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Post by hibernicus on Dec 9, 2014 21:37:25 GMT
The portrayals can be done well or badly - I'm talking about the underlying assumptions/archetypes. It is quite possible to have material which is dreadfully written but taps into underlying fears very effectively - HP Lovecraft would be a case in point. BTW although Lovecraft was a hard-shell atheist his literary executor August Derleth was a Catholic and his continuations of the Lovecraft mythos have certain Christian undertones - present-day Lovecraftians are still arguing about how far Derleth can be seen as watering down/betraying Lovecraft's fundamental insistence on the meaningless and delusory nature of human existence, and how far Derleth was actually drawing out elements which are actually there in the Lovecraft stories. There seem to be quite a few American Catholics (and I mean orthodox Catholics, not watered-down) who are Lovecraft fans, which may illustrate the point earlier in the thread about the quest for reality through horror.
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Post by maolsheachlann on Dec 9, 2014 21:50:06 GMT
I am not a fan of Lovecraft but his work does have a sense of radical otherness (i.e., the Old Ones) which is not too far from the sacred or the numinous.
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Post by maolsheachlann on Dec 14, 2014 20:18:48 GMT
I am leaving this comment solely because, otherwise, the menu of the "Not Only for Catholics" section has as its latest thread "Gallileo was wrong, by Maolsheachlann", making it look as though I started that thread rather than being the last commenter. Embarrassing.
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Post by Young Ireland on Dec 14, 2014 20:37:53 GMT
Don't worry Maolscheachlann, we all know you're not a geocentricist!
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Post by maolsheachlann on Dec 14, 2014 20:43:27 GMT
I'm egocentric, not geocentric!
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Post by Young Ireland on Dec 14, 2014 20:49:32 GMT
I'm egocentric, not geocentric! I am too, I think the earth revolves around me!
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Post by Ranger on Dec 16, 2014 11:05:33 GMT
I approve of this discussion!
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Post by hibernicus on Nov 2, 2016 23:00:21 GMT
The Scottish Catholic blogger Lazarus defends Halloween celebrations: cumlazaro.blogspot.ie/2016/10/halloween.htmlMeanwhile, those pro-aborts who paraded with pumpkins carved into lanterns with REPEAL on the outside failed to realise that such lanterns are meant to be sinister and provoke terror.
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Post by Young Ireland on Nov 2, 2016 23:03:44 GMT
The Scottish Catholic blogger Lazarus defends Halloween celebrations: cumlazaro.blogspot.ie/2016/10/halloween.htmlMeanwhile, those pro-aborts who paraded with pumpkins carved into lanterns with REPEAL on the outside failed to realise that such lanterns are meant to be sinister and provoke terror. On the other hand though, it's certainly appropriate (even if they don't realise it) considering what they are promoting!
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Post by maolsheachlann on Nov 3, 2016 11:32:02 GMT
A couple of people in my job made remarks to the effect: "I'm surprised you're not offended by the Halloween decorations because they're pagan".
I've always loved Halloween and I love it even more now that I understand its context of All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Indeed, All Saints Day is my favourite Mass of the liturgical year.
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Post by maolsheachlann on Nov 3, 2016 11:43:53 GMT
I just read through this thread. It seems like a capsule history of the forum!
It's good that we have fewer mad people posting now (and no mad regulars, although I'm always half-expecting Young Ireland will go off the rails), but it's a shame that it's as dormant as it is.
P.S. I'm only kidding, Young Ireland.
Of course, most of the denizens of Politics.ie and Broadsheet.ie would say we are all mad.
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Post by Young Ireland on Nov 3, 2016 20:41:57 GMT
I just read through this thread. It seems like a capsule history of the forum! It's good that we have fewer mad people posting now (and no mad regulars, although I'm always half-expecting Young Ireland will go off the rails), but it's a shame that it's as dormant as it is. P.S. I'm only kidding, Young Ireland. Of course, most of the denizens of Politics.ie and Broadsheet.ie would say we are all mad. What gave you that impression Maolscheachlann?
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Post by maolsheachlann on Nov 3, 2016 21:00:44 GMT
Nothing! I just threw your name in because you've been on the forum recently whereas most other regulars have been absent!
Actually, you seem particularly well-adjusted.
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Post by hibernicus on Nov 7, 2016 21:10:25 GMT
One point to bear in mind is that Catholicism was historically much more willing than Protestantism to adapt pagan elements on its own terms, whereas Protestantism with its emphasis on the gap between the spiritual and the material finds it much harder to do this. (Again, this shouldn't be overstated - Pentecostalism seems to pick up other cultures' belief in spirit possession, for example, and there are puritan forms of Catholicism which try to make the masses respectable.) Again, modern forms of Halloween celebration often have a self-conscious Gothic-pagan element about them, which is much more problematic than the traditional semi-comic witches and ghosts.
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