Daily Archives: June 9, 2017

Lo, the full, final sacrifice – Church Times

Posted: June 9, 2017 at 12:49 pm

AMONG English anthems of the 20th century, Gerald Finzis Lo, the full, final sacrifice stands out. It celebrates the eucharist, and the feast of Corpus Christi, which we mark on Thursday. The anthem may sound supremely English, but some sleuthing reveals a history that is as much Italian as English, taking in Orvieto and Loreto, as well as Cambridge and Northampton.

Gerald Raphael Finzi (1901-56) composed the anthem to mark the 53rd anniversary, in 1946, of the consecration of St Matthews, Northampton. The Vicar, Walter Hussey, had form, having commissioned Benjamin Brittens Rejoice in the Lamb three years earlier.

Finzi was an unusual choice, known not particularly for church music, but for his masterful song cycles and works for small orchestra in the English pastoral style. Few British composers surpass him in setting words to music, and a more densely theological set of words we could hardly find than Lo, the full, final sacrifice: the creed sounds prosaic in comparison.

The text is Finzis own patchwork, drawn from two poems by Richard Crashaw (c.1612-49), an English metaphysical poet with Continental Baroque leanings. Crashaw based the poems on hymns by St Thomas Aquinas (1225-74): Lauda, Sion and Adoro te devote. This is what takes us to Orvieto, where Pope Urban IV had commissioned Aquinas to compose the liturgy for the new feast of Corpus Christi. The words of the anthem come to us by a roundabout route: Finzis reassembly of Crashaws fantasias on hymns by Aquinas.

THE Finzi-Crashaw-Aquinas text starts with the sacrifice of Christ, which it explores through typology by reading Old Testament characters and stories as prefigurements (or figures) of Christ:

Lo, the full, final sacrifice On which all figures fixd their eyes, The ransomd Isaac, and his ram; The Manna, and the Paschal lamb.

These examples Isaac, the ram, the manna, and the lamb come from Aquinas, but the outlandish claim that they each fixd their eyes on Christ and his offering is all Crashaws own. It seems that Christs sacrifice so animates the story of redemption that even the non-human animals even that bread gain personhood in the process, and are able to look to Christ. And so do we, our gaze drawn in by that first, attention-grabbing word, Lo.

Eucharistic theology is contested territory among Christians, but Crashaws poetry builds bridges, a testament to a life that crossed traditions. He was born the son of a Puritan anti-Catholic polemicist, but found his poetic voice as an undergraduate under High Church Laudian influence.

Later a Cambridge Fellow, Anglican priest, and Vicar of Little St Marys, Crashaw ended his life in the Roman Catholic Church, as a priest at the shrine of the Holy House of Loreto, having fled to Italy when Cromwell seized power in England.

Perhaps shaped by the Book of Common Prayer, Crashaws reworking of Aquinas shows that the sacrificial aspect of the eucharist is not in conflict with the one oblation of himself once offered of Calvary. The eucharist brings that one sacrifice before us: already made, but for ever pleaded.

THE text, as we might expect, goes on to circle around bread and wine, and body and blood. Given the emphasis on sacrifice, blood is associated with purification. In Aquinass hymn, a single drop of Christs blood could free the whole world from its sin. Crashaw turned that idea inward, applying it to himself: those drops sovereign be To wash my worlds of sins from me.

Blood also stands for nourishment here, almost as if Crashaw knew about blood transfusions a few centuries early. We might be used to the symbolism of hearts that spurt blood, but, again, Crashaw turns things around: his bleeding heart gasps for blood.

Then there is the image of the pelican, again Crashaws own the soft self-wounding Pelican thought by medievals to feed its young with its own blood. Anglican hymn-books tend to omit the verse about the pelican from Aquinass Adoro te devote, which is a shame. The image of the pelican cheerfully survived the Reformation for instance, in the arms granted to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, as late as 1570. And Elizabeth I is seen wearing a brooch depicting a pelican feeding her young, in a portrait of about 1575.

In the third invocation of blood, Crashaw asks that those who drink from the chalice may be Convictors of thine own full cup, Coheirs of Saints: Christs followers share with him not only in the eucharistic cup, but also in the cup of his sufferings. It is all impeccably biblical (1 Corinthians 10.16; Mark 10.37-40; 1 Peter 4.12-19).

Returning to bread, and an echo of the just-concluded Easter season, the anthems text reminds us that the eucharist is life-giving because this is living bread: it is a participation in his body, not dead but risen. St Ignatius of Antioch, who died c.108, called it the medicine of immortality. Crashaw salutes it in similar terms:

Richard Greatrex puts a new metrical Psalter through its paces

O dear Memorial of that Death Which lives still, and allows us breath! Rich, Royal food! Bountiful Bread! Whose use denies us to the dead.

There will come a time, all the same, when sacraments will cease (as W. H. Turtons hymn has it). For now, we have those means of grace; then we will see face to face. Earthly travellers are sustained with bread (and wine), and they receive Christ in the same way: we live by eating.

Those whose journey is complete are sustained by the sight of God. With characteristic daring, in a collision of ideas, Crashaw calls Christ both our shepherd and our pasture, and suggests that, in the life of the world to come, we will feed of Thee in thine own Face.

In the eucharistic processions of Corpus Christi, the bread given to be eaten, for sure is held up for all to see. In the life to come, seeing itself will be our eating.

CRASHAW ends by looking forward to the time When Glorys sun faiths shades shall chase And for thy veil give me thy Face. But, before that conclusion, Crashaw offers one final, magical transposition.

Aquinas wrote only of a desire to see Christs face; Crashaw asks both to see Christ, and also to be seen by him: not just to see Jesus, but to see his eyes. There is a parallel in the way in which Jesus switches from again a little while, and you will see me, in John 16, to I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice.

Come, love! Come, Lord! and that long day For which I languish, come away. When this dry soul those eyes shall see, And drink the unseald source of thee.

The Revd Dr Andrew Davison is the Starbridge Lecturer in Theology and Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, and the author of Why Sacraments? (SPCK, 2013).

Read more:
Lo, the full, final sacrifice - Church Times

Posted in Immortality Medicine | Comments Off on Lo, the full, final sacrifice – Church Times

Megan Leavey is a canine-human love story – The Denver Post

Posted: at 12:48 pm

By Mark Jenkins, Special To The Washington Post

The oddest thing about Megan Leavey is its title. After all, Shakespeare never titled his great romances simply Juliet or Antony.

Admittedly, Megan (made both sympathetic and resolute by Kate Mara) is on-screen a lot more than her paramour: a German shepherd employed by the military to sniff out explosives. But viewers of this fact-based weepie are likely to prefer the emotionally versatile Rex (impersonated mostly by Varco). Hes gruff with strangers but soon reveals his puppy-dog eyes.

The two characters are, of course, made for each other. Surly and solitary, Megan is feuding with her mother and stepfather (Edie Falco and Will Patton) when she impulsively decides to enlist in the Marines. That propels her toward Rex, the bomb-sniffer least likely to be voted Mr. Canine Congeniality. The two become partners only after Rex has violently sidelined his previous handler.

Once Megan and Rex bond, however, the pooch becomes gentle and protective. He doesnt even get jealous when Megan develops feelings of a different sort for a biped: fellow dog handler Matt Morales (Ramon Rodriguez). Most important, Rex keeps his cool after he and Megan start serving as one of the first female-led explosive-seeking teams among U.S. troops in Iraq.

The context for the military conflict is quickly sketched by a scene in which then-Secretary of State Colin Powells war-justifying 2003 speech to the United Nations plays on a TV. But the subject is never raised again. Megan, a New Yorker, is apparently too busy rooting for the Yankees to ponder the wisdom of the invasion by the United States, even after it blows up in her face literally.

In and around the city of Ramadi, Rexs nose locates bombs and guns, leading Megan and her cohorts through numerous scrapes. The movie isnt exactly The Hurt Locker, but it does convey a frantic sense of the battle experience. There are even sequences shot from Rexs height to suggest a dogs-eye view of war.

When Megan and Rexs luck goes cold, both are wounded, psychically as well as physically. She gets a Purple Heart and a discharge; he gets sent to Afghanistan. Megans bid to bring Rex home with her is overruled by a ferretlike Marine veterinarian (Geraldine James), who decides that hes too dangerous, a decision thats enforced by Megans tough-but-fair sergeant (Common).

Back in civilian life, a mopey Megan regains her warrior spirit only when her dad (Bradley Whitford) encourages her to go public with her campaign to win custody of Rex.

Clearly pitched to animal lovers, Megan Leavey marks the narrative debut of documentarian Gabriela Cowperthwaite, whose 2013 Blackfish about the treatment of captive orcas at marine parks was actually more harrowing. This movie is rarely more than merely competent, but it should stir lovers of justice as well as dog fanciers. If theres anything more heartwarming than a loyal animal companion, its teaching an impersonal bureaucracy to roll over and fetch.

Continue reading here:
Megan Leavey is a canine-human love story - The Denver Post

Posted in Post Human | Comments Off on Megan Leavey is a canine-human love story – The Denver Post

Tim Cook Reveals Apple’s 10-Year Plan For Future Tech – Futurism

Posted: at 12:48 pm

In BriefApple recently held their Worldwide Developers Conference(WWDC) and made a slew of announcements about some of the updatesand new products that we can expect in the next year. The companyseems to be ratcheting up their focus in the field of AR/VR. Vision of the Future

Apple revealed its 10-year plan for the future this week.

If you dont remember that slide from the hours of presentations Apple executives made onstage during the companys developer conference on Monday, youre not alone.

Apple didnt explicitly call it a 10-year plan. And the company was very subtle about how it showed this road map.

But look closely, and its easy to see.

Instead of introducing flashy new products that will change your life today, this years WWDC conference was all about putting the pieces in place for what comes next.

Its a Trojan-horse strategy sneak the seeds for the next breed of technology products into the stuff that were already using.

A new augmented reality platform, virtual reality development tools, the HomePod speaker, and improvements to iOS 11 on the iPad may not feel revolutionary or even particularly useful right now, but they are the building blocks for the technologies Apple is betting will power our future.

Lets break it down:

Ask most tech companies which product will replace the smartphone and the answer will probably revolve around a wearable device for augmented reality, the tech that overlays digital images on the real world.

Microsoft has the HoloLens headset. Google has Project Tango for Android devices and, one day, headgear like Google Glass. Facebook announced its AR ambitions a few months ago, and Mark Zuckerberg even said AR glasses would replace the need for most screens in your life one day.

Apples approach is different.

There werent any AR goggle demos or TED-talk-esque prophecies about how a pair of glasses will soon be the only computer you need. Instead, Apple is starting with something already very familiar: the iPhone and a new way for developers to build AR apps for the phone. When iOS 11 becomes available on tens of millions of Apple devices this fall, Apple will immediately have the largest AR platform. Even better, itll be on the devices that people already use not futuristic glasses or headsets. Apple will get a major advantage over its AR competitors with one simple software update.

That wont be a game changer right away of course, and it certainly wont deliver the kind of jaw-dropping experience being developed by companies like Magic Leap. AR-enabled iPhones will mostly mean some cool games and entertainment apps at first. Pikachu will look more realistic in Pokmon Go. Youll be able to build virtual Lego models on your coffee table. The rainbow puke in your Snapchat selfies will look even better.

But AR on the iPhone sets Apple up for the long run by building a base of developers already dedicated to the platform who want to make stuff for the largest number of users they can. If and when Apple decides to take AR to the next level with a pair of smart glasses or something else, itll be in a better position than companies trying to win over developers.

Apple has been hesitant to get involved with virtual reality, even as the rest of the tech industry seemed to be hyperventilating over its prospects. But now the time feels right for Apple, and its offering a new set of tools in the coming macOS Sierra software that it says will let developers connect VR headsets and create 3D and VR content.

This isnt about attracting gamers and VR enthusiasts to the Mac. This is about making sure Apples most dedicated class of users has the tools it needs to create the content of the future. Apple has historically been the platform of choice for digital artists, filmmakers, and other professionals, and adding VR development tools will make sure those users have what they need and dont abandon Apple.

HomePod, the new Amazon Echo competitor, is Apples biggest new Trojan horse of all.

Even though Apple focused on HomePods music capabilities and pitched it as a new kind of home stereo, it undersold the rest of the real potential. HomePod is also Apple putting Siri in your home in a new way and making a long-term play for the concept of ambient computing, in which everything you own is connected and powered by an underlying artificial intelligence.

HomePod is a way to put Siri everywhere else when youre not looking at your iPhone, typing on your Mac, listening to your AirPods, or tracking your workout on your Apple Watch. HomePod is Apple creeping into the rest of your life under the guise of a really nice Wi-Fi stereo. Apple may be focusing on music now with HomePod, but its also sneaking in a lot of Amazon Echo-like features like controlling your connected appliances and getting updates from Siri.

That said, its pretty clear why Apple would want to bury the AI features of HomePod. Pitching it as a digital assistant instead of a music player will only open up Apple to more criticism about how it is falling behind in AI compared with Google and Amazon. Apples Siri is still much less capable as a virtual assistant than the offerings from Amazon and Google, and Apple has a lot more work to do to catch up. But theres no question that AI is a big area of investment for Apple, and HomePod will play an important role in this strategy as Apple makes progress.

The biggest news with iOS 11 wasnt on the iPhone. It was on the iPad.

Apple has finally started making improvements to the software that help turn the iPad into the laptop replacement the company has been promising for years. Theres a new file-storage system, an app dock similar to the one on Mac, the ability to drag and drop content in between apps, and apps that float in separate windows. The iPad is starting to feel less like a giant iPhone and more like a touch-screen Mac.

Theres still a lot of work to do. The iPad Pros keyboard isnt as good as the one on a normal laptop, and its now up to developers to build compelling apps that take advantage of all the new iOS 11 features and give people a better reason to ditch their laptop for an iPad. The new 10.5-inch iPad is a small move in the right direction because its larger size allows for a full-size keyboard, but its still not enough.

But Apple is inching closer toward its ultimate goal of creating a super thin and portable laptop replacement, and iOS 11 feels like a huge milestone.

A lot of this stuff may not work out. Were in a period of relatively flat innovation across most of the tech industry, where new gizmos improve only incrementally each year. Its impossible to tell which wild idea will actually end up taking off and which will fizzle. (Two years ago everyone thought smartwatches were going to revolutionize the tech industry, after all. Now thats barely part of the conversation.)

In some sense, Apples latest batch of WWDC announcements feels underwhelming, as if Apple is dabbling in various areas rather than making a bold move in any one direction. But the companys vision for the future is already being etched into its products. Just look closely; its right in front of you.

Excerpt from:
Tim Cook Reveals Apple's 10-Year Plan For Future Tech - Futurism

Posted in Futurism | Comments Off on Tim Cook Reveals Apple’s 10-Year Plan For Future Tech – Futurism