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Cats don’t have names: Does Neil Gaiman’s black cat teach emptiness?
‘Please. What’s your name?’ Coraline asked the cat. ‘Look, I’m Coraline. OK?’ The cat yawned slowly, carefully, revealing a mouth and a tongue of astounding pinkness. ‘Cats don’t have names,’ it said. ‘No?’ said Coraline. ‘No,’ said the cat. ‘Now, you people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names.’ Neil Gaiman, Coraline (2002), p. 42. Neil Gaiman’s brilliant book entitled Coraline. The reader trying to make sense of this article may ask why the character Coraline is talking to a cat, they may be in awe trying to understand how a cat can engage in conversation, or…
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Surveillance and the All-Seeing Gaze of God
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. Proverbs 15:3. Whether from the mouths of cautious parents or disgruntled siblings, the ominous words, “God is watching you,” shape the beginning of ethical reflection for many Christians from a young age. At first, it might seem rather obvious what this sentence means. However, a little unraveling of the context, “who said this and how?” or “why is this the way?” reveals rather quickly that this statement is very reductive even if it is not quite false. Much more can and should be said about God’s knowledge than these four words. To use…
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Compassionate Collaboration, Christian Mission and the Bank of Dave
A glimpse of Jesus’ compassion appears in Matthew 9:35-38. In one of the more well-known images of Christian witness, Jesus responds to crowds “harassed and helpless” with a call for collaborators (“Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest” (38)). The verses in Matthew are one of a cluster of Gospel narratives in which Jesus is described as a shepherd, sent by God to strengthen the weak and heal those damaged by sin, greed and betrayal.[1] A contemporary image of compassion and collaboration appears in a recent movie, Bank of Dave (2023). Movies, along with other forms of popular culture, are not commonly used as…
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The Truth of Suffering: Dealing with the Coronavirus Pandemic
Just over two years ago we faced an alarming revelation: a new disease had emerged, characterized by its high transmission rate and lethal potential. At that time, we had neither knowledge of treatment nor a vaccine. Our sole defenses were lockdowns, quarantines, masks, hand sanitizer, and social distancing. Every day, news outlets would broadcast the mounting death toll worldwide. Fear permeated our lives as we confronted the chilling prospect of losing ourselves or our loved ones. This was the stark reality during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the advent of vaccines and treatments, life began to regain some semblance of normalcy. But this relief was short-lived. Humanity found itself threatened by…
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Achieving Authenticity: Dyslexic theology in response to festive Bible reading challenges
I’m doom scrolling on social media when I find myself stopping to read this post: Maybe it’s time to start A New Christmas Tradition. Beginning December 1st, read one chapter of the book of Luke in the Bible each evening. There are 24 chapters. On Christmas Eve you will have read an entire account of Jesus’ life and wake up Christmas morning knowing WHO and WHY we celebrate! At first, I’m mildly amused. The comments are filled with people saying, “I’ll be doing this,” and that it’s “not difficult to achieve.” As a researcher looking at dyslexia and reading the Bible, this is gold. But as a dyslexic Christian who…
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Exchanging self for others: the ongoing process of hospitality in Mahāyāna Buddhism
Before we begin, I would like to propose a brief exercise. Please consider this as an invitation to experience something different, but feel free to not engage in it if you do not feel comfortable with it. Let us imagine ourselves, with all the conditions we currently have at our disposal: food, drink, a roof over our heads, education, access to health system, a community we are part of, and also our abilities to benefit other beings. Even though we have all that, our minds are focused on the problems we have in our daily lives – papers to write, our jobs to keep, taxes and debts, conflicts with family…
