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January Newsletter Update

New Scriptorium Installment & Gil at DSPT in Berkeley

Dear Friends,Gil Bailie

 

As a new year always does, 2012 begins with fresh hopes for our work and renewed gratitude to all of those whose support and prayers make it possible. The writing project we have named the Scriptorium has produced over the past year 7 installments totaling almost 200 pages of draft material. While there may be light at the end of this tunnel , I have been so focused on the work at hand that I've yet to see it. Besides the research and study that must be done to fruitfully approach the topics I am addressing; there are periods of time spent rereading and reworking pieces I have written over the past decade. In the next installments we are making available on our members only Scriptorium site much of the material is of the latter sort. Below are a few excerpts from this latest offering I have called "History and Hope":

 

Abraham is the biblical figure who represents the move into history and the beginning of historical consciousness. In stepping into history, he takes the first bold and decisive step away from ritual sacrifice and he undertakes a journey into an unknown future. It is important to emphasize that this does not happen because Abraham has moral revulsion for ritual sacrifice or because he has an adventurous spirit or because he has a bold new vision about how the social order might be better constituted. It happens because he trusts in the God who called him and sent him.

 

Biblical Israel ...was throughout its history torn between three major sources of historical confidence - the efficacy of ritual sacrifice, the efficacy of military and political machinations, and faith in the God of the possible, whose covenantal provisos were mediated by the great pre-exilic prophets. It is this latter source of hope that the biblical tradition, chastened as it was by defeat and deportation, remembers as the most reliable. But neither ritual sacrifice nor attention to the practicalities of political or national survival were regarded as completely incompatible with faith in Yahweh. They become spiritual and culturally perilous only when they were substituted for faith in God's promise and providence.

 

 

Saturday January 28th 1:30pm at DSPT in Berkeley

Along with the work I've been doing on the writing project is my ongoing involvement in the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology's College of Fellows. This honor was conferred on me in 2010 and subsequently on my good and dear friend Ron Austin last year.  As you may recall last November Ron Austin and I, along with the DSPT president, Fr. Michael Sweeney, O.P., made a presentation at the annual conference of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture. We will be continuing this collaboration at the third annual convocation of the College of Fellows this coming weekend in Berkeley. Among the prestigious list of presenters this weekend will be Judge John T. Noonan, Jr. of the Ninth Circuit Court and Congressman Dan Lungren. I encourage all of you who are in commuting distance to the Bay Area to attend the free public presentation on Saturday January 28th (the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas) at 1:30pm on the theme 'Catholic Imagination and Contemporary Culture'. Both Ron and I will be there and we would be very happy to visit with any of our Cornerstone Forum friends who may be able to attend. Follow the link below for directions to the campus:

2301 Vine St. Berkeley, CA 94708

 

In the meantime, please visit our Facebook page. Randy and I post regularly to the page - even though we're both still Facebook novices. We hope to rely more on Facebook as we become more facile at it. We welcome you advice. 

 

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With gratitude and affection,

Gil - Signature - yellow

 

P.S. (from Randy)Randy Coleman-Riese

 

 

The first  CD/MP3 from the Poetry of  Truth - Reflections on the Gospel of Luke, is now available on our webstore. I continue to post excerpts from the cassette tape archives on Gil's weblog Reflections on Faith and Culture every three days or so. (These posts are now being linked to our Cornerstone Forum Facebook page.) 

 

Just as a reminder, our Sustaining donors (those contributing $300/yr or $25/mo) receive these CDs & MP3s for free each month. Regular donors at the $10/mo or $120/yr level receive emailed links to a complimentary downloadable MP3 version of these monthly audio files. And for just $5/mo or $60/yr all donors receive access to our members only Scriptorium web site where Gil is posting draft installments in his manuscript project. (More about that below) We encourage all those who find our work of value to consider becoming a regular supporter of our work. Please visit our Donations page on our secure web store to begin helping us in our efforts to bring a wholehearted faith to a half-hearted world. 

 

Gil mentioned the Scriptorium manuscript project above and the draft installments he has posted. We  have also posted 5 split screen video conversations between Gil and me where we discuss, among other things, questions brought up by our supporters about the draft installments. We encourage our Scriptorium members to send us their comments on any of the pieces posted. 

 

We never tire of saying how grateful we are to be the recipients of such generous and faithful friends. The challenges we face are met with the confidence and knowledge that we are all of us in God's gracious care.

 

Blessings,  

Randy Coleman-Riese 

 

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According to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, the coincidence of
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