…the enchantment of her song left me spellbound. I was absorbed and wanted to go on listening. After a moment I spoke to her.‘You are the greatest comfort for exhausted spirits. By the weight of your tenets and the delightfulness of your singing you have so refreshed me that I now think myself capable of facing the blows of Fortune. You were talking of cures that were rather sharp. The thought of them no longer makes me shudder; in fact I’m so eager to hear more, I fervently beg you for them.’
‘I knew it,’ she replied.
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, III.1.1-10
She can be a real tart… sometimes.
Yes, but can you really resist her charms?!
I can’t resist letting Gregory of Nyssa chime in: while she seem a lovely lady, those who commingle with her too long learn:
“For truly barren is profane education, which is always in labor but never gives birth. For what fruit worthy of such pangs does philosophy show for being so long in labor? Do not all who are full of wind and never come to term miscarry before they come to the light of the knowledge of God, although they could as well become men if they were not altogether hidden in the womb of barren wisdom?”
(From “The Life of Moses”)
I think that if we attempt to follow in the path trod by St. Augustine, St. Thomas, Balthasar and others–those who were able for the most part to attain a healthy balance between philosophy and theology via the idea of philosophy as a helpful tool in the service of theology, then philosophy has plenty of fruit to bear.
So to follow your metaphor, tools bear fruit? I’ve never seen that, at least not in my garden. It thought tools, rightly used, were meant to help the tree to bear fruit . . .
Big difference between a tree and a spade. Which was, I think, exactly Augustine’s point about “plundering the Egyptians.” Read in context, it is Gregory’s too . . .
Sorry, I meant to say “I thought…” not “It thought…”
I wish there was a way to edit posts . . .
No reason one can’t marry Divine Wisdom and take philosophy as a mistress
Pax Christi,
You guys are waaay too irreverent…. (As usual) You need, gentlemen, some “rather sharp” words from such a lady.
Lady Philosophy who ministers to Boethius is very close to the (Christological) Sophia who’s the guest of honor at your upcoming web conference…..
I’m with you Janet. Male theologians–the sole reason for mistress language in theology
touche.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I direct your attention to the next post in hopes of carrying forward our excellent discussion.
Viva la term papers!
From matslacker…
“So to follow your metaphor, tools bear fruit? I’ve never seen that…”
Cynthia, you’d think these guys had seen a Jesse tree, at least.
First of all, what’s with the reverse sexism? Does calling a woman a tart mean that I can’t be a feminist too? Can I only criticize men? I hold to a more robust form of feminism than that!
Second, What in the world is all this stuff about trees and fruit and tools? Let’s get back to the Consolation!