Category Archives: Language

A Problem With Authority

Posted by Caleb Coy on

Why do we have a problem with authority?

I get it. I very much do. In my youth I gained a general distrust of authority figures of all types, from clergy to cops, from politicians to privateers, from bureaucrats to bad parents. I didn’t get into scuffles with authorities or break the law. I wasn’t much of a rebel. But I wasn’t a fan of people having too much power. I was not a fan of being told what to do when I have no idea why I am told to do it the way I am told to. I didn’t like unnecessary pressure to conform. I didn’t like to hear “because I said so,” “I’m in charge, that’s why,” or even “by the power invested in me by the state of ________.” But here’s the thing: I still maintained respect.
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Dave Eggers’ The Circle, part 1: SECRETS ARE LIES

Posted by Caleb Coy on

In his novel The Circle Dave Eggers branches out into dystopian fiction. You’d think a writer like Eggers wouldn’t bother with a genre many contemporary literary writers might find too cliche, commercialized, and predictable. “Society looks perfect, but it all goes downhill. Seen it before.” But Eggers doesn’t go for a distant, war-torn future. He takes us back to the roots of modern dystopian masterpieces: 1984 and Brave New World. What we get is a glimpse of the near future that is—I’ll admit—more relevant than one of my favorites, The Hunger Games.
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The Imagery of “Have You Seen Jesus My Lord?”

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I’ll always remember that first time at church camp when I learned the John Fisher spiritual song, “Have You Seen Jesus My Lord?” I was about nine. I would sometimes picture the songs we would sing. (For example, I would picture the line “to you alone does my spirit yield”  in “As the deer” as (for some reason) a chalky cartoon version of me meeting Christ on a road and letting him pass ahead of me, leading me.) Then I learned to sing “Have you seen Jesus my Lord? He’s here in plain view.”
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A Poem of Mine is Published in The Inaugural Issue of ‘Brain of Forgetting’

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An Irish legend tells of Cenn Faelad, who lost his ‘brain of forgetting’ when his skull was split open in battle by a blow to the head from a sword. He developed a perfect memory, and wrote everything down.

The new literary journal, Brain of Forgetting, has published their inaugural issue, titled “Stones,” to celebrate the legend.

My poem, “Sapphire Stone,” appears in the inaugural issue.

This may or may not qualify me as an Irish poet.

Either way, I’m excited to share the news.

Part the only of my review of ‘Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’

Posted by Caleb Coy on

Is this Battle of the 5 Armies or World of Warcraft?

I‘m trying to count the armies. How do they add up to 5? No bother. When a team of elves arrives with a salad bar on wheels, it’s a trap. As always, I’ll tell you when the spoilers come. Continue reading →

“Somebody Up There Likes Me”

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“Somebody up there likes me.” You’ve had a good day. Something happened in your favor. You felt lucky, maybe even blessed gracefully beyond what you deserve. You feel the compulsion to tilt your head to the sky, or even just point, and declare half-heartedly that some divinity in the sky just might be looking down at you with pleasure, and this explains your circumstances. Is that not profane?

If you are a deist, agnostic, or otherwise seeking or non-seeking individual, muttering such a thing is understandable: You’re venturing to make a comment about your possible relationship to whatever divine being created or otherwise is in some control of the universe. To you, it’s just a little joke. But if you are a Christian, you should know better: Continue reading →

Is Christianity a Western Religion? (Full series)

Posted by Caleb Coy on

Oh East is East, and West is West, and never the two shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth.”
-Rudyard Kipling, “The Ballad of East and West”

Is Christianity a Western religion? That may not strike us as a significant question, may not register as something necessary to establish as true or false.  But there are two reasons why it is important to dispel the illusion that Christianity is a “Western” religion.

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Is Christianity a Western Religion? Concluding Thoughts

Posted by Caleb Coy on

Oh East is East, and West is West, and never the two shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth.”
-Rudyard Kipling, “The Ballad of East and West”
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