DAILY PHOTO: On the Steps of Cusco Cathedral

DAILY PHOTO: Župné Námestie Square, Bratislava

DAILY PHOTO: Szilágyi Dezső Square Reformed Church

Posted on December 7, 2022 by B Gourley

Ockham’s Clerihew

Posted on November 27, 2022 by B Gourley

Friar William of Ockham
thought priestly possessions a scam.
Jailed by the Pope,
he slipped the rope.

Dragon-slayer or Drunkard? [Common Meter]

Posted on November 17, 2022 by B Gourley

I see so many statues of
dragon-slayers mid-kill.
The winged serpents pierced by a lance
conjures up such a thrill.

But there're no dragons, never were.
So, what were they slaying.
Dinos went extinct before our time
is all that I'm saying.

So, were they killing geckos, or
maybe a rock lizard?
Maybe chickens, given the wings?
Struck right through the gizzard!

Could it be St. George liked to drink
or was tripping ergot?
To earn so many statues, he'd
a publicist, I bet.

"The dragons were metaphorical!"
OK, that's really swell,
but shouldn't George's heroism
be figurative as well?

BOOK REVIEW: By Water by Jason Landsel & Richard Mommsen

Posted on September 12, 2022 by B Gourley

By Water: The Felix Manz Story by Jason Landsel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

Release Date: March 21, 2023

Get Speechify to make any book an audiobook

This is a graphic novel-style biography of Felix Manz, a Protestant (Anabaptist) reformer from Zurich during the sixteenth century. Manz and his compatriots had a few beefs with the Catholic church, broadly classified. The first (and most religious / doctrinal) grievance was with respect to how the Church handled baptisms; specifically, infant baptism prevented baptism from being a free choice for the baptized. The second set of grievances involved the priesthood and how priests were moved around at the convenience of the Church and how much money they cost the citizenry. (i.e. They wanted local priests and not to be forced to pay a lot of overhead.) The third complaint was more an entire slate of complaints about resources. In that era, Swiss commoners couldn’t just go hunting in the woods or chop firewood as they needed because the land was under the ownership of the powers that be.

The story of Manz and his followers is intriguing, if one is interested in history. It’s kind of a strange topic to read in comic book form, but as history can be tedious in historical / biographic tomes, this makes for a quick and painless way to take in the story. There are a couple points where the book seems to shift into hagiographic territory (i.e. being difficult to swallow for the non-believer.)

The art is clear and neatly rendered, but I wondered how time-accurate it is. Maybe it is, but the inside of the houses looked pretty much like today (e.g. curtains and furnishings) and I found myself wondering whether its anachronistic or not. Ultimately, I have to give the artist the benefit of the doubt as I know virtually nothing about how Swiss commoners lived in the 1500’s. At the end of the book, there are some appendices that provide more information in prose text.

If you’re interested in European and / or Religious History, you may want to read this book.

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