The book Doors of the Sea - Where Was God in the Tsunami is a deceptively small book. At about 100 pages, and no larger than an average mouse pad (which is a comparison I can readily make from visual observation), it nonetheless contains one of the best summations of Christian responses to the problem of how a world which is supposed to be the product of a good and loving God nonetheless contains suffering and other evil. The book is an expansion of two articles, one for the WSJ and one for First Things on the same topic, and I recommend that you read the First Things article.

One of the great statements Hart makes both in his book and article concerns the arguments (railings?) against God by Ivan Karamazov, from Dostoevsky’s great work The Brothers Karamazov. Having set forth the arguments, Hart notes:

But Ivan’s rebellion is something altogether different. Voltaire sees only the terrible truth that the actual history of suffering and death is not morally intelligible. Dostoevsky sees—and this bespeaks both his moral genius and his Christian view of reality—that it would be far more terrible if it were.

Some other important discussions in the book, which I think will open up new avenues for my own personal exploration are the idea of the impassibility of God (that God does not experience pain or pleasure from the actions of any other being), the difficulty of reconciling free will with evil (if God created creatures with free will, and knew that they would then engage in evil, isn’t God somehow responsible for evil? And how can a good God be responsible for evil?), and so on.

Hart takes a very patristical approach to the question, and his response is one of a classic Christian and Orthodox theologian. As such, his thoughts may be unsettling to many outside of the Catholic or Orthodox traditions. However, to those inside such traditions, his thought is both lucid and illuminating. He is somewhat harsh (if his writing can be called such) with John Calvin, and Calvin’s assertion of the “idea of a God who can be called omnipotent only if his will is the direct efficient cause of every aspect of created reality.” (See Where Was God? An Interview with David Bentley Hart) Hart notes that this doctrine often appears in (to his mind) extremely mistaken responses of Christian theologians to the Tsunami of 2004 in the Pacific rim. Taken to an extreme, these responses took the Calvinist doctrine to its logical end by asserting (in various ways) either that suffering is necessary, and / or that suffering is created and used by God to some end. He makes a careful distinction between God’s ability to bring good out of evil, and suffering as some creation or tool of God. The distinction, he believes, is illustrated by the statement that Christ did not come to reconcile or explain death (evil) to humanity, but to conquer it.

Provocative, yet completely orthodox Christian thought (deliberate use of the small “o” there).

Michael Ruhlman is a chef and writer who was recently featured as a judge on the show, “The Next Iron Chef.” He also runs a blog - ruhlman.com - which is filled with excellent tidbits as well as memoirs about his travels and ideas. His book, The Elements of Cooking, has been reviewed quite positively and extensively, and is on my “sometime to purchase” list.

Meanwhile, check out the blog - http://blog.ruhlman.com/ruhlmancom/2008/07/elements-cast-i.html - most of his posts will echo today’s, which has helpful and intelligent commentary on cast iron cookware.

-j.

…in the other room.  I was doing dishes and the girls were in the family room.  Since we weren’t home for the majority of the day, I never did open the blinds.

Usually, quiet is a bad thing.  I peeked around the corner and saw this:

I asked Claire what they were doing and she said “playing nap time”.

Cool.

Although both of us are craving sweets like we never have before, the results have been great.

Anne - down 6 pounds

Jonathan — also down 6!

Woo hoo.

One (maybe two for Anne) weeks left in Phase 1!  Yee haw!

Thank goodness for sugar free fudgesickles and sugar free gum.  And cashews.  MMM.

So last night I made us “South Beach Pizza” which consisted of butterflying 2 chicken breasts, pouding them somewhat thin (I could have done it more), browinging it and then topping it with pizza sauce, cheese and mushrooms and sausage and baking for 8 minutes at 425.  It turned out pretty good.

Tonight we’re going Indian…Channa.  My favorite Indian dish.  Chick peas cooked in a tomato/onion sauce with yummy spices.

All in all, I think we’re both doing really well with this!

…I just looked at the clock, thinking it was about 9:30 and it’s 7:57.  Oye.

Mads threw her eggs, by the handful, on the floor at breakfast.

Claire says that Madeline “won’t stop bothering me”.

I think there’s going to be a rumble.

We’re out of apple juice…again.

Maybe we all need a nap.

Well, I just got off the phone with a good friend, and it’s about time to head to bed, but I thought I’d reflect a bit on the day first. Today was an exceptionally long day. Not really in terms of length, but more in terms of task shifting. Being somewhat ADHD, I do best on workdays where I have 1-2 tasks upon which I can focus. Today, I dealt with at least 10 discrete tasks, usually lasting about 15 minutes each. That’s EXHAUSTING! I finished the day with a slight dizziness.

And, of course, the massive dietary change isn’t helping.

Oh, well. Off to sleep!

The girls and I went to the Farmers Market this morning and got all sorts of yummy things.  Thankfully the Amish pretzel people were not there today so I wasn’t as tempted as I normally am!  I did discover something totally yummy and totally South Beach approved…Almond Butter. MMMMM.  Fresh organic almond butter.

We came home with two delicious looking cucumbers and I decided to make myself some Cucumber Salad for lunch.  The version that is normally made in my family requires sugar and mayonnaise, so I decided to make mine South Beach friendly.  Enjoy the yummy goodness!

South Beach Fresh Cucumber Salad

• 2 Cucumbers, seeded and chopped into 1inch chunks
• 1 TBSP Salt
• 1/2 Red Onion, very finely chopped
• 1 big Clove of garlic
• 10 or so mint leaves, ripped into pieces
• 1 1/2 Cups of so, nonfat, plain yogurt
• and the secret ingredient….a good sized pinch of red pepper flakes.

Chop Cucumbers, place in strainer and toss with salt.

Put garlic, red pepper flakes and mint in the food processor and take it for a spin.  Add the yogurt.

Mix together the yogurt sauce, cucumbers and red onions.  Cover, and let stand at room temperature for about 15minutes.  Eat.

Incidentally, the Farmers Market is the best deal in town.  For just about $9 we got, 2 cucumbers, 2 large zucchini, a zucchini plant for our garden, a bunch of green onions, 1/2 pound of almond butter and about 3/4 pound yogurt cheese.  And, being Tuesday instead of Saturday morning, it wasn’t too terribly crowded!

Anne and I decided to take on the South Beach diet. She, because she eats too many carbs and me, because I drink too many carbs. Plus, my waistline has gotten distinctly tighter lately, and I am far too cheap to purchase new pants and get alterations.

What will this involve? Well, for the first two weeks, it’s almost no carbs. We’ll be avoiding going the all-red-meat route so as to avoid descending the evolutionary tree. (Although gnawing the opposing lawyer’s hand everytime s/he makes an objection in court would have the elements of both surprise and intimidation…) Therefore, we’ll keep our chicken and bean heavy diet going, continue using olive oil regularly, skip the pasta, pizza, chinese food which are our fallbacks, and make more forays into salmon (which Sam’s Club usually has at moderately good prices).

Also, should I have coffee with any of you, don’t add milk or sugar to it in front of me - I’m off milk and sugar for the first two weeks as well, and coffee tastes abysmal with Splenda in it. I’d hate to have a nervous breakdown watching someone drink coffee as it should be….

-j.

….you drive 100 miles (one way) to see someone who writes about knitting talk about writing about knitting, and then wait in line to get a book signed by said person.

But it was REALLY REALLY worth it. She is hysterical. Even non-knitters (like Jonathan) find her writing funny.

Marianna had a good time too, which makes it even better.

Ann, sorry I mistook Oak Lawn for Oak Park. Too many damn suburbs in Chicago.

The next time you are 19 months old and attempt to climb on the kitchen table and eat a marker cap and squish a half empty Diet Coke can….please wear the appropriate safety equipment.

OK yes before you call Child protective, the camera was in my hand because I was taking pictures of her in the helmet. :)  I was arms reach from her when she climbed on the table.

Please join me in wishing my parents, Margaret & David Hosinski, a very happy 49th wedding anniversary!

Now that the present has been given, I’d like to share my latest knitting triumph…the Skirty.

Pattern:  Shorts & Pants by Belladona Designs (Ravelry), size small

Yarn:  Lion Brand Fisherman’s wool, handdyed with Kool-Aid and Coffee

This serves as a dual purpose skirt and diaper cover.  Diaper cover you ask?  Yes.  Wool makes an excellent choice for a cloth diaper cover because of its antibacterial properties and ability to absorb, yet stay dry to the touch.  You do have to treat the wool with lanolin to make it work properly, but my friends who use cloth diapers tell me that these are the best for night time wetters.  I might make a few for miss Madeline who is constantly peeing out of her diapers at night time.. (No we don’t use cloth…and I refuse to buy size 6’s.)

Since this blog is the Anne show, and she does a thorough job updating the world on our doings, there is not much for me to say in that regard. We make a good team, as my preference is usually to focus on the more abstract / theoretical / etc.

With that in mind, I just purchased two new books on Amazon.com (goooo giftcards!). The first is called Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami - it’s basically an exploration of theodicy. Theodicy is defined as:[v]indication of the divine attributes, esp. justice and holiness, in respect to the existence of evil. If it’s not obvious, the book deals with questions of evil in relation to the Indian ocean tsunami of 2004. The reference is to a phrase from Job 38:8. Job 38 states in context:

8 Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb :

9 when I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?

10 I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors :

11And I said : Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.

Job itself is a discussion strongly centered in theodicy, and ends with the idea that we cannot know why evil acts occur; that such knowledge is left to God. For instance, Job 42 states:

1Then Job answered the Lord, and said :

2 I know that thou canst do all things, and no thought is hid from thee.

3 Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have spoken unwisely, and things that above measure exceeded my knowledge.

4 Hear, and I will speak : I will ask thee, and do thou tell me.

5 With the hearing of the ear, I have heard thee, but now my eye seeth thee.

6 Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes.

The question of evil is one of the great questions which faces humans - how to reconcile the actions of a loving God with evil, whether natural or unnatural. C.S. Lewis dealt with the question in his book The Problem of Pain, but he is one in many authors who consider the issue. I look forwards to reading this text.

Interestingly, the second book is related to the question of evil. It’s called Original Sin: A Cultural History, by Alan Jacobs. He writes for one of my favorite magazines on occasion, First Things. It’s a brand new book, so I don’t have much more information on reviews. However, it did garner a good review in the Wall Street Journal, so it’s another book which should provide interesting insights into the idea of original sin.

-j.

This morning I filled up the van….$70 for a full tank.  And I thought I was getting a “bargain” at $3.97 a gallon.

Turns out I was.  I just drove by the same exact station on the way home from lunch and it was $4.19 for a gallon.  YIKES.