The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
Front-Ranger:
There was a lady at my Bible study class last Sunday who was born in Sweden. She said that you are automatically a member of the Lutheran church when you're born and if you want to join a different church, you become a member of a "free" church, that is, one that is not tied to the government. The Lutheran church and the government are associated somehow. Swedish Brokies, please correct me or elaborate! Many Swedes are nonreligious or atheists and few attend church. Who knows, perhaps this is one of their keys to happiness?
The Swedish king in the 1500s used the growth of Lutherian Protestantism to transfer the Catholic church's properties and assets into the hands of Sweden, so that is the reason attributed to the popularity of Lutherism.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on February 11, 2015, 07:22:02 pm ---But then the question becomes, why is Lutheranism particularly popular there? (And is Lutheranism that much more existential-angst-filled than other denominations?)
--- End quote ---
During the era of the Reformation, the churches in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway were all reformed "from the top down," similar to the church in England, and the state churches in the Scandinavian countries all adopted a Lutheran theology. I wouldn't exactly say Lutheranism is "particularly popular" there--it's not as though the people had a choice--just that the Scandinavian countries have 400 years of history of being "Lutheran countries."
Yes, I think Lutheranism is more "existential-angst-filled" than other denominations. Ref: Kierkegaard. Lutherans don't have comfort of conviction of their own predestination to salvation, unlike the Reformed "Puritan" denominations.
--- Quote ---I think it could be the climate and sun angle.
--- End quote ---
I wouldn't be surprised at all if that's a part of it.
Jeff Wrangler:
I started the Pollan article (Feb. 9) over lunch today. I find it interesting and exciting. :)
On a very mundane level, I didn't know LSD was legal until 1970. I was just a kid back then. ::)
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on February 10, 2015, 02:28:49 pm ---I don't usually read the fiction, but for Toni Morrison I made an exception (Feb. 9).
--- End quote ---
I read this last night. Very readable and short, but I'm not sure I got a whole lot out of it. The name of the story is "Sweetness".
ALice Gregory's piece "R U There?" on texting-based crisis counseling was good in this issue, too.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on February 12, 2015, 02:36:59 pm ---On a very mundane level, I didn't know LSD was legal until 1970. I was just a kid back then. ::)
--- End quote ---
Which means that by the time I tried it, it had been illegal for less than a decade. ::)
I've started reading the one about the guy who discovered some amazing mathematical proof. It may be too soon to tell, but so far it's interesting. Math itself makes my eyes glaze over -- I was once actually good at it but I never particularly liked it, stopped taking it in high school, and now my skills have atrophied to about a fifth-grade level -- but as in the play/movie "Proof," the human drama surrounding amazing mathematical feats can be interesting.
One thing I like about this is the guy was middle-aged and seemingly washed up -- he couldn't get a job in academia, was working in a Subway! -- when things turned around for him.
The proof in this article is described as one that demonstrates, as I understand it from the brief description early on, that two prime numbers can be consecutive. Logically, that doesn't make sense, does it? Except in the case of 1 and 2. After that, every other number can be divided by 2, so ...? At least, my fifth-grade math mind can't conceive of it. But then, the world's great math minds considered it impossible until this guy did it, so it's not just me.
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