Thoughts for liberal Christians on the "solstice star"

Jupiter and Saturn on Dec. 21 had their closest conjunction in 400 years and their closest nighttime, visible one in about 800 years.

And, fitting for methodologically naturalist science, it's on the winter solstice.

And, I appear to have indeed gotten it, as ragged as it is, on camera, handheld, as you can see at left. That would be Jupiter at left in the photo, and I believe Io above and Europa below.

And, per a blog post of several years ago on my primary blog, as far as modern explanation of the development of our Solar System, Laplace is the reason for the season. That's French astronomer Pierre-Simon Laplace, who articulated the "nebular hypothesis" more than 200 years ago.

For  latest modern modelings on how the nebular Solar System developed, see this great Nautilus piece. Among other things, it explained why Jupiter and Saturn likely moved out, rather than in closer to the Sun, as they gained mass.

From here on out, I'm going to expand on what I wrote on my primary blog about this conjunction, to reflect further on the title of the post here.

Per two paragraphs above? As a secular humanist, I can appreciate the wonder and joy of astronomy without having to put either Christian or New Age veneers over it. I can also appreciate the wonder of reaching across 800 years of history. But also, unlike some of Laplace's older peers (Diderot, d'Holbach even more) I don't have to act like a Gnu Atheist, either.

After I did editing of pix and an initial wrap on the blog post (I already had the Nautilus and my old blog post in place yesterday) I started thinking about "miracles" of human ingenuity.

First, of course, is the cultural evolution in astronomical understanding that led Copernicus to re-invent the heliocentric theory and for it to gain acceptance. Then came the big step of Kepler's gathering of empirical evidence to establish elliptical orbits. Then, Galileo with Venerean phases giving empirical support for heliocentrism. And so forth.

On the personal side? The camera and lens I used to shoot that photo? Arguably better than ones I would have paid 10 times as much for 15 years ago.

And, per the verse from Proverbs? Not always, but often, with all our new knowing, has come new understanding as well.

And, now to the header in more detail.

I saw plenty of #ChristmasStar hashtags on Twitter. This ignores, of course, that it fell on the solstice, per good old Laplace. It also ignores that the ancient world had all sorts of winter festivals, that Christianity "pegged" Dec. 25 as Christmas' date because of a festival of Mithras and other things, such as the date that the Romans celebrated the winter solstice and emperor Aurelian setting the festival of Sol Invictus on that date. Also, fittingly, since Saturn is one of the two planets in the conjunction, and Saturnalia ran Dec. 17-23 on the old Julian calendar, that we could call it the #SaturnaliaStar just as much as the #ChristmasStar.

To this point, I'm primarily refuting fundamentalist and conservative evangelical Protestants, traditionalist Catholics, etc.

But, now we're going to speak to liberal members of suburban and urban congregations within ELCA Lutheranism, the United Methodist Church, etc.

Some of you were tweeting #ChristmasStar, too, of that I have no doubt.

Well, let's look at Matthew's story, specifically 2:1-2, 9:

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” … 

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.

A few notes.

The opening would seem to indicate a traditional star (including the "planetoi," as known in Greek), interpreted in the light of Zoroastrian / Babylonian astrology.

But, ordinary stars don't stop. Planets do. Venus and Mercury, being inside Earth's orbit, cannot stop overhead, though. So, that would leave Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

But, would that really be enough for Magi to say "This is it!"? After all, Mars in opposition and standstill is stopped relative to every place on Earth. Ditto for something like a Great Conjunction, excepting nearness to the horizon affecting visibility, of course. (Update: Mars and Venus have their own "great conjunction" on July 12. And, although Venus cannot be directly overhead, arguably, because of its moving, it could kind of fulfill the Magi's alleged perception. Plus, Venus is brighter than Jupiter and Mars is brighter than Saturn. OTOH, Venus-Mars conjunctions happen much more often than Jupiter-Saturn ones. As in, every 2.1 years on average, 10 times more frequently than Jupiter-Saturn, meaning that it would be no big deal, even a really close conjunction.)

So, we are presumed to be invited to see this as a miracle. Just like Joshua making the sun stand still.

Well, if you're a non-literalist Christian, that leaves you with only two logical alternatives.

Either you accept that there was a literal miracle, or you accept that Matthew, writing some sort of pesher on various passages from the Tanakh, went way overboard on trying to sell this as a literal miracle.

Because, just like Joshua making the sun stand still, and contra the bogus story that there's a computer that traces planetary and solar moves back 3,100 or whatever years until it hits a glitch, there is, per people from David Hume to Carl Sagan, NO EVIDENCE for such a thing. That doesn't even take into account the psychological factor that there were world civilizations 3,100 years ago that would have reported a 28-hour day or whatever.

And, an ordinary planetary opposition, or a close conjunction even with an opposition, would not have been eye-catching like this, quite literally.

So, non-literalist Christians about Moses or whatever? You're invited to extend your non-literalism further.

Platonic Noble Lie No. 2 from Fauci

I blogged this summer about Anthony Fauci's Platonic Noble Lie from the spring about how Americans didn't need to wear masks and worse, how he doubled down on it for motivated reasoning or whatever this summer.

Now he's at it again.

Fauci has admitted that 70 percent immunity is way too low for herd immunity on coronavirus, that the country needs at least 80 percent, maybe 90 percent.

Dr. Fauci said that weeks ago, he had hesitated to publicly raise his estimate because many Americans seemed hesitant about vaccines, which they would need to accept almost universally in order for the country to achieve herd immunity.

Now that some polls are showing that many more Americans are ready, even eager, for vaccines, he said he felt he could deliver the tough message that the return to normal might take longer than anticipated.

“When polls said only about half of all Americans would take a vaccine, I was saying herd immunity would take 70 to 75 percent,” Dr. Fauci said. “Then, when newer surveys said 60 percent or more would take it, I thought, ‘I can nudge this up a bit,’ so I went to 80, 85.”

Problem? His claim that this will make Americans more vaccine-desirous could backfire. One could easily argue the opposite side of the equation.

Classical music in the era of coronavirus

Many major symphony orchestras remain shuttered at this time, of course, and the price to their societies and foundations grows by the day, with questions in some cases about whether they'll ever reopen again.

That said, here in the DFW Metroplex, the Richardson orchestra was advertising a live concert on WRR last month, so smaller groups are taking the plunge in at least one case. (Since smaller, and especially smaller and newer, groups have less of a reserve in foundation dollars, a place like Richardson may have no choice, per the first paragraph.)

So, I started wondering recently if a group like the Dallas Symphony Orchestra couldn't reopen after all. And, by reopen, I mean, along the lines of Richardson, live concerts.

I say a cautious yes, with restrictions on what music gets played.

1. Choral music is out, obviously.

2. You want to try to have as few winds as general, so, no post-Brahmsian music, by date AND by style. (That's you, Wagner.) As Brahms only used trombones in one movement of the First Symphony, that's my cutoff. No boners.

So, we're talking about an actual Beethoven-Schubert-Schumann-Brahms orchestra at max. On winds, that means two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two horns, two trumpets. Concer seating? A large horseshoe of sorts around the back edge of the stage. The normal "sound shields" in front of brass instruments now become coronavirus shields for ALL winds.

OK, then what? Say 10 first and second violins. Eight violas. Four cellos, two basses. That's 34 strings plus 10 winds. If it's 12/12 on the violins, OK, 38. One timpanist. That's likely it on percussion. So, 49 players. 

Even pre-Mahler music often has 60 or more on the floor, so, orchestra staffing takes a hit. Whether by seniority, or some strings players rotating in and out on a half-time basis, or what, I don't know. Obviously, unions and symphony organizations/guilds would discuss this. Maybe fight over it.

3. Attendance seating is like this, in a mock-up of a section of three rows, with X being patrons and O being empty seats:

O X O X O X O X O X O

X O X O X O X O X O X

O X O X O X O X O X O

That's 50 percent seating. Is that enough distancing if everybody wears masks? I think. If not, cut to 33 percent. The aisle rows give you some extra space, so you seat a person every third seat with a three-row stagger on the arrangement.

3A. Masks are mandatory. You're booted if you don't wear them or take them off. Period. No disability exceptions. If you're a season-ticket holder, you lose your season ticket.

4. No wine bar, desserts, etc. No "concessions," if the classical music world allows such a gauche term! 

5. Intermission is shorter, because of this. No more than, say, 12 minutes. If you keep it to 10, maybe you do two internissions?

6. Ventilation. Besides installing UV lights on the HVAC air returns? Lobby doors open during intermissions for fresh air circulation. (That would be an advantage of two shorter intermissions.) Now, if it's 0°F in Minneapolis for the Minnesota Orchestra, then ... doors open halfway? But, you still open them. Yeah, this is going to jack heating bills.

7. With the 50 percent seating, a flip side. If you're an orchestra that just does three days of concerts on your programming, guess what? Add Thursdays to the Friday-Sunday. Unions may gripe, but they'll accept if it's getting paid something vs. not playing. If you're a larger orchestra that already does 4x, do you consider 5x? A matinee plus night on selected Saturdays? 

In actuality, the DSO is doing an even more scaled down version of my ideas. Unless they're charging a LOT for the streamed version of their concerts, they can't be making money with 50-75 people in attendance. Question is, how much are they losing and do they consider this a worthwhile "loss leader" for the long term future?

And, actually, it's NOT scaled down in other ways. "Big Brassy Christmas"? Mahler (4th, non-choral) and Shostakovich on the regular fare? Nope. Not smart, IMO.

Happy 250th, Ludwig!

 Possibly the greatest classical music composer of all time, though also the subject of many a hoary legend, it's Ludwig van Beethoven's 250th birthday. (Actually, it's his baptismal day. His birthday was most likely, but not guaranteed, to be either Dec. 15 or 16. But, we don't know which.)

The first record I ever had was Beethoven's 5th, which was on all of one side and part of the other. I think it was a Karajan recording. I remember as a kid, listening with the headphones on while staring at flames jumping in a fireplace.

He often is my favorite composer, though it's a mood thing. And within myself, at different times? De gustibus non disputandum.

I, like many aficionados, find much of his heart in his late quartets, especially the C sharp minor. I've got it on CD, and more than one version have I listened to on YouTube. The Alban Berg Quartet is great:

Next, a few thoughts on the symphonies and concertos.

When "HIP" conductors first started hitting the world, informed by the early period instruments orchestras, Claudio Abbado was my first. But, today?

David Zinman and the Zurich Tonhalle. I first heard him on WRR101 in Dallas, doing the Eroica, with the new critical edition urtext. I had turned the car on just after the third movement started, and I recognized something was different, not only in terms of some new notes, but the interpretation. Still a good one.

Also good on the piano concerto cycle with Yefim Bronfman. I've got them on that cycle plus Bronfman and two others on the Triple Concerto.

In the period-instruments world, I jumped early on Roy Goodman and the Hannover Band, after first buying Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music. Or was it the other way around on which I got first on the symphony cycle? Still not bad, but for my money today, in the period-instruments world, nothing tops Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romatique, and of course founder John Eliot Gardiner at the stick. Here's his Eroica, for comparison. A touch faster, but yet not rushed.

I early on bought a CD of Norrington and the London Classical Players doing the First Piano Concerto. Orchestra was too small IMO, and the pianoforte too thin. Remember, period instruments can go too far, especially with Beethoven, who wanted more sound out of his players and who generally hated the pianos of his day.

And, with an orchestra that small, going no-vibrato can be overboard. In addition, we simply have no idea how much or how little vibrato he wanted in Eroica. Probably more than Norrington would use.

We do have Beethoven's metronome markings  — and his CUT TIME for the first movement of the Piano Sonata No. 14!!! Only Glenn Gould gets it right!!!

There is NO disputing taste on this!!! There is ONLY people being acculturated to some overly Romantic schlocky shit. That's not to say that I agree with Gould on the opening movement of Appassionata, though it's grown on me. Will it grow on you?

>

Anyway, give it all a listen!

Luther sees a gored ox and roasts it

Or rather, roasts a bull. Or burns it.

It was a little over four months after Pope Leo X issued his Exsurge, Domine bull against Luther. Luther had already heard about it, but per OUP, first assumed it was a trick. Then he learned it was real. The photo above is from National Geographic's piece, with a modern re-enactment of Luther's famous, or infamous, burning of Exsurge in December 1520.

Luther got together students of his in Wittenberg, and fellow faculty, among those in full support, and they started burning books of canon law and other items. The bull was added at the end, by Luther himself. He told Staupitz he undertook the action with fear and trembling.

But, contra many conservative Lutherans sanctifying Luther, he did it with some impudence as well.

However, Leo, via writing a blank check to John Eck, brought this on himself. The Reformation might well have played itself out anyway; Zwingli and others were up in arms against Rome's avarice and venality, as well as some of its doctrines, as much as Luther. But, a more nuanced bull by Leo might have delayed that day. Might have delayed that day until after Luther's death, leading to Pope Adrian VI in his brief reign, with all his Hapsburg connections, taking more control of the situation. That said, with the actual situation, Adrian reaffirmed Leo calling Luther a heretic. He did try for ecclesiastical reform, but this primarily on governance and morals; theological issues remained verboten for questioning, whether by individual clerics or by councils operating outside papal authority.

That said, that's alternative history. In reality, the bull arguably was THE breaking point. Luther was already thinking of the Papacy as Antichrist. (He's wrong theologically, per my piece about Antichrist vs the Beast vs the man of lawlessness. And, no, we can't give a professor of New Testament any wiggle room; if he's such a bible scholar, he never should have conflated the three.)

But, Leo's bull, and Eck's actions, only confirmed this stance for Luther.

Loons of LCMS Lutheranism

At my main blog, I have Encyclopedia of American Loons on my blogroll.

Imagine my "shock" to see an LCMS pastor, Laurence White, make the list of loons last month.

It's also a "shock," given things like Armed Lutheran Radio, to see him in bed with David Barton and with the Texas Restoration Project. White even has his own tag at Right Wing Watch.

And, per his church's own website, he has an honorary doctorate from ... from ...

Liberty University. Falwell-land.

But of course.

Not the first time in recent weeks I've run into an LCMS loon.

From my main blog, back in October, comes this.

George Floyd's uncle lives in Gettysburg, S.D., which for JUST 11 of its 137 years, has incorporated the Confederate battle flag in its city logo until he called it out. The wingnuts, in a town settled in part by Civil War Union vets, went ballistic. Then, as an ex-Missouri Synod Lutheran, is this unsurprising bit.

Pastor David Otten of the local Emmanuel Lutheran Church declined to address the conflict. He issued broad guidance: “When you post something on Facebook, are you building the person up or are you tearing them down? We’re supposed to be building people up.”

The denomination says its officially got anti-racism initiatives, but this is more its reality.

In addition, that patch? Goes back to the old "reconciliation" meeting at Gettysburg of Union and Confederate veterans which had no Black involvement. The reunion, in 1913, got Woodrow Wilson's official whitewash imprimatur, and, we all know about Wilson's long racist history even before becoming president. So, the chief at the time saying "no harm" was meant? Either a liar or an idiot.

And, contra the wingnuts, other than one lone flyer, no, Confederate veterans were NOT involved with the settlement.

David Barton and his Wallbuilders, and tag-along Laurence White, won't tell you that.