Steven Rodriguez
@smarcorodriguez.bsky.social
Having a George Herbert moment. Reading Aristotle's Politics, the Chinese reception of Western classics, Śāntideva, and the songs of women in the Hebrew Bible
Ok now I’m definitely having a George Herbert moment
November 28, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Ok now I’m definitely having a George Herbert moment
I have been geeking out about George Herbert's poem "Church Monuments" for days
November 28, 2025 at 3:55 PM
I have been geeking out about George Herbert's poem "Church Monuments" for days
“In some ways, constancy plays a role in Jane Austen analogous to that of phronêsis in Aristotle; it is a virtue the possession of which is a prerequisite for the possession of other virtues.”
—Alasdair MacIntyre
—Alasdair MacIntyre
November 28, 2025 at 3:22 PM
“In some ways, constancy plays a role in Jane Austen analogous to that of phronêsis in Aristotle; it is a virtue the possession of which is a prerequisite for the possession of other virtues.”
—Alasdair MacIntyre
—Alasdair MacIntyre
There are passages in Gregory of Nyssa where I think he comes close to Buddhism
November 25, 2025 at 2:04 PM
There are passages in Gregory of Nyssa where I think he comes close to Buddhism
“Gregory had made his own the boundless yearning of Origen.
For Gregory, the human soul lived forever in the grip of a ‘fine passion of insatiability.’”
—Peter Brown
For Gregory, the human soul lived forever in the grip of a ‘fine passion of insatiability.’”
—Peter Brown
November 25, 2025 at 1:28 PM
“Gregory had made his own the boundless yearning of Origen.
For Gregory, the human soul lived forever in the grip of a ‘fine passion of insatiability.’”
—Peter Brown
For Gregory, the human soul lived forever in the grip of a ‘fine passion of insatiability.’”
—Peter Brown
“Friendship we believe to be the greatest good of states and what best preserves them against revolutions.”
—Aristotle, Politics (Jowett trans.)
—Aristotle, Politics (Jowett trans.)
November 25, 2025 at 11:57 AM
“Friendship we believe to be the greatest good of states and what best preserves them against revolutions.”
—Aristotle, Politics (Jowett trans.)
—Aristotle, Politics (Jowett trans.)
I'm having way too much fun reading Aristotle's Politics and spotting the passages that clearly influenced Dante, via Aquinas, so I made myself a new 16-bit Street-Fighter-style phone wallpaper to celebrate
November 24, 2025 at 9:18 PM
I'm having way too much fun reading Aristotle's Politics and spotting the passages that clearly influenced Dante, via Aquinas, so I made myself a new 16-bit Street-Fighter-style phone wallpaper to celebrate
We should change the church calendar to add a new Sunday: "Second Naiveté Sunday"—the Sunday when all the biblical studies scholars in the congregation are gone for SBL
November 24, 2025 at 1:16 PM
We should change the church calendar to add a new Sunday: "Second Naiveté Sunday"—the Sunday when all the biblical studies scholars in the congregation are gone for SBL
Type of guy whose primary reason for reading Aristotle is for the Dante references (me)
November 24, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Type of guy whose primary reason for reading Aristotle is for the Dante references (me)
I'm enjoying Benjamin Jowett's translation of Aristotle, but it is rendered in a mellifluous and stately 19th century English.
I'm wondering if anyone has attempted to translate Aristotle more recently in a way that preserves more of the grit and gristle of Aristotle's Greek?
I'm wondering if anyone has attempted to translate Aristotle more recently in a way that preserves more of the grit and gristle of Aristotle's Greek?
November 24, 2025 at 12:49 PM
I'm enjoying Benjamin Jowett's translation of Aristotle, but it is rendered in a mellifluous and stately 19th century English.
I'm wondering if anyone has attempted to translate Aristotle more recently in a way that preserves more of the grit and gristle of Aristotle's Greek?
I'm wondering if anyone has attempted to translate Aristotle more recently in a way that preserves more of the grit and gristle of Aristotle's Greek?
We need to reckon more seriously with the question of what, exactly, the "end" of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament is.
November 21, 2025 at 4:13 PM
We need to reckon more seriously with the question of what, exactly, the "end" of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament is.
Okay I was trying to resist getting Adele Berlin's new Song of Songs commentary but I see that a central part of her reading is *heavy* Greek influence—she calls it "a Jewish-Hellenistic work"—and now I HAVE to read it
November 19, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Okay I was trying to resist getting Adele Berlin's new Song of Songs commentary but I see that a central part of her reading is *heavy* Greek influence—she calls it "a Jewish-Hellenistic work"—and now I HAVE to read it
Reposted by Steven Rodriguez
burned the sauce just a bit and ended up really liking the result. This is what Kant meant about the crooked timber of humanity
November 15, 2025 at 6:56 PM
burned the sauce just a bit and ended up really liking the result. This is what Kant meant about the crooked timber of humanity
If someone sent me an email like this I would legitimately quake in fear
Me, writing my respectful emails to all my enemies: “Dear so-and-so, I hope this message finds you well. When I think about our relationship, I find myself reflecting on the friendship between Dr Karl Barth and Dr Emil Brunner…”
People should be suspended for back talk. The only allowed discourse should be the way academics write respectful emails to each other.
November 14, 2025 at 4:14 PM
If someone sent me an email like this I would legitimately quake in fear
I've been slowly teaching myself how to play clarinet and having a ball. I'm up to 11 notes.
November 14, 2025 at 3:42 PM
I've been slowly teaching myself how to play clarinet and having a ball. I'm up to 11 notes.
So my view of Hobbes was all wrong? Apparently he had already formed most of his core ideas of political philosophy *before* witnessing the horrors of the English Civil War??
November 14, 2025 at 3:07 PM
So my view of Hobbes was all wrong? Apparently he had already formed most of his core ideas of political philosophy *before* witnessing the horrors of the English Civil War??
Hobbes: Metaphor is "less dangerous" than the names of things, because metaphors "profess their inconstancy," while names do not.
November 14, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Hobbes: Metaphor is "less dangerous" than the names of things, because metaphors "profess their inconstancy," while names do not.
“My mother gave birth to twins: myself and fear.”
—Thomas Hobbes
—Thomas Hobbes
November 14, 2025 at 12:39 PM
“My mother gave birth to twins: myself and fear.”
—Thomas Hobbes
—Thomas Hobbes
After Hannah sings about the Lord lifting people up at the beginning of the Book of Samuel, is the only instance of "resurrection" the ironic "raising" of Samuel by the witch?
November 14, 2025 at 12:05 AM
After Hannah sings about the Lord lifting people up at the beginning of the Book of Samuel, is the only instance of "resurrection" the ironic "raising" of Samuel by the witch?
Starting to think that Hobbes may be the original out-of-touch AI bro! He opens his book by saying that humans are robots, the state is a robot, imagination is the brain slowly failing, metaphor is abuse of language, and numbers are the most truthful register of human thought.
November 13, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Starting to think that Hobbes may be the original out-of-touch AI bro! He opens his book by saying that humans are robots, the state is a robot, imagination is the brain slowly failing, metaphor is abuse of language, and numbers are the most truthful register of human thought.
I was quite honestly not expecting to loathe Thomas Hobbes this much! Here he is, saying that metaphor (yes, metaphor) is one of the four principal “abuses” of language.
November 13, 2025 at 12:38 PM
I was quite honestly not expecting to loathe Thomas Hobbes this much! Here he is, saying that metaphor (yes, metaphor) is one of the four principal “abuses” of language.
What do we think Samuel is doing in I Samuel 7?
In preaching, he is clearly a prophet.
In offering sacrifices, he sure looks like he is commandeering the office of priest.
In providing executive and military leadership, he is approaching the office of king, though not quite.
In preaching, he is clearly a prophet.
In offering sacrifices, he sure looks like he is commandeering the office of priest.
In providing executive and military leadership, he is approaching the office of king, though not quite.
November 12, 2025 at 12:00 PM
What do we think Samuel is doing in I Samuel 7?
In preaching, he is clearly a prophet.
In offering sacrifices, he sure looks like he is commandeering the office of priest.
In providing executive and military leadership, he is approaching the office of king, though not quite.
In preaching, he is clearly a prophet.
In offering sacrifices, he sure looks like he is commandeering the office of priest.
In providing executive and military leadership, he is approaching the office of king, though not quite.
This is the worst definition of imagination that I’ve ever seen, but what would you expect from Thomas Hobbes, the guy who is responsible for the worst translation of the Iliad of all time?
November 11, 2025 at 1:06 PM
This is the worst definition of imagination that I’ve ever seen, but what would you expect from Thomas Hobbes, the guy who is responsible for the worst translation of the Iliad of all time?
Starting this right after Zhuāngzǐ and WOW the Mahāyāna Buddhist vibes are SO DIFFERENT from the Daoist world I was in for a year...
November 10, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Starting this right after Zhuāngzǐ and WOW the Mahāyāna Buddhist vibes are SO DIFFERENT from the Daoist world I was in for a year...
I’m back in this book. It is so wild to read Chinese nationalists in the early 20th century advocating for western Aristotelian rationality because they felt that their own Chinese traditions lacked the philosophical rigor of the West. But, like, I just read Zhuangzi and it was amazing??
November 10, 2025 at 4:16 PM
I’m back in this book. It is so wild to read Chinese nationalists in the early 20th century advocating for western Aristotelian rationality because they felt that their own Chinese traditions lacked the philosophical rigor of the West. But, like, I just read Zhuangzi and it was amazing??