The Case for Freddie Freeman as the Greatest First Baseman for the Atlanta Braves

  With his career WAR at 26.6 (per Baseball Reference), a strong case can be made that Freddie Freeman is the greatest first baseman in Atlanta Braves’ history. In the Atlanta era, no one can really rival him as a primary first baseman. The greatest player to play first base for Atlanta was undoubtedly Hammerin’ Hank Aaron, who manned the position for two years (1971-1972) totalling 11.2 WAR in that short space. Those two years by Aaron included the highest single-season 1B WAR in franchise history (7.25) in 1971. Even that year, however, Aaron played nearly as many games in right (60) as he did at first (71). Regardless, that was not Aaron’s primary position as a Brave. It is Freddie's.

Freddie Freeman   
(Wiki Commons)

 Freddie Freeman has played 7 years as the Braves' primary first baseman; that is already tied for third in first base longevity for the franchise. Add to this, that only Fred Tenney (1897-1909, 1911) with 39.1 WAR in 12 years primarily at first and Joe Adcock (1953-1962) with 26.6 WAR over 10 years in that role have as great a WAR as Freeman as Braves’ first basemen, and Freeman’s significance at the franchise level begins to become clearer. Other than Tenney and Adcock, only Earl Torgeson (1947-1952) with 18.6 WAR in six years can even really be part of the first base "greatest" conversation for the Braves’ franchise.

  These other three contenders for the title of ‘greatest Braves’ first baseman’ all played prior to the move to Atlanta in 1966. Since then, no one has put together a sustained run of production at first for the Braves. Historically, this has not been a position of particularly prolific production for the Braves. So, let's look at Freeman's numbers in his first eight years. Per Baseball Reference, no other primary first baseman beats Freddie in these categories during the Atlanta era: 

- Freeman is 16th in Braves' career WAR (in 8 years!) 

- He is 5th in Win Probability Added.

- He is between 10th and 22nd in 

  + HRs (12th)

  + RBIs (18th)

  + OBP (15th)

  + SLG (14th), 

  + OPS (11th)

  + walks (tied for 13th)

  + doubles (11th)

  + extra base hits (10th)

  + total bases (17th)

  + runs (21st)

  + hits (22nd)

  Freeman is prominent in numerous other less well-known offensive production categories as well. 

  At the single season level, other than Aaron's 7.25 WAR in 1971, Freeman's 6.45 WAR in 2016 is the highest WAR in franchise history at first base. Plus, his 5.67 WAR (2013) would be the sixth highest after Alou 6.29 WAR (1966), Brouthers 6.23 WAR (1889), and Torgeson 5.96 WAR (1950). 

  During the Atlanta era, other than Freeman, only Fred McGriff and Hank Aaron* have as much of 11 WAR while primarily playing first base. Freddie has over 26 WAR. On the basis of all this, I believe Freddie Freeman is easily the greatest Atlanta Braves' first baseman. 

  Joe Adcock and Fred Tenney deserve a bit of additional attention here. Having both played before the move to Atlanta, they are the significant competition that Freeman faces in terms of becoming the greatest Braves' franchise first baseman. In the categories listed above, one or both of them were often listed before Freeman. With multiple years of his normal production as he enters his age-28 season, Freeman can be expected to reach and surpass these two in most of those areas in the natural course of events. This, of course, presumes that he continues with the franchise, but why would fans anticipate anything else?

Freeman (2014)   
(WikiCommons)

Maybe most significantly for the franchise, Freeman is signed for 4 more years! He should get a meaningful chance to become the greatest Braves' first baseman in franchise history, in addition to already being the greatest Atlanta Braves' first baseman.

Notes and Tidbits:

* Hank Aaron played a total of 210 games at first.

- Freeman is 6th in franchise striketouts.

- Freeman has three years with over 4 WAR (same as Tenney), four years with over 3 WAR (same as Torgeson; Adcock had 5 years like that; Tenney had 7 years like that). (Source)

- Joe Adcock has a fascinating career filled with colorful stories. He broke up baseball's longest perfect game. He apparently holds the NL record for most consecutive games with a HR against an opponent (9 straight in 1956) (source). He also had a 4-homer, 18-base 9-inning game. He won the World Series in 1957, and he could have became a professional basketball player. (a very interesting bio with anecdotes) Besides his seven years as the Milwaukee Braves' primary first baseman, Adcock also had 3 years with between 56 and 78 games in which he played the second most games at first, due either to injury or platooning. (detailed history) 

- Sixty-one different players have led the Braves’ franchise in 1B WAR during their 142-year history. 

Come, Immanuel - a lament

 A few weeks back, while talking about Christian hymns with a friend, I mentioned that most Western believers sing very few laments. It is often a missing piece in our worship. This evening, I came again across this favorite hymn, re-arranged by a friend - as a lament. It slides beautifully into that void, helping us to mourn as we consider our need for a Savior.

 O come, O come, Immanuel...

Emotions in storytelling

 Heart or feelings or emotions are central to good storytelling, or maybe to use Forster's word, plot-telling. Consider this quote, with the emphasis I've given it:

We have defined a story as a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence. A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. "The king died and then the queen died" is a story. "The king died, and then the queen died of grief" is a plot.

- E. M. Forster,  The Aspects of a Novel. (1956).

on Jesus' need for the Holy Spirit in his life and ministry

 Quite a while back, I came across an article about the nature of the Holy Spirit's work in Jesus' life while he was here on earth; it seemed well worth reading, but I didn't have the time then. I finally got around to reading it. It's excellent. I have pasted the key thought below, but I highly recommend the article.

... Jesus needed to live a perfectly sinless life in the power and by the grace of the Holy Spirit. It was not sufficient for Him--as the second Adam and representative of a new humanity--to merely live according to His Divine nature. What we need as fallen men is a human Redeemer who would gain a human holiness for His people and would die a human death in their place. As was true for Adam so it was for Jesus--the Last Adam. The Savior needed the Holy Spirit to sustain and empower Him to obey His Father, even to the point of death on the cross. (emphasis mine)

The author points out that few theologians have written about this particular aspect of the Trinity's interaction, but Sinclair Ferguson and John Owen do have some discussions of it. The author summarizes those, as well as R. A. Finlayson's thoughts. I was unfamiliar with him.

excerpts on "Language" from Lost in Translation

No, I’m no patriot, nor was I ever allowed to be. And yet, the country of my childhood lives within me with a primacy that is a form of love. It lives within me despite my knowledge of our marginality, and its primitive, unpretty emotions. Is it blind and self-deceptive of me to hold on to its memory? I think it would be blind and self-deceptive not to. All it has given me is the world, but that is enough. It has fed me language, perceptions, sounds, the human kind. It has given me the colors and the furrows of reality, my first loves.

***

The very places where language is at its most conventional, where it should be most taken for granted, are the places where I feel the prick of artifice.

***

Telling a joke is like doing a linguistic pirouette. If you fall flat, it means not only that you don’t have the wherewithal to do it well but also that you have misjudged your own skill, that you are fool enough to undertake something you can’t finish – and that lack of self-control or self-knowledge is a lack of grace.

***

So each language has its own distinctive music, and even if one doesn’t know its separate components, one can pretty quickly recognize the propriety of the patterns in which the components are put together, their harmonies and discords.

***

When I speak Polish now, it is infiltrated, permeated, and inflected by the English in my head. Each language modifies the other, crossbreeds with it, fertilizes it. Each language makes the other relative. Like everybody, I am the sum of my languages – the language of my family and childhood, and education and friendship, and love, and the larger, changing world – though perhaps I tend to be more aware than most of the fractures between them, and of the building blocks.

Hoffman, Eva. Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language (p. 74, 106, 118, 123, 273). 

And, a thought from this immigrant child, concerning writing "home"...

There is no way, I know, that I can convey the nature of my new life to her, and besides, she is one of the many affections that are only causing me the pain of nostalgia, and that I therefore try to numb or extract from myself like some gnawing scruple, or splinter lodged in a thumb.

Hoffman, Eva. Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language (p. 23). 

On Eternal Occupation (excerpts)

On half a dozen occasions, I have commented on Kevin Bauder's writings on this blog. This week's essay from him had some beautiful thoughts that I want to share.

In fact, part of the way that humans were intended to enjoy and glorify God meant looking away from Him rather than looking at Him.

If Adam had refused to shift his gaze from the divine presence, then he would actually have missed an occasion to worship and serve God.

We humans discover God’s character by looking at what God does. His mighty works of creation and redemption are the arena within which He puts Himself on display. That is why most of the Bible is a story, and all of the rest of the Bible is reflection upon that story.

We worship God, not merely by enjoying His presence and offering Him our praises, but also by serving Him. Serving Him requires us to focus, not upon God Himself, but upon the task that we are performing for His glory. 

Our Recreation

Worth reading in its context in Charles Spurgeon's Sermon #2189, page 2.

"Our rest is in the Lord's service; 

our recreation is in change of occupation."

Chiasm and Biblical Narrative, simplified

 Jackson Wu's blog post on chiasm, the biblical narrative, and Western culture's difficulty with using and embracing chiasm is informative as well as thought-provoking. I particularly appreciated his graphic showing the narrative structure of chiasm. I recommend it to my friends who are students of biblical literature especially, but it may be equally useful to those who pursue the study of other literature and of storytelling, biblical or otherwise.

Boston in 2 hours: with ecclesiastical and humanistic comments

 I got the chance this month to explore Boston for a couple hours before boarding my plane. Below are a few pictures of things that I noted as I wandered through one section of the city. 

Two comments:
1. Harvard station
2. A subway is a subway is a subway. 

The next 4 pictures below were taken at the historic Park Street Church.

Lowell Mason: an influential hymnwriter whom I was unfamiliar with
Apparently he is considered the "Father of American Church Music" with over 1,500 hymns, at least 70 of which are still sung. His most famous hymn is "Nearer My God to Thee." He was the first organist at Park Street Church in 1829, as well as being influential in bringing music into the Boston public school system.

Ockenga and Graham, leaders of (the New) Evangelicalism of the '50s and beyond

As a student of theology, I know why I stepped inside. But why do others visit this building, especially when they are walking "The Freedom Trail"? 

The pipe organ looked very impressive, but only the piano and violin were being practiced. Too bad.

Tremont Temple Baptist Church: the first integrated church in America
It was founded in 1838, free to attend by any race, free of cost.
It wasn't open to the public.

the Old Massachusetts State House
a place of rebellion

the site of the Boston Massacre
The history of this particular event seems, to me, to find echoes in modern society.

Lincoln's Childhood Area

Replica farm house on Tom Lincoln's land

 The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Indiana was an interesting little place to visit. The kids loved it, because it includes real life stuff. I was a bit amused to be visiting a place of myth on this trip - understanding that 'myth' does not relate to the truth or falseness of an event or figure - but it was actually fascinating because while the site itself is associated with Thomas Lincoln, Abe's father, it is simply presented as an example of a living farm of the era with many fascinating features. The people who staff and serve on this farm were extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful.

more of the farm

  Also, I appreciated the public recognition of the 'myth' aspect of Lincoln as the sign said that this  park was to show "respect and reverence." Indeed, I suspect that he, along with Washington and MLK, is one of the most reverenced myths in American history.

Evoked by the Flag

Van Dyke said, "We love our land for what she is and what she is to be."

Inclusion - Exclusion

Sorrow - Numbness

Freedom - at Home

Heritage - Conflict

Brainwash - Power, squash!

Ideals - Prideful

Opportunity - Identity

What has she been, what is she, what ought this land to be?

  These thoughts were drawn from a collection of views that were shared as single words following the display of the American flag. They relate to this post from a year ago on Patriotism vs. Nationalism.

A "we" as big as humanity

  Since I am studying in proximity to a good library right now, I am also trying to examine some of the books that I have had on my 'wishlist' for a while and see how good they really are. In Lustig and Koester's Intercultural Competence, I found this nugget which relates directly to the need I constantly see for us to meet and be in relationship with those we fear or reject, whether our fears are cultural, economic/vocational, religious, or martial. It is difficult for us to love 'them' - whoever 'they' might be - without meaningful relationship.

The casual we for most of us does not include the 50 percent hungry, the 60 percent in shantytowns, and the 70 percent illiterate. Most of us construct our we without including them. Thinking of the world close up, as if it was a village of one thousand people, forces us to confront what we mean when we say "we." ...

How often does our we come to include people of other faiths, other nations, other races? How often does our we link rather than divide? Our relation with the "other" may move, as Smith puts it, through a number of phases. First we talk about them - an objective "other." Then perhaps we talk to them, or more personally, we talk to you. Developing a real dialogue, we talk with you. And finally, we all talk with one another about us, all of us. This is the crucial stage to which our... dialogue must take us if we are to be up to the task of creating communication adequate for an interdependent world. 

- Diana L. Eck, as quoted in Lustig's Intercultural Competence, pg 5 (italics original)

If the world were a thousand-person village... (2001 stats; ibid., 4)

Consumerism, Zen, and this TCK

 Ewa Hoffman's Lost in Translation is assigned reading for my MA class; overall, it is excellent, but Part 2 "Exile" has been especially poignant to me, as a TCK who rejected the torturing consumerism of American culture when he was ten. (Technically, the author is a CCK, cross-cultural kid, not a third culture kid, but that's beside the point.)

 She also describes many of the feelings of lostness within and disengagement from a culture graphically. Yet, it was at the point where she began describing her response to materialism that the book really grabbed me. I don't recall having read anything so near to my own feelings about materialism. Finally, she speaks of being alone in a dorm over the holidays in a way that vividly recaptured that experience for me.

Concerning Her Reponse to Materialism and Consumerism:

  After battering myself again and again on the horns of lust and disgust, I begin to retreat from both. I decide to stop wanting. For me, this is a strange turn: my appetites are strong, and I never had any ambitions to mortify them by asceticism. But this new resolution is built into the logic of my situation. Since I can’t have anything, if I were to continue wanting, there would be no end to my deprivation. It would be constant, like a never-ending low-level toothache. I can’t afford such a toothache; I can’t afford to want. Like some sybarite turned monk who proves his mettle by placing himself in seductive situations, I can now walk between taffeta dresses and silk lingerie without feeling a shred of temptation. I‘ve become immune to desire; I snip the danger of wanting in the bud.   By the same sleight of consciousness, I’m becoming immune to envy. If I were to give vent to envying, there would be no end to that either. I would have to envy everybody, every moment of the day. But with my new detachment, I can gaze at what my friends have as if they lived in a different world. In this spatial warp in which I have situated myself, it doesn’t make any difference that they live in big houses with large yards and swimming pools, and cars and many skirts and blouses and pairs of shoes. This way, I can be nice to my friends; I can smile pleasantly at their pleasures and sympathize with their problems of the good life. I can do so, because I’ve made myself untouchable. Of course, they might be upset if they guessed the extent of my indifference; but they don’t.

[...]

 In my lush Western Sahara, I’m confronting a tantalizing abundance that doesn’t fill, and a loneliness that carves out a scoop of dizzying emptiness inside.

Concerning Eastern religions in American culture:

Two decades later, when the Eastern religions vogue hits the counterculture, I think I understand the all-American despair that drives the new converts to chant their mantras in ashrams from San Francisco to Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The gospel of detachment is as well suited to a culture of excess as it is to a society of radical poverty. It thrives in circumstances in which one’s wants are dangerous because they are surely going to be deprived – or because they are pulled in so many directions that they pose a threat to the integrity, the unity of one’s self.

[...]

...America is the land of yearning, and perhaps nowhere else are one’s desires so wantonly stimulated...

Concerning lonely breaks:

...in my nearly empty dorm during a holiday break, I forget my ascetic techniques, and the desire for the comfort of being a recognizable somebody placed on a recognizable social map breaks in on me with such anguishing force that it scalds my spirit and beats it back into its hiding place.

Hoffman, Eva. Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language (pp. 136-140). Plunkett Lake Press. Kindle Edition. (Emphases added.)

Understanding, Listening to each other, and Knowing

 I will be posting tidbits from my grad school reading here. Much of the recent stuff doesn't relate directly to teaching; it relates to humanity and learning. The chapter mentioned below by Curran was particularly good.

The more words I have, the more distinct, precise my perceptions become - and such lucidity is a form of joy. 

Eva Hoffman, Lost in Translation

The preservation of the self-image is the first law of psychological survival. Therefore, in any social encounter each person exposes for public scrutiny and public testing - and possibly for intolerable undermining - the one thing he needs most, which is the self-perception that he has so laboriously fashioned. This mean that the stakes in any social encounter are incredibly high. No such encounter, therefore, can be merely routine.

- Earl Stevick, "A View of the Learner" (emphasis added)

This is a common major or minor tragedy of the human condition: two people meet each other, both seeking to be understood, and neither of them are able or willing to make the effort to understand. This could be like two performers in a circus trapeze act - both expecting to be caught and no one catching. One can almost feel the pain as they crash into one another after both have leaped off the trapeze. 

(...)

Consequently understanding between people cannot be presumed, even though it is a basic need of us all. That is why it is necessarily an acquired skill. To assume it, as many do, is to mislead oneself. In the assumption, one can be in the narcissistic bind of presuming one is a very "understanding" person when one has, in reality, never left oneself and one's own world. Others seldom tell us this even when everyone around us knows it. We can therefore remain in a self-deception trap. 

- Charles Curran, Understanding: An Essential Ingredient in Human Belonging (emphasis added)

Struggle - Together

 Some of you may know, and others may not, that I have started an MA in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). A reading this week resonated deeply with me, not simply as a student or teacher, but also as a person and as a follower of Christ. The article was by Leahy and Gilly and was entitled, "Learning in the Space between Us." It's available on JSTOR if you care to go peruse it; it's excellent. The subject is Collaborative, Transformative Learning - education towards change, together. Here are some excerpts:

[Parker] Palmer said, after all, "there is no knowing without conflict."

Commitment to "together" means that persons are welcome to bring body, mind, heart, and soul; their skills, ideas, and learning styles; and both endearing and maddening idiosyncrasies. ... Cultivate the intent to include as if to say to others: do not withhold yourself; allow us to come to know you; engage with your whole self; let us value and use our diversity.

It was our commitment to "together" that oddly enough was both source of and solution for the tension. It was not an option to win the argument by dismissing the other. Ultimately, even when exasperated, we each chose to honor not only the commitment to struggle but also the commitment to "together." We were committed to producing things; our conversations were not intellectual speculation, however, getting something done never trumped "struggle" and "together."

(emphases mine)

 That last seems to me to be great marriage advice as well. I cannot say that I have 'learned' it, but as we celebrate 8 years of marriage, it makes a lot of sense to me in many, many ways.

Human Culture as Human Environment

Disregarding certain aspects, I found the main idea of this excerpt from Patricia Crone's Pre-Industrial Societies quite useful. This is from the beginning of the chapter entitled 'Culture.'

[Animals'] genetic programme might well have been unsuited for the [hypothetical] island, in which they would have risked dying out; but the only, or almost only, way they could have adapted themselves would have been by natural selection. The human animal is of course genetically programmed too. However, its programme for social organization is deficient (and to some extent even counter-productive). The programme does little but instruct its bearer to learn, or in other words to acquire culture with which to supplement (and in some cases even to suppress) such specific instructions as it retains. Without doing so, the species simply could not survive; doing so, it can survive almost anywhere on earth and even, for limited periods, outside it. Culture is thus the species-specific environment of Homo sapiens. Living in accordance with nature is an attractive idea, but in the human case it actually looks like living with culture.

(bold mine)

A Biblical Theology of Blessing in Genesis

 I have been studying blessing in the book of Genesis for a number of years, particularly concentrating on it for a two-year period around 2010. I experimented with writing my research into an article several times, but it never came together. Last summer, I decided to try to actually get the article written as a means of getting back into academic thought patterns as I start a master's in TESOL this summer.

 I submitted it to Themelios, and today it was published as "A Biblical Theology of Blessing in Genesis."

 I would be remiss not to mention the impact of one teacher on this whole project: without Dr. Horn, I almost certainly would never have studied, written or submitted this for publication. Dr. Horn told our class regularly to write and to submit our best work for publication, and he'd occasionally mark what our best work was. He said it often enough that I finally believed he was serious. Beyond that, he fostered my love for Genesis in one class, taught me what biblical theology was in another class, and provoked my interest in the meaning of 'blessing' in a sermon. I have truly been blessed by his impact on my life and my learning.

**A couple of previous posts that stemmed from this same study: Divine Blessing and Food; The Broken Ugly, a poem.

Dreaming in English - a Turkish author's ponderings on writing in English

 At the end of print copies of her novels, Turkish author Elif Shafak has a short piece on why she writes novels in English; it's called "Dreaming in English." She has a slightly adjusted version of this piece posted on the English Pen. It is beautiful and well worth the read, especially if you are interested in the lives of global nomads and TCKs. Shafak expresses that sense which children of multiple cultures may have of being able to be true to each of their cultures in various ways, without betraying or abandoning any of them. She expresses the sense of belonging and connecting and loving, indeed, the sense of identity, which is felt deeply and yet somehow at a distance. I'd love to have posted the whole thing, but I'll leave these tidbits, with the hope that you will go read the whole thing for yourself (here, emphases mine).

I never thought I had to make a choice between my two loved ones: English and Turkish. In truth, perhaps even more than writing in English or writing in Turkish, it is the very commute back and forth that fascinates me to this day. I pay extra attention to those words that cannot be ferried from one continent to the other. I become more aware of not only meanings and nuances but also of gaps and silences. And I observe myself and others. Our voices change, even our body language alters as we move from one language to another. At the end of the day, languages shape us while we are busy thinking we control them.

Sometimes, the presence of absence strengthens a bond and distance brings you closer.

Rather than a pre-given, fixed, monolithic identity, we can have multiple and fluid belongings. We can even love more than one person. Our hearts are wide and deep enough to do so. And yes, we can also dream in more than one language.

 Incidentally, for reasons she hints at in the article, Shafak is often not well regarded here in Turkey. Unfortunately, the reasons for that here (as with other authors in their own homelands) are political rather than literary. I am interested, however, in the experience she is expressing - not in either the literature itself or the politics thereof.

Christ honoring God in the Atonement

 I'm reading a recently-released book, Jonathan Edwards on the Atonement, by Brandon Crawford. While I haven't gotten to the main part on Edwards yet, several nuggets have stood out in the historical overview, particularly from the pre-Reformation period. I thought I'd post them as it is the week when we particularly recall Christ's work of atonement. These quotes derive from the thoughts of Athanasius and Anselm, and these particular ones emphasize the work of Christ in relation to God's honor and the shame brought by sin.

“He alone, being Word of the Father and above all, was in consequence both able to recreate all, and worthy to suffer on behalf of all and to be an ambassador for all with the Father. For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God entered our world.”

(quote from Athanasius) 

Sin dishonors God because it belittles his glory; it declares that God is not the kind of being who deserves loving obedience. For this reason, the penalty of God’s law—death—must be carried out. God would dishonor himself if he ignored the demands of his own law and allowed men’s sins to go unpunished. By sending his Son to pay sin’s price for men, God upheld his own honor, answered the demands of his law, and made it possible for sinners to have life.

(summary of Athanasius' theology of the atonement)

On the other hand, “the man who does not render to God this honour, which is His due takes away from God what is His own, and dishonours God.” This, Anselm argues, is the essence of sin. It is failing (or refusing) to give the entire self to God in wholehearted worship and obedience. And sin demands “satisfaction.” Making satisfaction for sin means not only restoring what was wrongfully taken, but also giving back above and beyond what was taken—for only then is the honor of the offended one truly restored, Anselm says.

(emphasis mine)

 Each of these sections are well said, but the final highlighted sentence is a fresh thought for me, at least phrased in this way. Christ was not only restoring or repaying God's honor, he was increasing it!  

Grief and Songs, as strangers

 Recently, I have been spending a good bit of time meditating on the question posed in the middle of Psalm 137, both from that psalm and from the book of Daniel: "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?" Having lost everything, having been taken into exile, and having arrived at the place to where the they were being forced, the question is being raised. The ones who murdered the exiles' children, raped the women, destroyed and desecrated the temple, and burned their city are requiring that they songs of Zion: the grief is fresh, "Is it even possible to sing the LORD's songs here, after all that?"

 It seems to me that Psalm 137 gives two answers, while Daniel suggests a few more which I may post about later. Psalm 137's two solutions are both 'remember': the exiles must not forget where they came from - remember their origin, their God-given home. If they do that, then the songs of Zion may still be sung. The second solution is that the LORD Himself is to remember the injustices enacted upon them, those who gloried in their being massacred. These solutions are understandable for those who believe in the Psalms today, too.

 It has been said that our modern culture does not mourn or grieve well. That makes me wonder if that is why the themes in this song seem difficult to find put to music in English well. Here's a variety of audio versions of the psalm:

This may be the nicest of the Christian versions of it that I found. It's biggest downside is that it doesn't stick directly to the words of the psalm .

This Anglican chant solves that problem, but the style is a bit difficult for me.

Here's a Yiddish rendition, which seems to carry the tone well though obviously I can't understand it.

This Rastafarian version is catchy, but it only catches part of the psalm - and I'm not clear enough on the Melodians's cultures to know whether this is a style of grief: it seems quite possible.

Details from museums across Istanbul

  An advantage of having visiting friends is the chance to learn by visiting museums. While I had been to parts of the museums below before, there is always more to see and learn. A few tidbits...

an arrowhead from Israel, authenticated as being 'from the time of the Judges'
(in the Istanbul Military Museum)

fish symbol (in similar spots, images of crosses had been removed)
(in the Hagia Sofia)

figures from Mesopotamia - one appears to be a winged unicorn, a similar relief was from the Babylonian Ishtar Gate.
Does pegasus cross with unicorn in ancient mythology as well as modern children's play?
(in the Ancient Orient Museum in the Istanbul Archaeological Museums)

an altar
(in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum)

another perspective on the altar

The 'wall of partition' beyond which Gentiles were not allowed to enter the Jewish temple. It is believed to be from Herod's temple.
(at the Istanbul Archaeological Museums)

The Turkish would be better translated 'no foreigner' instead of 'no intruder', as is confirmed elsewhere online: "No foreigner is allowed in the courtyard and within the wall surrounding the temple. Whoever enters will invite death for himself."
(at the Istanbul Archaeological Museums)

An item of interest which I didn't take a picture of is the Siloam Inscription (pictured here) which describes the conduit that Hezekiah had built as mentioned in 2 Kings 20:20. This is apparently one of the earliest extant Hebrew inscriptions.

Caltrops - historically used to stop calvary charges; here apparently used against infantry
(in the Istanbul Military Museum)

a daffodil, with a snail inside
(between Gulhane Park and the Archaelogical Museum)

Understanding, Attacks, and Faith

 Often I wish that I could improve understanding between the cultures that I have lived in and love. My life has been spent mostly among three vastly different cultures, with a number of smaller variations or visits. Cultures do not easily or naturally understand each other. More accurately, people do not desire to listen to those whom it will be difficult to understand or who are easier to 'wonder about.' Here is an article from a Turkish newspaper that expresses commonly-held thoughts from the media here; at the center it says, "Attacks on Muslims at 2,800 separate points." It then goes on to list attacks in Canada, the USA, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, and Greece.

 Do you feel threatened by those of a different religion or culture than you? Maybe they are just as scared of you. Have you met them or talked to them? Have you prayed for them or welcomed them to your neighborhood? Have you made sure they know you are a safe person for them? Are you a safe person for them?

"A Balance Sheet of Islamophobic Attacks in the West"
"(2016 - Jan. 2017 Data)"

 A day after that article came out, this article was published in a Turkish English-language daily, concerning the difficulties faced by Christians (particularly Turkish nationals) in this country. This is the other side of the same coin, and none of this is new. Or, in an unrelated country and demographic, here is another article: this one is about anti-Semitism in Britain.

 This is the world we live in: fear is easier; violence is real; our impact feels impossibly small. But, in whatever country or culture we live in, at least for Christians, we are to supersede politics - whether we agree or disagree; we are to overcome fear with love - whether it is safe or not; we are to enter the realities of others' fear and darkness (and hopes and dreams and joys!) - whether we find it comfortable or not. Whenever I hear someone fearing and judging someone from a different culture or background, I always want to know if they have at least one friend whom they love from that background. It makes a difference! A few years ago, I had two friends who are atheists tell me that they would come be with me (as a Christian) if I ever felt threatened. That meant a lot, a whole lot.

Resurrection - quotes from Wright

 For a number of years I have been setting goals of various sorts at the beginning of the year, things to guide me in my year. Many of them I never get done, but others I do, or at least I get farther than I would have otherwise. This year, my theological reading goal was to read a substantial portion of N.T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God by Easter. I had been told by a good friend that it was probably the best book available on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And, in fact, it has been excellent - there are certainly things to disagree with along the way, but the book has painted a beautiful picture within historical and literary contexts of the ideas of resurrection in the ancient world. Here I'd like to share some extracts, any emphasis is added by me.

 

[Resurrection was] the reversal or undoing or defeat of death, restoring to some kind of bodily life those who had already passed through that first stage. It belonged with a strong doctrine of Israel’s god as the good creator of the physical world. It was the affirmation of that which the pagan world denied... (Kindle 4667)

Resurrection is precisely concerned with the present world and its renewal, not with escaping the present world and going somewhere else; and, in its early Jewish forms right through to its developed Christian forms, it was always concerned with divine judgment, with the creator god acting within history to put right that which is wrong. Only if we misunderstand what resurrection actually involved can we line it up with the kind of ‘pie in the sky’ promises which earned the scorn of many twentieth-century social reformers. (Kindle 3303)

The constant love of YHWH was never merely a theological dogma to the ancient Israelites. In many parts of their literature, and supremely the Psalms, we find evidence that they knew this love in vivid personal experience. (Kindle 2558)

Where we find a glimmer of hope like this, it is based not on anything in the human make-up (e.g. an ‘immortal soul’), but on YHWH and him alone. Indeed, YHWH is the substance of the hope, not merely the ground: he himself is the ‘portion’, i.e. the inheritance, of the righteous, devout Israelite. (Kindle 2674)

Echoes of the Genesis creation narratives lurk in the shadows of these passages: it is from the dust that YHWH creates humans, breathing into them his own breath, and when he takes it away again they return to dust once more.162 The fresh gift of his breath will then bring the dust to life.163 The promise of resurrection is thus firmly linked to creation itself, which was the basis of the normal ancient Israelite celebration of life in the present, bodily life in YHWH’s good land. This robust affirmation of the goodness of life in YHWH’s world and land is what is called into question when Israel sins and faces punishment in the form of national catastrophe. (Kindle 3002)

Panoramas of Istanbul

  This week I got to return to one of my favorite views of Istanbul. There are probably 5 places that I think are best to see the city from, considering both the city's beauty and its vastness. Galata Tower is relatively famous for this, but I think it's terrible - not the view, the expense to get the view, the crowdedness, and the overall experience. The place that we went to instead is a nearly perfect substitute - 360Istanbul. The view is superb in many directions; and the price... well, it's expensive, but only if we are talking about the drinks. A pot of tea today cost us less than a single adult ticket to Galata tower (19tl to 20tl).

St. Anthony's Cathedral, Beyoğlu (center); Sultanahmet with Hagia Sofia (distant right); Asia (distant left)

 As the restaurant's name implies, it has a 360-degree view, with a wrap-around balcony, but I didn't take pictures of the rest today. (If you want to find it on Istiklal Caddesi in Taksim, it is several buildings up the hill from St. Anthony's Cathedral in the Misir Apartmani, 8th flour. Use the elevator!)

 By the way, my other favorite panoramas of the city include the following: The Seven Towers (Yedikulesi - previous post), the Princess Islands (previous posts 1, 2, and 3), the restaurant on top of the Bosphorus Swissotel (where I asked my wife to marry me), and the ferries (many people's favorite part of a visit to Istanbul).

how a book lover becomes a loser

It always makes a sucker out of a man who truly loves books to see someone taking a genuine interest in them.

  This according to Louise L'amour in Yondering, 'Shanghai, not without Gestures'. The quote is excellent though the context may be less so. Speaking of Yondering, I'd highly recommend it for the sake of the short story "A Friend of the General," one of my all-time favorite short stories. It is fit to stand beside "The Most Dangerous Game" as an outstanding, stand-alone short story. Beyond that, "A Friend of the General" has always struck me as being written (semi-)autobiographically, and so I was not much surprised to find that at least aspects of it are indeed supposed to be true.

One further thought, taken from Yondering:

Artists who work with the pen, brush, or chisel flatter themselves too much when they speak of creation, for his materials are here, all about him. What he does have is a gift of perception beyond the ordinary, for he must select from all this great mass that is life what is most useful for his purpose. (in 'Author's Tea')