Något för alla ...

Om jazz och det goda livet

"Take, as an image of the good life, a jazz group. A jazz group which is improvising obviously differs from a symphony orchestra, since to a large extent each member is free to express herself as she likes. But she does so with a receptive sensitivity to the self-expressive performaces of the other musicians. The complex harmony they fashion comes not from a collective score, but from the free musical expression of each member acting as the basis for the free expression of the others. As each player grows more musically eloquent, the others draw inspiration from this and are spurred to greater heights. There is no conflict here betwee freedom and the ‘good of the whole’, yet the image is the reverse of totalitarian."

Om brustenhet

"You see, I have been approaching brokenness as if it were something I was called to enter into. You know, journeying into places of exile, trying to enter into solidarity with the poor and oppressed, that sort of thing. Essentially, I was approaching Christianity as though it were something that leads us to enter into the brokenness that we find outside of ourselves."

Om sex, våld & religion

“Consider the following analogy. Given the universality of sexual experience, it is hardly surprising that this powerful human drive should also be the site of rape, pedophilia, bestiality, genital mutilation and other grotesque acts. most of us woudl regard these acts as twisted perversions of a healthy and important part of our human identity and flourishing. (Indeed, we have been taught by feminists that rape is primarily about power, not sexual pleasure.) Why not apply the same reasoning to religious faiths? Given the universality of religious experience, it is hardly surprising that certain acts of grotesque violence should not only occur in religious communities but be imbued with religious meanings and justification.”