, community, acceptance, and belonging can also be exploited as a vehicle for cult recruitment. Former cult members I have spoken with frequently recount a particularly vulnerable time in their lives when someone first approached and recruited them. It may have been a coworker, a family member, or an old friend; it was someone they trusted. In that moment they didn’t recognize what was happening, and they were in distress.

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  To avert this calamity and to settle this irrepressible conflict, the churches of Jerusalem and Antioch resolved to hold a private and a public conference at Jerusalem. Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas as commissioners to represent the Gentile converts. Paul, fully aware of the gravity of the crisis, obeyed at the same time an inner and higher impulse.437 He also took with him Titus, a native Greek, as a living specimen of what the Spirit of God could accomplish without circumcision. The conference was held A.D. 50 or 51 (fourteen years after Paul’s conversion). It was the first and in some respects the most important council or synod held in the history of Christendom, though differing widely from the councils of later times. It is placed in the middle of the book of Acts as the connecting link between the two sections of the apostolic church and the two epochs of its missionary history. The object of the Jerusalem consultation was twofold: first, to settle the personal relation between the Jewish and Gentile apostles, and to divide their field of labor; secondly, to decide the question of circumcision, and to define the relation between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. On the first point (as we learn from Paul) it effected a complete and final, on the second point (as we learn from Luke) a partial and temporary settlement. In the nature of the case the public conference in which the whole church took part, was preceded and accompanied by private consultations of the apostles.438

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  The great biblical scholars among the Fathers were chiefly concerned in drawing from the sacred records the catholic doctrines of salvation, and the precepts for a holy life; the Reformers and older Protestant divines studied them afresh with special zeal for the evangelical tenets which separated them from the Roman church; but all stood on the common ground of a reverential belief in the divine inspiration and authority of the Scriptures. The present age is preëminently historical and critical. The Scriptures are subjected to the same process of investigation and analysis as any other literary production of antiquity, with no other purpose than to ascertain the real facts in the case. We want to know the precise origin, gradual growth, and final completion of Christianity as an historical phenomenon in organic connection with contemporary events and currents of thought. The whole process through which it passed from the manger in Bethlehem to the cross of Calvary, and from the upper room in Jerusalem to the throne of the Caesars is to be reproduced, explained and understood according to the laws of regular historical development. And in this critical process the very foundations of the Christian faith have been assailed and undermined, so that the question now is, "to be or not to be." The remark of Goethe is as profound as it is true: "The conflict of faith and unbelief remains the proper, the only, the deepest theme of the history of the world and mankind, to which all others are subordinated." The modern critical movement began, we may say, about 1830, is still in full progress, and is likely to continue to the end of the nineteenth century, as the apostolic church itself extended over a period of seventy years before it had developed its resources. It was at first confined to Germany (Strauss, Baur, and the Tübingen School), then spread to France (Renan) and Holland (Scholten, Kuenen), and last to England ("Supernatural Religion") and America, so that the battle now extends along the whole line of Protestantism. There are two kinds of biblical criticism, verbal and historical. Textual Criticism.

• From Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out (2014)

  He said, “Other religions are the same.” But as the husband offered a new apology, it was also an opportunity to raise additional questions about the integrity and transparency of Scientology. For example, other religious groups are typically much more open about their beliefs, faith claims, and doctrines. Why does Scientology deliberately withhold information about important components of its belief system? Do Christians withhold certain information they know about Jesus? Do Jews conceal the story of Abraham? These questions emphasize the point that Scientology deliberately withholds important information about its basic beliefs. No one who enters Scientology is initially told about Xenu (pronounced Zee-new), “the head of the galactic federation” who ruled seventy-five million years ago and killed millions of people by blowing them up volcanically on earth. Only when a Scientologist reaches OT III (Operating Thetan Level 3)953 does he or she learn about how Xenu packaged disembodied spirits in “clusters” or body thetans (BTs), which would live on as one body. Only when a Scientologist reaches OT III does he or she learn the relevance of this history, which is linked to the process of cleansing oneself of negativity. This process includes addressing the negative influence of BTs, which can effectively be accomplished only through Scientology. I asked the husband whether he thought Scientology might be seen as deceptive or at least less than forthcoming by not openly sharing the story of Xenu and BTs with people from the beginning. Would Christians neglect to explain the importance of the virgin birth or resurrection as an important part of Christianity? Would Jews fail to disclose the epoch of Exodus and its relevance to the Ten Commandments? Despite the importance of Xenu to Scientology, his existence is not disclosed until a Scientologist reaches a predetermined point, which may take years to accomplish. Only then is this information shared. We talked about Singer’s delineation of the differences between indoctrination and thought reform—for example, that religious indoctrination is typically not deceptive but that thought reform “is deceptive.”954 There are eight OT levels in Scientology. As we discussed this aspect, everyone agreed that progressing through these various levels could be quite costly.955 But how could someone make an informed decision about such an investment of time and money if he or she doesn’t have the necessary information to fully understand Scientology? If Scientology expects someone to pay for courses and training, why isn’t there more meaningful disclosure about the beliefs that form the basis for much of that course work? The husband struggled with these questions and could neither easily address them nor offer solid answers. His family members reiterated their concerns—that if he was going to dedicate the rest of his life to Scientology as a full-time staffer, such issues must be addressed. Again we agreed to meet the following day, ending our second day with serious questions we would follow through on the next morning. On the third day the husband seemed almost anxious to begin.

• From Augustine: A New Biography (2005)

  Perhaps it was sometimes that simple. Augustine had been skeptical as a young man, and even for years after baptism. The mystic in him did not think it would be possible to cling to the best way of life and keep the soul at peace when torn by the duties of ministry.300 Living at home in Tagaste, he was suspicious of the clergy and reluctant to become one of them.301 When he did join, his bishop allowed him to live like a “monk” and to gather a community around him. That practice was relatively new and not uncontroversial. Eusebius of Vercelli in Italy, who had been to Egypt and seen the monks there around 340, is thought to have been the first westerner to be monk and bishop at the same time. The practice of ordaining monks to the clergy (when there was a shortage of other candidates) was approved by the emperor Honorius as late as 398.302 In the Latin west, the practice did not prevail or even become common until much later, but has always been more common in the east. The case of Pope Gregory I (“Gregory the Great” [590–604]) shows the hostility that the so-called secular clergy could and would easily display toward a high-minded monastic leader. Although he was praised as a great spiritual thinker by later generations, the people of Rome were delighted to see the end of him and his austere ways.303 Some lay Christians thought that monks were idle parasites and needed to be persuaded to be otherwise. And though notionally monks would be free and equal, in practice, ex-slaves in monasteries were expected to work harder than the freeborn, because they were used to it.304 We know something of the details of Augustine’s establishment in Hippo only for the last decade of his life, a decade after the absorption of the Donatist community. In 421 or 422, he had three priests and at least six deacons. Five years later, in 427, he had seven priests (two of whom had been deacons in the earlier count) and still two deacons.305 But however closely they lived in that monastic community in Hippo, Augustine paid little or no attention to the financial management of the community and was thus remarkably blind to the behavior of his staff.306 And clerical behavior was a plague to Augustine, at Hippo and everywhere else. Some clergy were marginal characters on the make, sometimes needing charity, sometimes looking out for themselves. Donatianus of Suppa307 was one such, a priest who left his home to seek his fortune but fell to taking the role of doorkeeper at a shrine in return for a pittance. He still dreamed of returning home as a priest.

• From Augustine: A New Biography (2005)

  As the drama and debates of the 410s played out, Augustine was on the offensive against Pelagius and Caelestius, and as long as he was on the offensive, he had the advantage and could count on all ecclesiastical authority accepting the terms of the debate that Augustine proposed, that is, the debate over the interpretation of these Christian scriptures. Once that victory was achieved, Pelagius was doomed to be marginalized. Gentlemanly Christianities would survive in the city of Rome longer than anywhere, but monastic-ascetic Christianities, still of a gentlemanly sort, would prevail in the west. The last and decisive victory of the battle that Augustine fought was not a doctrinal one but a cultural one. Its symbol is Pope Gregory I, at the end of the sixth century, the sometime prefect of Rome and offspring of an exceedingly gentlemanly and prosperous clerical family there. He fled that life to enter a monastery, becoming bishop of Rome in 590. Though he was anything but popular with the local clergy, who seem to have been delighted when he passed away, his ascension and his widespread later reputation as “Gregory the Great” assured that the monastic-ascetic model of Christianity, which depended on the personal engagement of the individual with god and was every bit as anxious, depressive, lonely, and distraught in its hope for eternal joy as anything Augustine ever imagined.560 LAST ENEMIES The Roman upper crust of the fourth century was as self-consciously self-creating and self-created as any gang of Proustian arrivistes. One line of their enthusiasm led them to putting on all the costumes and playing all the parts of traditional Roman dignity. They patronized the arts and took on the literary tastes and pastimes that they understood to be the tradition and prerogative of their class.561

• From Augustine: A New Biography (2005)

  The anti-Donatist legislation of the early 400s faded in effect as quickly and surely as had the “persecutions” of Christians before the days of Constantine. With the overthrow of the powerful general Stilico at Ravenna in 408, the empire became less dependable an ally for Augustine and his colleagues; still, they continued to press forward. That year was marked by a stream of clerical visitors sent from Augustine’s church in Africa to the imperial court in Ravenna, all in various ways anxiously canvassing support that had suddenly become less reliable and rehearsing the tactics that would bear fruit over the next decade.440 Augustine and his allies had been eager and active in using imperial protection to spread their community through more of the towns and cities of Africa than ever before, seeking to make a numerical claim of at least parity with the more well-established native church. The upshot came in 410 with the appointment by the emperor of an imperial commissioner to visit Africa to resolve the dispute between the two churches once and for all. Winning that appointment was a vital success in the Caecilianist campaign, but we do not know how they managed it. The arrival of Marcellinus in Africa was epochal for many and a particularly sobering moment for the Donatist leadership. Marcellinus was one of those few Roman military and governmental leaders who not only went to church but took his churchgoing seriously. His choice as commissioner could mean only that the imperial government had decided to decide in favor of the Caecilianists. This expectation was soon borne out in Marcellinus’s decision at the conference at Carthage in 411, the story of which we will hear shortly. This time the imperial decision stuck. Donatist churches were directed to accept Caecilianist leaders, but with the unusual provision that Donatist clergy who accepted the new regime could retain their clerical rank and share their bishopric with a rival, the survivor inheriting the post. That was a remarkably lenient move, one that recognized the immensity of the task the Caecilianist church was taking on. Augustine naturally went on the polemical offensive, summarizing and digesting the proceedings of the conference quickly, but as late as 420, his years were not without a variety of embarrassments and he was still writing refutations of new Donatist pamphlets by Gaudentius of Carthage. Once more in the years after 411, up and down the countryside, traditionalist churches were accepting new leaders with a variety of outcomes. Augustine’s catastrophic history with the church at Fussala in his own diocese will occupy us soon: it was one of hundreds of such stories of hostility and constraint that was played out in those years.

• From Fragments (7)

  But in my breast my heart Violently flutters at thy sight : No sound from me will start. My tongue is lamed, a fiery glow My limbs completely sears ; My eyes see nothing, rumblings low Play havoc in my ears. i8 Sappho Hot per^iration downward dropS) And trembling seizes me. I am ghastly pale, my life-blood stops, Near death I seem to be. A VISION OF HERA (3) Thy beauteous form before me, it did seem. Appeared, O mistress Hera, in a dream. As first, by fervent prayers called, To Atreus' royal sons of old. For when they Ares' work completed had. From where the streams of the Scamander sped They started hither for their home, But first to Argos could not come. Until they prayed to thee and Zeus thy lord. And also Thyone*s lovely child implored — With incense-offerings even now Their townsmen keep their ancient vow. " DEATH IS ALL I WISH FOR ME (4) Some god hath charmed us, Gongyle. The children saw him visibly : Hermes himself did to me come. 19 » Lyric Songs of the Greeks I saw him not, yet said : " Ah, lord 1 No pleasure can my wealth afford. By the blessed mistress of my home. " For death is all I wish for me. And the dewy lotus-fields to see, The meadows of Elysium." WELCOME (5) You have come, you have come, to my great delight ; For I have longed for your welcome sight. In my heart you have kindled again love's flame, Which was burning even before you came. So I wish you welcome and welcome once more. And I wish you welcome o*er and o'er. As long as the time you were absent before. V A REBUKE (6) To show me gratitude thou e*er refusest; From beauteous words with seven-stringed lyres allied. From noble words to keep thy friends thou chooscst, And me reproachfully to aggrieve and chide. Well, be it so ! With insolence be sated. Thou mayest allow with rage to swell thy heart. 20 \ Sappho But my contempt can never be abated To fear the wrath of such as thou now art. if CHARAXUS AND DORICHA (7) Cyprisl he found thee all too bitter, And many a noisy taunt he earned : Him Doricha once more doth fetter, And hath his love, for which she yearned." PRAYER FOR THE RETURN OF CHARAXUS (8) Ye Nereids, nymphs revered, my brother, I pray you, safely let return. Grant also any wishes other, All that for which his heart may yearn. May all his old shortcomings leave him. A joy unto his friends be he, A terror unto those who grieve him. No more a saddening care to me. To honor his sister be he willing, That she with grief be not imbued. E'en now my shameful sorrows stilling. With which my heart he had subdued. 21 Lyric Songs of the Greeks

• From Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out (2014)

  Before beginning a dialogue about cult involvement, you must first develop and then decide on a comprehensive strategy to address the problem. During this period of assessment, avoiding confrontation is vitally important. Instead, stay as positive as possible and refrain from criticism. This strategy is necessary to maintain goodwill and ongoing communication. Only the most extreme cult groups completely isolate their members. In most situations cult members continue to live within the larger community, though the narrowness of their associations and constraints created by group demands may make them seem increasingly isolated. Response In some situations an intervention isn’t possible due to a lack of access. Perhaps the cult member isn’t communicating with family or old friends and is living in relative isolation, often in group housing. In such situations the only alternative may be to wait until there is communication and then gradually improve that communication until there is meaningful access—that is, family visits or visits with friends. In some situations those who are concerned may find that they have a limited window of opportunity as communication diminishes and access becomes increasingly infrequent. Under these circumstances moving forward relatively quickly may be necessary if an intervention is to take place. An intervention is typically done only once. This means that the intervention should be carefully planned and coordinated to make sure the opportunity for success has been maximized as best as possible. The key to dealing with destructive cults is to be as prepared as possible and very specifically focused on learning the facts, being educated about cults, and settling on a carefully considered strategy. In most situations there is adequate time to do this. An option is always to wait or not to respond. It is also important to recognize the personal limitations of those who might be potentially involved in an intervention, such as immediate health concerns and the emotional distress of undertaking such an effort. And there is always the possibility that the intervention won’t work and may produce negative consequences, such as the cult-involved individual cutting off communication for an extended period of time. The operating axiom that fits the process of deliberation is “When in doubt, don’t.” That is, when you are unsure of how to respond in a particular situation, it is often safer to refrain from an immediate response. Keep in mind that there may be only one opportunity to stage an intervention. Careful planning will be crucial for any success to be realized. In some situations when an intervention fails, the returning cult member may experience an elevated status due to his or her demonstrated loyalty. This “halo effect” may enmesh the member deeper and may hinder the possibility of another intervention anytime soon. That is why a considered assessment process, including all the elements mentioned in this chapter, is of vital interest. Choosing Someone to Conduct the Intervention The choice of someone to conduct the intervention as the coordinator and facilitator is also a pivotal factor.

• From The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25-Year Landmark Study (2000)

  But children of divorce have one more strike against them. Unlike children who lose a parent due to illness, accident, or war, children of divorce lose the template they need because of their parents’ failure. Parents who divorce may think of their decision to end the marriage as wise, courageous, and the best remedy for their unhappiness—indeed, it may be so—but for the child the divorce carries one meaning: the parents have failed at one of the central tasks of adulthood. Together and separately, they failed to maintain the marriage. Even if the young person decides as an adult that the divorce was necessary, that in fact the parents had little in common to begin with, the divorce still represents failure—failture to keep the man or the woman, failure to maintain the relationship, failure to be faithful, or failure to stick around. This failure in turn shapes the child’s inner template of self and family. If they failed, I can fail, too. And if, as happens so frequently, the child observes more failed relationships in the years after divorce, the conclusion is simple. I have never seen a man and a woman together on the same beam. Failure is inevitable. Courtship is always fraught with excitement, yearning, and anxiety. Every adult is aware that this is the most important decision of one’s life. Fear of making the wrong choice and of being rejected and betrayed is certainly not confined to children of divorce. But the differences between the children of divorce and those from intact marriages were striking beyond my expectations. The young men and women from intact families, along with their fears, brought a confidence that they had seen it work, that they had some very clear ideas about how to do it. They said so in very convincing terms. No single adult in the divorced group spoke this way. Their memories and internal images were by contrast impoverished or frightening because they lacked guidelines to use in muting their fears. Indeed, they were helpless in the face of their fears. Gina, a forty-year-old successful executive in an international company, told me, “I grew up feeling that men are unreliable, just flaky, that like my dad they only really want to play with toys. I know that I’ve gone out with men who seemed reliable and wonderful, but still, putting all my eggs in one basket with one man is totally frightening. I’m better off relying on me.” Growing Up Takes Longer W HEN K AREN CAME to see me in 1994 on the eve of her marriage, she was bursting to tell me everything that had happened since our last visit. I remembered her crying her eyes out, complaining about Nick, and here she was, glowing with happiness and optimism.

• From Augustine: A New Biography (2005)

  At this juncture Pinian sent a messenger through the crowd to Augustine to say that he wanted to proclaim publicly that if he were ordained against his will, he would leave Africa altogether. Augustine approached Pinian and heard him say the same thing, adding that if he were not ordained, he would remain in the area. Augustine said nothing but, seeing a glimmer of hope, went back to his colleague and friend Alypius. Alypius disavowed all responsibility for what was going on and left his friend exposed. Augustine quieted the crowd—they must have been ready to explode by now—and told them what Pinian had said. The crowd responded by demanding one further promise: that Pinian agree that if he were ever to accept ordination, he would do so in the church of Hippo. Pinian agreed. When it came to making the actual oath, the promise proved a hard one to swear to. Pinian wanted a loophole, allowing him to leave the vicinity if military invasion threatened. Melanie unhelpfully chimed in that an outbreak of malaria might equally be cause for flight, but Pinian dismissed her suggestion. Augustine told Pinian that he quite understood the position, but feared that any proviso added to the promise would be rejected as subterfuge. When one of Augustine’s deacons read out proposed language, including the proviso, to the crowd, that is just how they reacted, and so Pinian agreed to remove it. Finally, Pinian read out what he would swear to, and the crowd was delighted and insisted it all be put in writing. When he had signed, a few of the leaders of the congregation came up to suggest that the bishops sign the same document, but as they began to comply, Melanie objected. Augustine was puzzled, but held his signature back, half-written on the page, and no one else intervened to encourage him to finish signing. And so the service could continue and the day came to a quiet close. But the storytelling was not quite so simple. Albina, to whom Augustine was writing, had heard some other things. She had heard, for example, that Augustine had told Pinian to swear to what he swore; Augustine denies this. She also had the notion that the crowd wanted Pinian for his money; but Augustine vehemently denies this as well. Here he tells Albina that he had left his own father’s property to the church at Tagaste when he came to Hippo, alleging that the Hippo congregation had taken this in stride. (Quite apart from the fact that the event had occurred twenty years earlier in a very different ecclesial setting, Augustine admits he had not been anywhere near so rich a catch as Pinian.) He even has to admit that the suspicion of greed might affect not so much the congregation as the clergy and even the bishop—himself! He is forced in his letter to swear his innocence.

• From House of Holes: A Book of Raunch (2011)

  Now I’m a bit skittish. Everything has its price.” “The price is sometimes steep,” said Mindy. “You got that right, hot goddess. Lila’s got us all doing the fucky-fuck and the sucky-suck and the humpy and the squirty and the juicy-Lucy and the ooh, ah, ooh. Everything we do they keep track of, and they know what we want most, and they want to milk us till our money’s all gone and our balls ache, if we have balls, which I don’t at the present time. Because it’s the House of Holes, and is there anything worth paying court to more than a woman with a pretty face and two good titties and one hot switchy ass she wants to shove in your face? Hmm?” Mindy took that as a rhetorical question. “I’m more into men,” she said. “I like men. Sometimes I like smoky men in dirty suede.” “Course you do, Mindy,” he said. “You’re a lovely lusty woman and you want to be a part of this whole slumber party. You want an ‘experience.’ And you will have that at the House of Holes, believe me. If you haven’t already.” “I already got shrunk down and squirted out of a man’s urethra.” “Well, then, there you go.” Dune was tiring. “Listen, would you mind if I moved to the couch for a sec?” “No, go ahead,” said Mindy. “Let me just unclip your mike.” “I just need fifteen minutes of downtime. Thanks for dinner, thanks for the smoke.” He closed his eyes and was asleep almost immediately. Mindy watched him sleep. When he sat up an hour later, she had a second Winchester cigar ready for him. She said, “What was she like? The woman you switched with. You mind if I turn the camera back on?” Dune stretched. “Sure, turn the camera on. Are we rolling? Marcela was her name. She was nice, very friendly. She’d put in a request to do Dick for a Day.” “I’ve heard of Dick for a Day,” said Mindy, with interest. “Yes, now, Dick for a Day is not that involved because they can morph your clitty out for six, eight hours without too much bother, and it’ll go back good as new. But it turned out Marcela wanted something more like Dick for a Couple of Weeks, and that takes a full interplasmic transfer. That’s what it’s called, a ‘cross- crotchal interplasmic transfer.’ I’ll bet you want to know how they do that.” Mindy nodded that she did. “Well, you need a tweenella.

• From Augustine: A New Biography (2005)

  But at the same time, souls can go wrong, perilously wrong. They did indeed go wrong, back at the dawn of time, when Adam and Eve sinned. When he could get away with it, Augustine would gloss over the question of the mechanism of transmission of sin to emphasize its effects. Before their sin, Adam and Eve had the ability not to sin if they so chose, but also the ability to sin. And having sinned once (the woman, the weaker vessel, seducing the man into transgression), they had crossed a bridge of no return. They were punished with expulsion from paradise and with the news that they would die with their bodies. Before this, they had been immortal. Worse, they took with them from paradise the certainty that they and all their offspring for all time would sin again. Different forces drove Augustine to that doctrine of original sin, his most original and nearly single-handed creation. The high spiritualism of Platonism resonated deeply with him and left him suspicious of body and flesh and the messiness of ordinary human life. That high-mindedness could have kept him out of trouble, except that he was waylaid by the ordinary beliefs of the Christians he fell in among. Recall the puzzlement he expressed, when he was first back in Africa, at the local habit of baptizing infants.589 How could this be truly valuable, he wondered, doing this to babies who had no understanding of what was going on? Here he was confronted by anxiety and (worse) logical consistency.

• From Augustine: A New Biography (2005)

  As long as Christianity had been a minority cult, it recruited among adults and offered baptism as an initiation ritual. This baptism was a powerful ritual bath that would take away all sins. The canny adult was one who waited as long as possible before taking baptism, because it was a once-for-all opportunity at wiping the books clean. In the fourth century, it was common for the canniest (including the emperor Constantine) to wait for their deathbed to seize the opportunity and common for non-Christian critics to point to that practice to accuse the Christians of rank immorality. “Sin all you like, as long as you like, then take the saving bath and go to heaven”—that’s how the doctrine and practice could appear. But as more and more people became, or were forced to become, Christians and more and more families and communities were imbued with Christian practice across generations, anxiety and logic compelled parents to think that if baptism were truly valuable, indeed were the only way to redemption and heaven, then their infants, who died so easily and so often, were at sad risk. In a world of widespread infant mortality, what was one of make of the tiny babies who came and went so rapidly? Were they all doomed to perdition unbathed? The practice of infant baptism, spreading among Christian communities in the fourth century, arose out of nothing more coherent or doctrinal than this obsessive and logically impeccable anxiety. Augustine the new bishop would find himself compelled to accept (and then compelled to explain, at least to himself) this practice.

• From Augustine: A New Biography (2005)

  Augustine’s doctrine, however, had the effect of reversing and disconnecting important elements of the older Christian teachings. Christianity had taken hold among people for whom the bad news of sin and its consequences came closely followed by the good news of promised redemption. For Augustine the bad news always loomed large. Bodies ache and die, half-controlled sexuality defiles the spirit, and even language comes apart in one’s hands as meaning disintegrates. The divine reclamation project has begun here and now, but it has astonishingly little to show for itself. The glass is always half empty, or worse. Christian life here and now loses, in the Augustinian view, much of its charm and certainly loses any flavor of an exclusive club for the smugly redeemed. And then there was the question of the soul again. Anxiety and logic reinforced each other one more time and left Augustine struggling. If he moved toward the position he took on original sin because of the intersection of old stories, high philosophy, and anxious religious practice, he could not foresee all the logical dilemmas that would face him. The irresolvable one lay in the question of the origin of souls. The question was important because skeptics looking at the doctrine of original sin would ask hard questions about mechanisms of transmission. Just how did the sin of Adam and Eve come to abide in children born thousands of years later? Well, said Augustine, that’s a tough one. He could see four possibilities:

• From An Anomalous Jew: Paul Among Jews, Greeks, and Romans (2016)

  249 AN ANOMALOUS JEW denouement of world history, which, in Paul’s view, culminated in the ar- rival of God’s new creation upon Christ’s return as Lord of all.””°” Fourth, I hasten to add that Rom 13:1-7 is part of the complex process of negotiating the realities of living in an urban Greco-Roman context by a new “cult” that is migrating into a new territory, where it would not necessarily be warmly received. In Rome, Christians were, as Mike Duncan colorfully puts it, “capital O ‘other’ in every sense of the word.’*°* Most Christians were non- citizen resident aliens, Eastern in origin, speaking Greek rather than Latin, and usually from the lower echelons of society; they looked different, spoke differ- ent, belonged to a cult or association that caused tumult within Jewish com- munities, and venerated as a divine king a man who was crucified by Rome and was supposed one day to return to conquer the world. The Christians were socially marginal, with several grounds for suspicion against them, and were therefore highly vulnerable. Courting controversy and pursuing active resistance would not be prudent advice for a group in this position. Praying for Rome's defeat or disempowerment while simultaneously trying to live at peace with one’s Roman neighbors makes life a little complicated. The sociopolitical reality is such that it is never a total dualism of Christ versus Caesar, for resis- tance, acculturation, and survival are all simultaneously engaged.”°° Even with a disposition toward opposition, there are still “contingencies” that often need to be deployed in order to just get by,”*® much like how Tertullian said that Christians did not worship the gods or “offer sacrifices for the emperor”; but he could still declare that all men owed the emperor “their piety and religious devotion and loyalty:*"’ Paul, like most Jews most of the time in the Roman world, hovered between assimilation and resistance.”’* The pragmatic reality is that Paul would not be comfortable singing Jaudes imperii, but neither was he likely to lead a mob charging up the Palatine Hill chanting sic semper tyrannis. For a better word, Paul does not want Christians trying to effect a temporary revolution that effectively replaces one divinized dictator with another one, or believing that they transcend obligations to the state regarding either taxes or re- spect, or throwing their lot in with the increasingly violent anti-Roman sentiment 207. Harrison, Paul and the Imperial Authorities, 1. 208. Mike Duncan, The History of Rome, podcast, Episode 66, “666, 15:00-57 mins. 209. Hanges, “To Complicate Encounters,’ 29-31. 210. Galinsky, “The Cult of the Roman Emperor,’ 15. 211. Tertullian, Apol. 10.1; 36.2. 212. L. Michael White, “Capitalizing on the Imperial Cult: Some Jewish Perspectives,” in Rome and Religion: A Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue on the Imperial Cult, ed. J. Brodd and J. L. Reed (Atlanta: SBL, 2011), 174.

• From Augustine: A New Biography (2005)

  Ambrose of Milan had not married during his worldly career as a young provincial governor, and as bishop he was the first Latin to write praising sexual ascesis in abundant detail. Virginity was his preoccupation, and he was delighted to see it in his sisters as in himself. His praises were mild and abstract, but they came from a man of a family recently rooted in government service, and that origin pinpoints the controversy that would arise in the generation that followed. Ambrose embodies the two models of fourth-century arriviste culture, both the newly made governing class passing itself off as a continuation of traditional aristocracy (and thus adopting traditional models of male authority and transmission of authority through children) and the new class of celibate clerics frankly rehearsing different models.533 Ambrose abandons the old model in favor of the new. Priscillian, the charismatic teacher in Gaul, was not so restrained. His enthusiasm for chastity brought him in close contact with religious women, and he fell afoul of suspicions that his religious practices were irregular and his beliefs worse. “Crypto-Manichee” was the charge. Ambrose took an interest in the case and sought to intercede on his behalf, but to no avail. Priscillian was put to death, the victim of a crusade against a heresy that didn’t exist.534 After his death, heresy-hunters in Spain would be on the prowl, looking for signs of Priscillianism and seeking to suborn witnesses to prove their case, while the official church wearily tried to get past the last generation’s obsession.535

• From Sense and Sensibility (1811)

  “It is all very strange. So suddenly to be gone! It seems but the work of a moment. And last night he was with us so happy, so cheerful, so affectionate? And now, after only ten minutes notice—Gone too without intending to return!—Something more than what he owned to us must have happened. He did not speak, he did not behave like himself. _You_ must have seen the difference as well as I. What can it be? Can they have quarrelled? Why else should he have shown such unwillingness to accept your invitation here?” “It was not inclination that he wanted, Elinor; I could plainly see _that_. He had not the power of accepting it. I have thought it all over I assure you, and I can perfectly account for every thing that at first seemed strange to me as well as to you.” “Can you, indeed!” “Yes. I have explained it to myself in the most satisfactory way;—but you, Elinor, who love to doubt where you can—it will not satisfy _you_, I know; but you shall not talk _me_ out of my trust in it. I am persuaded that Mrs. Smith suspects his regard for Marianne, disapproves of it, (perhaps because she has other views for him,) and on that account is eager to get him away;—and that the business which she sends him off to transact is invented as an excuse to dismiss him. This is what I believe to have happened. He is, moreover, aware that she _does_ disapprove the connection, he dares not therefore at present confess to her his engagement with Marianne, and he feels himself obliged, from his dependent situation, to give into her schemes, and absent himself from Devonshire for a while. You will tell me, I know, that this may or may _not_ have happened; but I will listen to no cavil, unless you can point out any other method of understanding the affair as satisfactory at this. And now, Elinor, what have you to say?” “Nothing, for you have anticipated my answer.” “Then you would have told me, that it might or might not have happened. Oh, Elinor, how incomprehensible are your feelings! You had rather take evil upon credit than good. You had rather look out for misery for Marianne, and guilt for poor Willoughby, than an apology for the latter. You are resolved to think him blameable, because he took leave of us with less affection than his usual behaviour has shown. And is no allowance to be made for inadvertence, or for spirits depressed by recent disappointment? Are no probabilities to be accepted, merely because they are not certainties? Is nothing due to the man whom we have all such reason to love, and no reason in the world to think ill of? To the possibility of motives unanswerable in themselves, though unavoidably secret for a while? And, after all, what is it you suspect him of?”