Avsnitt
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“It’s our time.” Vice President Kamala Harris is quoted as having said this recently to her fellow women as she seeks to win one of the most powerful positions of authority in the world, President of the United States. However, the time of powerful women’s leadership has already come and gone… and come and gone… and come and gone again, has it not? The ladies of the Mosaic Ark remember a time not so long ago that the Anglo-American empire lost the longest reigning queen in British history, her late majesty Queen Elizabeth II. We also remember the second longest reigning monarch in British history, Queen Victoria. But the most iconic British ruler, also a queen, has to be Queen Elizabeth I, and it is with her that Anglo-American women all over the US most closely identify, and why they yearn for a strong, independent woman as their leader. Why? Watch the stream to find out! —Streamed September 13, 2024
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What is the Mosaic Ark? What kind of a livestream is it? The best way to describe it is this: it is a cruise ship! The Mosaic Ark takes its viewers on a cruise through an ocean of information, images, art, science, history, and (very occasionally) political events. Professor Rachel Fulton Brown, Medievalist and Tolkien expert, is your cruise director bringing you to interesting ports of call every week with her co-hostesses. They discuss what they see, what it means, how each port is connected to the other ports and how all are oriented towards Christ and His mother, Mary, the Star of the Sea. Come aboard! We’re expecting you! —Streamed August 16, 2024
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Watching the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, many people were outraged by the display of drag queen camp and hedonism included in the show, particularly because it was done in a way that many claimed mocked Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” Christians world-wide demanded apologies in the strongest of terms. The ladies of the Mosaic Ark were also outraged—but not for the same reason! Presuming that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness,” we argue that the Paris Bacchanalia show was merely trying (poorly) to grasp what it could not reach: the scandalous joy of the Liturgy of the Lamb. —Streamed August 8, 2024
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“’Twas our Right!” to write poetry, and thereby speak our creative world into being. In this week’s Mosaic Ark, Professor Rachel Fulton Brown speaks about J.R.R. Tolkien’s creative process, how it began and how he was able to create an entire world using both poetry and prose. But, most importantly, how without his poetry there would’ve been no story; poetry was the engine that drove the vehicle of his prose and without it, there would be no Middle-Earth. So how did he begin? He began at the beginning of course, by first learning how to scan. —Streamed August 2, 2024
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Who elects a King? Is it God or the Barons? Who elects a President? Is it the billionaire class, the tech oligarchs, the “donor class”? Is there a difference between any of them and the Barons; between a King and a President? If one looks at the rhetoric of the past and present, there doesn’t seem to be a difference. But there is another similarity between the power struggles of the past and present that might be overlooked: the power of the people to assent to their new rulers or reject them. This is a constant that all would-be rulers know about and use to support their cause of self-promotion. Join the ladies of the Mosaic Ark as we discuss how image and rhetoric can turn a commoner to a King, and a King to an “also ran.” —Streamed July 26, 2024
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On July 13th, 2024, former President Donald J. Trump was shot while speaking at a rally for his re-election campaign in Butler County, Pennsylvania. To protect him from getting shot again, the Secret Service agents quickly tackled him to the ground. He was down for what seemed like minutes as the crowd waited anxiously to see if he was alright. Though bleeding, he was alive—the would-be assassin failed. Trump rose to his feet, blood on his face and fist defiantly in the air, and shouted “Fight! Fight! Fight!” A photographer who was present for the rally had jumped towards the stage in this moment to take pictures, and captured perhaps one of the most iconic pictures of the century. That picture flew through the Internet, across the country and the world, and into the eyes and minds of billions within minutes. What did all of those people see? What did you see? Join the ladies of the Mosaic Ark as we discuss this rare moment where the electronic mosaic was activated world-wide. —Streamed July 19, 2024
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Did you hear about those weird secret symbols embedded into the layout of the 19th-century Bomberg Talmud? Or similar layouts, symbols and coded messages found throughout a medieval Christian book called the Glossa Ordinaria? Oh come now, everyone has read Dan Brown. Those monks and rabbis were up to something. There must be a conspiracy “they” don’t want us to know about. Well, no, not really. It was just the medium used to convey the messages of those times, similar to the typical layout of almost all newspapers of today. But why were they so similar? And how does the medium of print and the form of their layouts convey (or amplify) their message? On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies continued to discuss Marshall McLuhan’s The Mechanical Bride, and wondered how the medium of newsprint is affecting society, and whether the medium of the Internet was amplifying this affect. Join us! —Streamed July 12, 2024
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In 1951, media guru and secret medievalist Marshall McLuhan published his first book, The Mechanical Bride. His purpose was to encourage his readers to contemplate the way that advertising and technology shape society, both for the advertisers and for their targets – the buying public. The ladies of the Mosaic Ark have been contemplating McLuhan’s writings for several years now and it has shaped the way we see the world and the way we write our own fictional stories. Join us as we discuss McLuhan’s early inspirations and his spookily prophetic observations. —Streamed July 6, 2024
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This month the ladies of the Mosaic Ark talked about the sin of pride in its various forms. As Providence would have it, our last stream on this topic occurred one day after the first US presidential debate, where two men sought to convince a nation to give one of them power. Was that debate informative or merely a display of pride? This question got us thinking of two other persons who also sought out power – Prometheus and Satan. In this week’s conclusion of our own “pride month”, we discussed the character traits of Prometheus (from the Greek myths), and Satan, from an Old English poem that contains a speculative meditation on the fall of Adam and Eve (the Genesis of Bodleian MS Junius 11). Join us as we attempt to unravel the characteristics of pride and how we can identify it in ourselves and others. —Streamed June 28, 2024
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What does it mean to be proud to be an American? For that matter, what does it mean to be proud to be a German, or an Englishman? Is it pride in the homeland’s culture, language, history? And what of the bad things about its history, do those things negate pride in the nation as a whole? Also, what (and who) makes a nation? This week the ladies of the Mosaic Ark continued to discuss pride, particularly American pride and what that means in the continually expanding ethnic and social demographic of the United States. Bonus: Musical interludes! —Streamed June 21, 2024
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“Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” These are the words of a proud being. In Milton’s Paradise Lost, Satan is cast out of Heaven, and in his pride boasts that he shall be a king in Hell. The question for the modern reader might well be this: what did Satan do differently than other rebellious people? If Paradise Lost were a modern movie, would Satan be the anti-hero that everyone loves to watch? And if he were a British Colonial in early America, would he be a revolutionary that everyone wants to honor? And if he were a Renaissance-era King, would he be a hero obliterating the Pope’s authority? In our ongoing discussions about the sin of pride, the Ladies of the Mosaic Ark are discovering the many layers of pride in an ever-descending trip back in time. Join us as we peel back each layer to discover the origins of our society’s current difficulty defining virtue and vice. —Streamed June 14, 2024
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Pride. It is said that this was the sin that caused Lucifer to be cast down from Heaven, and the same temptation that he offered to Eve in his attempts to destroy her and Adam’s relationship with The Almighty – “Ye shall be like God.” But how does one explain to the people of a rapidly de-Christianizing society that pride is a sin, the most deadly of seven deadly sins, and something that should be rejected? The ladies of the Mosaic Ark discussed this challenge and why it is so difficult. We also discussed pride as the sin which all other sins feed into. As the secular society indulges in a month-long celebration of “Pride,” join us in this first discussion where we begin to break it down. —Streamed June 5, 2024
"Draco Layer Three: The Moral or Tropological Sense" https://fencingbearatprayer.blogspot.com/2023/06/draco-layer-three-tropological-or-moral.html
“The Seven Deadlies: Definitions and Remedies” https://fencingbearatprayer.blogspot.com/2012/06/the-seven-deadlies-definitions-and.html
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The Professor asked KC if she could come up with some really stupid questions about the Middle Ages. “Can I? And how!” she said. “Did people bathe more than once a year? Did sanitation exist? Did anyone live past the age of 30? What about witchcraft? Were women thought to be witches because they were folk healers? How many witches were burned at the stake? For those women not burned at the stake, how many were forced into marriage arrangements?” During this week’s Mosaic Ark, we discussed these questions and many more concerning life in the Middle Ages (and yes, including the question “Was Prima Nocta real?”) We also concluded that most people have the wrong idea about the time period they were taught to call “The Dark Ages,” and that those who spread those ideas have a lot to answer for (looking at you Mel Gibson!) —Streamed May 29, 2024
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Is there hope for pagan America? What’s that? You didn’t know America was a pagan country?! If you’re like most people, you probably fall into one of two camps: you either think that America is a Christian country or that it is a secular country that practices a kind of religious pluralism, but both of those camps are wrong. John Daniel Davidson joined the ladies of the Mosaic Ark to discuss his new book, Pagan America. In his book, Davidson shows how some of the more disturbing trends in current American public life have direct correlations to the practices of pagan societies of the past, and that the rituals practiced then are also being practiced today, albeit under different names and (at least publicly) for different reasons. We discussed why this is happening, whether there is hope for Christians to live freely in a pagan America, and also whether there is hope for a true Christian America in the future. —Streamed May 22, 2024
Buy John's book: https://www.amazon.com/Pagan-America-Decline-Christianity-Dark/dp/1684514444/
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When we think of encampments, we may have militaristic visions of Crusader Kings like Baldwin IV and his thousands marching under banners and flags; we might see the Mongol empire marching behind the great Genghis Khan or perhaps Napoleon on his march through Europe. Conversely, we might see peaceful medieval tournaments with their tents and banners, religious pilgrimages or even their more modern equivalent—music festivals! Two weeks ago, there was an encampment at the University of Chicago, around which much discussion has revolved on and off campus. What kind of encampment was it: peaceful or militaristic? Was it just a peaceful demonstration involving students exercising free speech, or was it an event purposefully planned to disrupt, polarize, and provoke a physical police response? The ladies of the Mosaic Ark continue last week’s discussion about the UChicago encampment and wonder if the general public could see the parallels from history. We invite you to listen and tell us what you see.
—Streamed May 15, 2024
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“I heard my momma cry / I heard her pray the night Chicago died / Brother, what a night it really was / Brother, what a fight it really was / Glory be!”
This song about fights between gangs and cops in 1920s Chicago was all the rage back in the 1970s. There’s a lot of appeal to nostalgia in it. But were people nostalgic for violence, or were they longing to be in a dramatic moment—a moment that matters? Last week, the University of Chicago hosted an encampment of protestors who gathered in support of the Palestinians of Gaza and made demands that the University divest from Israel. But the encampment also attracted protestors of issues unrelated to that war, and eventually attracted counter-protestors. The mini “community” that sprang up in the encampment was forcibly (and thankfully, peacefully) dismantled one week later and neither they, nor the counter protestors, nor any police were hurt. Chicago didn’t die! As the ladies of the Mosaic Ark discussed these events, we kept returning to the same question: what attracts people to these types of events? Are they simply dedicated to their cause, or do they also long for something more—a connection with others, a feeling of collective purpose? Join us as we discuss. —Streamed May 8, 2024
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Once upon a time in the Middle Ages, in a geographic area comprised of a patchwork collection of hundreds of separate Duchies ruled over by hundreds of Dukes, a loyalty was misplaced. Doesn’t sound like a very inspiring fairy tale, does it? But you must admit that it does sound similar to the current landscape of social media. There are hundreds of different platforms within larger platforms for social, news and entertainment media, each with their own “Duke” (or Duchess) demanding trust and loyalty of their followers. Which one do you trust? Are you loyal to any of them? The ladies of the Mosaic Ark discussed how the misplaced trust of the eleventh century’s Hugh IV of Lusignan provided the perfect example of how trust and loyalty have always been a hotly contested issue even as it has always been demanded by people of power and influence. Please enjoy watching our lively discussion, or I’m afraid that Baldric shall have to be very severely beaten! —Streamed May 1, 2024
Agreement between Count William V of Aquitaine and Hugh IV of Lusignan: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/agreement.asp
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“A little learning is a dangerous thing.” Alexander Pope wrote these words in 1711 at the tender age of 22, and thereby created one of the understatements of the millennium. At least that is what the Dragon Common Room discovered as it began writing its first epic poem, Centrism Games. Join the Ladies of the Mosaic Ark as we discuss our admiration for Pope’s skill in writing satire in iambic pentameter, how it inspired us to write Centrism Games in the same style, and how that style of writing had an almost magical ability to assist us in the focus and direction of the story we wrote. —Streamed April 24, 2024
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“What is truth?” This question asked of Christ by Pilate 1,991 years ago seems to also be the question of this age. Five generations after women were granted the right to vote, every artistic endeavor (most notably in architecture) has changed for the worse and every institution has been morally compromised, nowhere more starkly than in relationships between men and women. The very foundations of our society both literally and figuratively have been degraded. But are women to blame? Are men to blame? There is confusion among the youngest adults of this fifth generation, and those not despairing are looking for answers in the past. Evita Duffy-Alfonso joins the ladies of the Mosaic Ark to discuss the challenges faced by Gen Z, and the hope that she sees in them. —Streamed April 17, 2024
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“It’s the end of the world as we know it…and I feel fine.” Props to Michael Stipe. Eclipse 2024 happened, the world did not end, and everyone is feeling fine. This is good news! But why might some people have thought that something big was going to happen? Why were some people looking for significance in an entirely predictable event? Have there been significant events in history that occurred during other astronomical displays? Or are people simply trying to place themselves into the ongoing story of creation; are they trying to feel some of that significance? The ladies of the Mosaic Arc discuss eclipses, comets, the doomsdays that weren’t, and KC’s need for additional reading about the people of the middle ages! —Streamed April 10, 2024
- Visa fler
