Without separation, without division

"if God is pure spirit, it is not more like God to walk on water, have his face transfigured, or perform a miracle with the touch of his hand, than it is for him to be crucified.  All these acts (whatever the transcendent power they unleash, and certainly the Cross unleashes the greatest transcendent power in the form of salvation) are acts of a finite body performing in time and space."

     Aaron Riches, Ecco homo:  on the divine unity of Christ, Interventions (Grand Rapids, MI:  Eerdmans, 2016), 82n89, on the "Nestorianism" of all insufficiently "Cyrillian" attempts to "parse what is proper to the Word from what is proper to the human nature" (81).  "To the Council Fathers, Cyril did not represent one Christological 'option,' much less a Christology bound to the style of a particular region [(the Christology of the so-called 'Alexandrian school')]; he was for them the representative of Catholic truth, of the Nicene orthodoxy defended by Athanasius, which they understood as the faith handed down from the apostles themselves.  The textual evidence of the Acta of Chalcedon is overwhelming:  the Council Fathers did not see themselves as 'Theodorian' in any way, [as balancing (or working out a compromise between) an Alexandrian and an Antiochian school,] but rather as confirming the doctrine held by 'blessed Cyril'" (78-79).

"'When this snow melts, there will be lots of mud.'"

     "In the fourth century, the bishop of Antioch, Leontius, is said to have 'stroked his white hairs and remarked, "When this snow melts, there will be lots of mud."'"

     Aaron Riches, Ecce homo:  on the divine unity of Christ, Interventions (Grand Rapids, MI:  Eerdmans, 2016), 76, citing Andrew Louth, "Why did the Syrians reject the Council of Chalcedon?," in Chalcedon in context: church councils 400-700 (Liverpool:  Liverpool University Press, 2009), 109 (107-116).

"'and now never to be clean God again.'"

      Malle and Wat were burning garden rubbish; the heap was crackling merrily; below the busy flames were sliding their quick fingers about the dry wizened stalks, feeling along, licking up; above, smoke, reeking of rottenness, poured out, leaned sideways, swirled wide and swept over half the garden.  Malle and Wat, casting down fork and rake, fled out of it to the clear air to breathe, and leaned together upon the wall.

      ‘Wat,’ said Malle, ‘have you thought that He has stained Himself, soiled Himself, being not only with men, but Himself a man.  What’s that, to be man?  Look at me.  Look at you.’

      They looked at each other, and one saw a dusty wretched dumb lad, and the other saw a heavy slatternly woman.

      Malle said:  ‘It’s to be that which shoots down the birds out of the free air, and slaughters dumb beasts, and kills his own kind in wars.’

      She looked away up the Dale towards Calva, rust-red with dead bracken, smouldering under the cold sky.

      ‘And it wasn’t that He put on man like a jacket to take off at night, or to bathe or to play.  But man He was, as man is man, the maker made Himself the made; God was un-Godded by His own hand.’

      She put her hands to her face, and was silent, till Wat pulled them away.

      ‘He was God,’ she said, ‘from before the beginning, and now never to be clean God again.  Never again.  Alas!’ she said, and then, ‘Osanna!’

      Malle, the Serving Woman, in H. F. M. Prescott, The man on a donkey (New York:  Macmillan, 1961), 455-456 (26 October 1536), “by widespread assent one of the finest historical novels ever written” (Robert Irwin, "Poetry of history," Times literary supplement no. 5954 (May 12 2017):  10).

     But of course he did not un-God himself (extra Calvinisticum, extra Patristicum).  And "'clean God'"?  Would a "'clean God'" be the Triune God of Christian confession?

     Still, the moving imagined reflections of a sixteenth-century serving woman.

Did contemporary "American capitalism originat[e] in racial slavery"?

     "One of the really striking things about the school of slavery's capitalism is how little politics there is in its approach to political economy.  This is perhaps not surprising given the hopelessness so many felt in the post-2008 moment.  If capitalism is all powerful, then political resistance is meaningless.  But the American Civil War presents a sharp reminder of the unpredictability of history.  Contrary to Slavery's Capitalism, the critical issue in 1860 was not that Republicans saw slavery as a problem, but that slaveholding Southerners saw free labour and industrial capitalism as an existential threat.  The slaveholders had once called the shots in US politics.  But by 1860 the slave South was not the leading edge of anything except pro-slavery nationalism.  It seceded and provoked a civil war over the future of the nation and of slavery in it.  No one in 1860 could have imagined what was about to happen.  It was slaveholding Southerners' misguided bet that opened the possibility of a new chapter in American and African American history.
     "When the smoke had cleared slavery had been destroyed.  Enslaved African Americans had thought that outcome worth fighting and dying for.  They fought just as hard to define the terms of the post-war order, when slavery's capitalism was dead and gone.  The kind of unfettered corporate capitalism that came after the Civil War certainly merits the critical assessment of historians.  But the destruction of slavery was a crucial event in the history of American capitalism, one hardly underestimated by those who lived through it.  It was, at the very least, a moment of radical disjuncture between two systems of exploitation."

     Stephanie McCurry, "Plunder of black life:  the problem of connecting the history of slavery to the economics of the present," a review of Slavery's capitalism:  a new history of American economic development (Philadelphia:  University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016), and, by implication, the entire "school of slavery's capitalism", Times literary supplement no. 5955 (May 19 2017):  26 (23-24, 26), italics mine.

They're necessary, so use words

The power of his words,

and the witness given to this by a physician

¹⁰⁷Although the evangelist Francis

preached to the simple,

in simple, concrete terms,

since he knew that virtue

is more necessary than words,

still, when he was among spiritual people

with greater abilities

he gave birth to life-giving and profound words.

With very few words he would suggest

what was inexpressible,

and, weaving movement with fiery gestures,

he carried away all his hearers toward the things of heaven.

He did not use the keys of distinctions,

For he did not preach about things he had not himself discovered.

Christ, true Power and Wisdom [(1 Cor 2:1-2, 4-5)],

made his voice a voice of power [(Ps 68:34)].

     A physician, a learned and eloquent man, once said:  'I remember the sermons of other preachers word for word, only what the saint, Francis, says eludes me.  Even if I memorize some of his words, they don’t seem to me like those that originally poured from his lips [(Wis 4:11)].'

     Thomas of Celano, The remembrance of the desire of a soul (The second life of Saint Francis) (1247) I.73.  Francis of Assisi:  early documents, vol. 2, The founder, ed. Armstrong, Hellmann, & Short (New York:  New City Press, 2000), 318.

³⁶Francis, Christ’s bravest soldier,

went around the cities and villages [(Mt 9:35)],

proclaiming the kingdom of God

and preaching peace [(Mt 9:35; Acts 10:36)]

and penance for the remission of sins [(Mk 1:4)],

not in the persuasive words of human wisdom

but in the learning and power of the Spirit [(1 Cor 2:4)].

     He acted confidently [(Acts 9:28)] in all matters because of the apostolic authority granted him.  He did not use fawning or seductive flattery.  He did not smooth over but cut out the faults of others.  He did not encourage but struck at the life of sin with a sharp blow, because he first convinced himself by action, and then convinced others by words.  Not fearing anyone’s rebuke, he spoke the truth boldly, so that even well-educated men, distinguished by fame and dignity, were amazed at his words and were shaken by a healthy fear in his presence.

     Thomas of Celano, Life of Saint Francis (1229) I.15.  Francis of Assisi:  early documents, vol. 1, The saint, ed. Armstrong, Hellmann, & Short (New York:  New City Press, 1999), 214-215.
     Cf. Pope Leo XIV on 24 June 2025 to the Order of Malta:

Your Order has as its purpose the tuition fidei and the obsequium pauperum. Two aspects of a single charism: the faith that is propagated and protected in loving dedication to the poor, the marginalized, all those who are in need of support, and the help of others. Do not limit yourselves to meeting the needs of the poor, but announce to them God’s love with the word and witness. If this were lacking, the Order would lose its religious nature and would be reduced to being a philanthropic organization.

Il vostro Ordine ha come finalità la tuitio fidei e l’obsequium pauperum. Due aspetti di un unico carisma: la fede che viene propagata e tutelata nella dedizione amorosa ai poveri, agli emarginati, a tutti coloro che hanno bisogno del sostegno, dell’aiuto altrui. Non limitarsi a soccorrere le necessità dei poveri, ma annunciare loro l’amore di Dio con la parola e la testimonianza. Se venisse a mancare questo, l’Ordine perderebbe il proprio carattere religioso e si ridurrebbe a essere un’organizzazione a scopo filantropico.

Disobedience and the trombone

     "A child who obediently follows the father’s will, which is directly opposite to the child’s wish; yes, the child is far from doubting his father’s love, but there is not much trumpet blowing and ingratiation about how affectionate the father is.—And, on the other hand, the child who knows full well that in reality he is the one who gets his way and that the father’s will is not effected, yes, then there is trumpet blowing and trombones and shouting and ingratiating talk about how affectionate a father he has."
     "So, too, with us hum. beings in relation to God."

     Søren Kierkegaard, Kierkegaard's journals and notebooks 9 (Princeton:  Princeton University Press, 2017), 97 (96-97, 101).  "In his journals (1849), Kierkegaard is scathing about organ music in church accompanied by trombones (Basuner).  Here, he is clearly referring to negatively to the practice of having hymns at the major festivals accompanied by a trombone or trumpet in the gallery as well as by an organ" (Julia Watkin, Historical dictionary of Kierkegaard's philosophy, Historical dictionaries of religions, philosophies, and movements 33 (Lanham, MD:  Scarecrow, 2001), sv Art, p. 17).  Søren Kierkegaards Skrifter returns 60 hits on Basun*, so this would be far from the only passage of interest.

"the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world"

     Update, 13 August 2019:  I now think this (below) very likely to be an obviously accurate report, given the posthumously published fragments of CD IV/4, i.e. §78 as reproduced in The Christian life:  Church dogmatics IV,4:  Lecture fragments, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids, MI:  Eerdmans, 1981) =Das christliche Leben:  Die kirchliche Dogmatik IV/4, Fragmente aus dem Nachlass, Vorlesungen 1959-1961 (Zürich:  Theologischer Verlag, 1976).  The title of this section (governed by the command to call upon or invoke God), is "Revolt against Disorder" ("Der Aufstand gegen die Unordung"), and there are, not surprisingly, references to (the Lord's) prayer scattered throughout.  Cf. Donald K. McKim, "Karl Barth on the Lord's Prayer," in Karl Barth, Prayer:  50th anniversary edition (Louisville:  Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 114-134, which, returning hits on "disorder" (though not "uprising"), was the work that directed me to this passage.  Meanwhile, Kait Dugan, of the Center for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, indicated to me in a note date 26 August 2019 that §78, of the (fragmentary) CD IV/4, is the closest that the CBS has come to this as well.
     That said, the phrase "Hände falten" (at least) is missing, and, indeed, occurs no more than eight times in the whole of the Digital Karl Barth Library, none of them closely relevant.


"The older Karl Barth used to say that 'to clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world'."

     Jan Milič Lochman, "Towards an ecumenical account of hope," The ecumenical review 31, no. 1 (January 1979): 18 (13-30) = Mid-stream 18, no. 1 (January 1979): 30 (24-34).  Cf. Jan Milič Lochman, "The Lord's Prayer in our time: praying and drumming," The Princeton Seminary bulletin n.s. 13 (1992) Suppl.: 18-19 (5-19), and in The Lord's Prayer: perspectives for reclaiming Christian prayer, ed. Daniel L. Migliore (Eerdmans, 1993), 18-19:

"There is another saying of Karl Barth in my grateful memory.  In his later years we heard from him again and again:  'To fold one’s hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.'"

In German:  Jan Milič Lochman, "Beten und trommeln:  Das Gebet in einer säkularisierten Zeit," in Basileia:  Festschrift für Eduard Buess, ed. Hans Dürr and Christoph Ramstein (Basel:  Edition Mitenand, 1993), 249 (233-251):

Ein anderes Wort Karl Barths habe ich dankbar in Erinnerung:  In seinem alter hörten wir ihn immer wider sagen:  'Hände falten in Gebet ist der Anfang des Aufstandes gegen die Unordnung diser Welt.'

And then again in 2002, Jan Milič Lochman, "Theology and cultural contexts," in Theology between east and west:  a radical heritage:  essays in honor of Jan Milič Lochman (Eugene, OR:  Cascade Books, 2002), 15 (5-20):

"I often recall words I heard Karl Barth speak when I was his student:  'Hands folded in prayer are the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.''"

Lochman, who appears to be the primary source of the saying, began teaching in Basel the year Barth died, and undoubtedly knew and interacted with him before that, as the reference to his having been a student makes clear.

Musimbi Kanyoro says her "former professor in undergraduate studies", Micere Mugo, used to attribute this ("to clasp hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world") to Karl Barth.  See "The shape of God to come and the future of humanity," Concilium 2004/5 =A different world is possible, ed. Luiz Carlos Susin, Jon Sobrino, and Felix Wilfred (London:  SCM Press, 2004):  53 (53-61), which appeared first in that same issue in German.

Ashley Cocksworth quotes this at the top of p. 114 of her book Karl Barth on prayer, T&T Clark studies in systematic theology 26 (Bloomsbury, 2015), but then says in footnote 144, "Regrettably, I have yet to find the source of this oft-cited remark."  To me it would be odd if Lochman and other students of Barth "heard [(did any other late students of Barth hear?) this] from him again and again", and yet it never made it into any of Barth's published work.  And so far I have searched the Digital Karl Barth Library in vain, in both English and German.  German versions of this online, like Lochman's German and English versions (above), understandably vary somewhat:

'Hände falten im Gebet ist der Anfang des Aufstandes gegen die Unordnung der Welt!' 

Barth erklärt dies so:  'Mit dem Falten unserer Hände zum Gebet beginnt unser Aufstand gegen das Unrecht in dieser Welt.'

(By the way, I scanned the whole of Karl Barth, Prayer and preaching, translated for the American edition of 1953 by Sara F. Terrien and then revised for this British edition by B. E. Hooke (London:  SCM Press Ltd, 1964, from the French (La prière) of 1953, itself rooted in shorthand transcriptions of the seminars Barth delivered in Neuchâtel between 1947 and 1949 that were first edited by "André Perret under the supervision of A. Roulin"), and then enabled text recognition.  Nowhere in that book do the words "uprising" and "disorder" appear, let alone on p. 22, as cited by, for example, Andre van Oudtshoorn at International journal of practical theology 16, no. 2 (2012):  298, though "prayer" appears (of course) 240 times.)