Happy Jack and Friends - Update

 


Pull up a chair and say hello 

Happy Jack has discovered how to allow anonymous comments! This is available to those without Google accounts. Just click on the 'Comment' button and select 'Anonymous'. You can give yourself a name too by clicking the 'Name/URL button. 

There is now a 'Contact' button - on the right of the page - for anyone with any ideas or suggestions about this blog. However, Jack believes one has to have a Google account to use this. If someone has an article they'd like published do send Jack your email address and he'll contact you and let you know his.

You'll see from the 'Visits' counter that we've had 2000+ views since week this blog has been running. So please make a comment and keep things going - or not!  


Comments

  1. Just a resting place until a new home is found.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi HJ, thanks for this. Excuse the profile name, but I've been running a little blog of my own!

    If anyone wants a look notajourney.uk
    Apologies if this is a bit presumptuous of me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I felt the need to explain the silly name!

      Delete
    2. People should read it CM and I'll be working my through your posts. You'll be in my prayers.

      Delete
    3. Thanks I really appreciate that

      Delete
  3. Hi Jack - I will keep in touch on this site too from " Two Feet"

    ReplyDelete
  4. England v. Iran on Monday. It promises to be a politically charged game. Most of the Iranian players have declared themselves in support of the protest movement.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Looking forward to it all. It'll be a distraction from all the doom and gloom in the world.

      Delete
  5. Is this outfit based in California? On my screen, at least, it's showing the time in PST (now 13:05)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can't work the time out. I'll have a look around and see if it can be set to GMT. Are you still in Brazil these days?

      Delete
  6. It has been a while since I pulled the old AiB account out. Hello Jack :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hiya, Grinchy! Good to hear from you. You'll have heard the news about the Cranmer site. Quite a blow and a loss to those of us who, despite our differences have made so many friends there. I shall miss it.

      Delete
    2. Yes - I hope it's just a natural coming to its end rather than as a consequence of matters academical.

      I'll miss the comments and being able to catch up with a number of the collaborators. I will observe, though, that like the CofE, the best members were not Anglican :)

      Delete
    3. Not sure there were too many Anglicans left! Those that were seemed solid in there belief in scripture and the Gospel and at a loss.

      I learned a lot from the debates there (although heated at times) about our shared Christian faith and what we have in common.

      Delete
  7. No need to change anything, Jack! I was just curious, that's all. It was something I hadn't been expecting to see.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Already done! Now reset. There are a whole lot of time zones to choose from.

      Delete
  8. Thanks for setting this up, HJ.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Considering how depressing everything is, HG could have kept going for a little while yet!!!!!

    We need a replacement, I think the only way this will be found is if we do it ourselves

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't thInk It was something he chose to do. It must have been forced on him. Lawsuits etc.

      Delete
  10. I believe one has to pay for Disqus accounts. Do you know if this is the case?

    My idea for the time being is to invite people to send me articles that I can publish here for discussion. I can let them have an email I set up for this.

    We'll see how many folk turn up and take it from there.

    ReplyDelete
  11. What time does the bar close in this establishment?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha! Open all hours - but there are a coiuple of bouncers to keep order ...

      Long time no speak.

      Delete
    2. Pubcrawler, are you still available to answer an ignoramus's questions about Biblical Greek? I have recently come across an intriguing (to me) situation in which a question about two Greek words in the NT overlaps with a question about a certain clear difference between English and Portuguese.

      Delete
    3. Thank you, Pubcrawler. A couple of years ago, as a lockdown activity, I set myself the task of reading the whole of the OT from start to finish, something I had never done before. I read it in the Good News Bible translation, which I like. Among all the “dynamic equivalence” translations, it’s the one that comes closest, I think, to being consistently written in idiomatic English that is immediately intelligible and never leaves the reader scratching his head in sheer bewilderment. That doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that the editors have invariably picked the English term that most exactly conveys the meaning of the verse in the original language.

      One peculiarity that stands out in the GNB, in comparison with other translations, has to do with the words “jealousy” and “envy”, not only in the OT but, as I later verified, in the NT as well.

      In the NT, there are two Greek words that are sometimes translated as “jealousy”, zelos and phthonos. As I understand it, zelos can mean both “zeal” and “jealousy” and Bible translators seem to be generally agreed on the places where it has one of those meanings and the places where it has the other meaning. There is no such agreement, however, in the case of phthonos, which sometimes appears as “jealousy” and sometimes as “envy”. Fair enough, given the substantial overlap between the meanings of those two English words.

      More later. I’m going to take a break now to watch the opening ceremony and the football.

      Delete
    4. Ah, goodie: questions involving lexical semantics, lexicography and the generally unrecognised difference between a definition and a gloss. This'll be fun!

      Delete
    5. Hello again, Pubcrawler. Here’s the rest of my post. As Pascal says in one of his Provincial Letters, “I’m sorry this letter is so long, but I didn’t have enough time to write a shorter one.”

      Here are some comparisons between the GNB and two other translations, the New International Version (NIV) and the Revised New Jerusalem Bible (RNJB). The Greek word phthonos occurs nine times in the NT. In six of those nine verses the GNB translates it as “jealousy”, compared with only once in the NIV, where the usual translation is “envy”, also in six out of the nine verses, though not exactly the same six. The RNJB is more varied: in addition to “envy” (three times) and “jealousy” (twice) it also uses “malice” (twice), “spite”, and “rivalry”.

      So far, then, the only significant point is that the word “jealousy” as a translation of phthonos is found in the GNB very much more often than in other broadly similar translations. Now comes something I discovered quite by chance only a few days ago, in my wanderings around the internet. The GNB was first published in 1966 in the form of the NT only, under the polysyllabic title Good News for Modern Man: The New Testament in Today's English Version. No translator’s name appears in the original Pocket Books edition (link below). It is on record, however, that one Robert G. Bratcher, known to his friends as “Bob”, was either the main or (more probably) the sole translator.

      Bob Bratcher (1920-2010) was born and brought up in Brazil, where both his parents were Southern Baptist missionaries. Thanks to his bilingual background he was equally at home in English and Portuguese. Now in Portuguese, unlike English, there is little or no overlap in meaning between the words for jealousy (ciúme) and envy (inveja). Ciúme has to do, above all, with possessiveness. In everyday use, in nine cases out of ten the word is mentioned in the context of unfaithfulness, real or imagined, in love and marriage or what are now called “relationships”. In contrast, when you feel upset or bitter because the Joneses next door have taken delivery of a brand new Tesla while you’re still struggling along with your clapped-out Lada, that is pure inveja, envy. No native speaker of Portuguese would dream of calling it ciúme, jealousy, which has nothing to do with it. Bratcher, of course, would have been fully aware of that clear-cut difference in Portuguese, which in my view makes it rather odd that, among the three translations I’ve looked at, his GNB is precisely the one that goes furthest in blurring what little distinction there is between “jealousy” and “envy” in English.

      [cont.]

      Delete
    6. [cont.]

      In two Brazilian Bibles that I’ve looked at, the Bíblia Ave Maria and the Bíblia de Jerusalém, inveja is the word used in eight out of the nine occurrences of phthonos in the NT. The exception, in both cases, is James 4:5, where they both use ciúme, just as in English this is the one and only verse in which the NIV and the RNJB both understand phthonos to mean “jealousy”:

      Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? (NIV)

      Do you suppose that it was pointless for the scripture to say ‘With jealousy he longs for the spirit he sent to dwell in us’? (RNJB)

      One final oddity. This is one of the three verses where Bratcher has opted not to use “jealousy” in his translation. He has evidently understood this sentence to mean something completely different. He writes:

      Don't think that there is no truth in the scripture that says, “The spirit that God placed in us is filled with fierce desires.” (GNB)

      Well, Pubcrawler, that’s it. I suppose I’m asking you two questions, really, one about Greek and the other about English. Have the translators (with the possible exception of Bratcher) correctly understood the Greek word phthonos? And wouldn’t it be helpful, as I think it would, though I’m a bit doubtful about that, to maintain a distinction between “jealousy” and “envy” in English, or has that distinction already become too blurred to be worth retrieving?

      Thanks for your help!

      https://archive.org/details/goodnewsformoder00pock/mode/2up


      Delete
    7. Hmmm. The following springs to mind. Gimme a few days, I have travelling and writing and drinking (and a funeral) to do this week.

      "O Deep Thought computer," he said, "the task we have designed you to perform is this. We want you to tell us...." he paused, "The Answer."
      "The Answer?" said Deep Thought. "The Answer to what?"
      "Life!" urged Fook.
      "The Universe!" said Lunkwill.
      "Everything!" they said in chorus.
      Deep Thought paused for a moment's reflection.
      "Tricky," he said finally.
      "But can you do it?"
      Again, a significant pause.
      "Yes," said Deep Thought, "I can do it."
      "There is an answer?" said Fook with breathless excitement.
      "Yes," said Deep Thought. "Life, the Universe, and Everything. There is an answer. But, I'll have to think about it."

      Delete
  12. I believe so, ask Hannah she'll know.

    I think your idea is a good one, it will be interesting how people respond.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Comments on her site are closed for the moment. I'll wait until there's a new opening article.

      Delete
    2. I see you have found a figure for disqus. A lot of money. Food for thought.

      Delete
    3. There's a cheaper version too ('non-professional) that costs about £10 per month.

      Delete
    4. Well that sounds more affordable

      Delete
  13. Jack and I are interchanging visits to the two interim Cranmerite websites. Just published a blog there. It is easy to do if anyone else feels like it. https://wingsofthewind.retalk.com/raysunshine-1668860326. From (TwoFeet)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm confused, is this instead of HJ's site?

      Delete
    2. Not instead of, in addition to. Annis (TwoFeet) & Jack are both extending us their online hospitality.

      Delete
  14. Thomas Cranmer and Christchurch College Oxford: this is a remarkably well researched film about Thomas Cranmer who was taken from Bocardo Prison in Oxford to stay as a guest in the house of the Dean of Christchurch College - to 'recant' of his part in the Reformation. He was allowed a last sermon (preworded) but then changed the wording and declared to all that he repented of all his recancations and would die a martyr. https://retalk.com/c/cranmer-symposium/cranmer-and-the-deans-house-at-christchurch

    ReplyDelete
  15. Didn't he "recant" expecting to have his life spared? His execution was an act of revenge by Queen Mary for her and her mother's treatment at his and Henry XII's hands. And she had good cause for this.

    Personally, I prefer the more noble words and sentiments of St Thomas More at his execution.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was really pointing out the odd 'coincidence' of Christchurch (The Dean's house) being where Cranmer was basically "done for"

      Delete
  16. Good night, anyone who is still up

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-MSLN5bXyU

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Will you be on your feet for almost three hours in church in the morning?

      Delete
    2. How's your progress going with the Orthodox Church? Certainly, it's services and praxis are considerably more robust than Western churches.

      Delete
  17. It could be easier, but the Lord is in charge and I'm happy to continue following His timetable. Meanwhile I immerse myself in Holy Tradition and stumble along humbly with my God.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have to say that Lain caused me to pause and think about the focus of Western Christianity. Pope John Paul II made similar observations.

      It's a shame she ran into so much grief and distress on Cranmer as her faith was unfolding. She's now in Japan staying with a relative in the hills. Keep her in your prayers. She's a good soul.

      Delete
    2. Has Lain been informed about the imminent disappearance of the Cranmer blog? It's good to know that she won't entirely lose contact with the other communicants.

      Delete
    3. I really think it would have been better if she hadn't heard of Cranmer, it wasn't good for her.

      Delete
    4. Yes, 'Happy Jack' feels partly responsible as he had long chats with her on another site. It's regrettable she allowed herself to be sucked into unhelpful and unfruitful discussions whilst she was working her own faith out. She'll come through okay. Living one's faith isn't easy but I believe she's on the right path and God is with her.

      Delete
    5. With respect - and Jack knows that I have asked him to send my best wishes to Laim - but she was herself also reponsible for some unhelfulness there.

      Delete
  18. Ha, you're both lightweights!

    And no I'm not going to be standing on my feet for three hours!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Early riser or late to bed?

      Delete
    2. I messed up my medication and it caused sleeping problems, so a bit of both 🙄

      Delete
    3. One day a week I try to get to bed before dawn and that's the response I get. Pfft!

      Delete
    4. I take it the landlord wants one decent nights sleep a week 😁

      Delete
  19. There are two Cranmer 'lifeboat' sites where one can post thoughts and blog links. They are:

    https://retalk.com/c/cranmer-symposium
    and
    https://dodothedude.blogspot.com/ (Happy Jack and Friends)

    Then there are wider websites:

    Conservative Woman
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/
    (Sign up for their newsletter alerts)

    Daily Sceptic
    https://dailysceptic.org/

    Thinking Anglicans
    https://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/

    Psephizo website
    https://www.psephizo.com/

    http://thomashobbes.co.uk

    https://www.church14-26.org

    https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/

    https://www.spiked-online.com/

    ReplyDelete
  20. Just published another blog post about Christ the King - and our late Queen https://wingsofthewind.retalk.com/advent-is-not-entirely-about-christmas

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hello, Jack and Company. Bad penny reporting for duty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Welcome .... not sure how this project will go but it'll provide a space for ex-Cranmerites for a time.

      Delete
    2. Well why don't you start things off and post an article, I don't know, how about on the early history of the church up to the deaths of Augustine and co? Try and be objective 😉

      Delete
  22. Food for thought. If Starmer becomes PM he is going to abollish the House of Lords and ergo all the Bishops will lose their seats.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hello. Thank you, Happy Jack, for making a place for the fellowship from Cranmer.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Did anyone listen to the Feud series on Radio Times (available on the BBC as well https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0dg3rbv)?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hello Carl, nice of you to drop in!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Thanks for arranging this staging post on our journey to the Promised Land, Jack.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sniff it's like a lifeboat, rescuing the survivors of the SS Cranmer, which has collided with the iceberg of liberalism and has sunk.

      It brings tears to my glas eye 😢

      Delete
    2. Call it a desert island where the ship wrecked gather to catch their breath.

      Delete
    3. How many discs do we get? And can my luxury item be a brewery?

      Delete
    4. Hi Brianr, good to see you here. We are also camping out at retalk.

      Delete
  27. Trial of Cardinal Zen & others: Verdict expected on Friday (CNA)

    https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252860/verdict-in-cardinal-zen-s-trial-expected-on-friday

    ReplyDelete
  28. Am I in? Not all my devices are letting me in yet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It seems I am! Well done Happy Jack for setting this up.

      Delete
  29. Just Joined - Nice to see you all!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We need your profile picture!

      Delete
    2. You just have ....

      Blended, fermented snail's drink on "I'm a Celebrity" last night and Jack thought of you.

      Delete
  30. A new post has just been published on Cranmer Symposium Community on RETALK on The State and the Antichrist. See

    https://wingsofthewind.retalk.com/the-state-anomie-and-thoughts-on-the-antichrist

    Please post material to keep the site lively!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Cranmer is now offline. A moments silence I think.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Yes, I was just going to say the same thing.
    I sincerely hope we'll find out, before too long, exactly what has been going on behind the scenes. I still suspect foul play by lawyers, as I said on the final thread.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's gone now!

      What a great shame. The end of an era.

      Delete
    2. Given his message now, I suspect you're right about foul play.

      Delete
    3. Less of the "foul play" please!

      Delete
    4. What was the message? I can't find it.

      Delete
    5. I assume it's the thing about his hand having offended.

      Delete
    6. I've displayed it on a new post.

      Delete
  33. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/nov/10/charity-commission-criticises-oxford-college-christ-church-over-mismanagement

    ReplyDelete
  34. Just published another post on Cramer Symposium on the scam of fearmongering and how Christians are told to react:
    https://wingsofthewind.retalk.com/for-god-gave-us-a-spirit-not-of-fear-but-of-power-and-love-and-self-control

    ReplyDelete
  35. Pity about the penalty at the end, but 6-2 was still a fair result. England are off to a good start

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A 1-1 draw today. Hmmm. What will Carl have to say about that, I wonder?

      Delete
    2. You played Iran. Everyone is this group will get 3 points against Iran.

      Delete
    3. I didn't watch this morning's game but I've just seen the result. Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia. Well, well.

      Delete
    4. Maybe the USA has a chance against Iran then .... 😎

      Delete
    5. When the Saudis scored their two goals in the last ten minutes before full time, I bet Pope Francis must have let out a few angry expletives

      Delete
    6. https://dodothedude.blogspot.com/2022/11/friday-29th-november.html#comment-form

      Delete
    7. I wasn't able to watch the Wales-Iran match this morning, but I've seen the result. As things stand at the moment, Iran are now in second place in the group.

      Delete
    8. When they beat the USA they'll qualify for the next round.

      Delete
  36. The readers of this blog might be interested in the following:
    https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2022/11/21/islams-elexir-camel-urine-back-in-the-news/#respond

    ReplyDelete
  37. Well this blog closure seems more difficult than you would expect, I've just commented and upvoted Jack!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Yes, there's always a time-lag with Disqus - generally 14 days or so.

    ReplyDelete
  39. I've published a new post on my blog 'Wings of the Wind' on Retalk about how Thomas Cranmer should have blessed his right hand.

    https://wingsofthewind.retalk.com/cranmer-should-have-blessed-his-right-hand

    I would appeal to others coming from 'Cranmer' to share their Christian insights, Protestant and Catholic. My blog on Retalk, in just three days, has had 1500 views and nearly 100 views today, most of the credit going probably to 'Cranmer').

    ReplyDelete
  40. Tried a few times to post on Thinking Anglicans and have never made it past the moderators/censors!

    Anyone else having a similar experience?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I suspect they have a blacklist of all the Cranmer veterans. It maybe fun winding them up 😎

      Delete
    2. All comments are "moderated" before being posted.

      Delete
  41. Well they have probably detected you are not one of them!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then they should display a sign:

      "Orthodox Christians Not Wanted Here"

      Delete
  42. Lady of the Mercians has recently informed Happy Jack that we can still stay in touch for now.

    "Sorry to interrupt. As I've explained at the top of this thread, only Archbishop Cranmer himself can close threads, not Disqus. You can still keep in touch with friends on this site on articles. Just press onto the account of someone you are following. You'll see a section which says ' frequented Communities ' press on Archbishop Cranmer and you'll come to a long list of articles with this one at the top.

    To get onto the article press the onto the comment number ie ' 415 ' comments.

    You can post on any thread ( open ) that's mentioned on the list of articles forever unless his Grace closes them. You'll just not have new articles."

    ReplyDelete
  43. New post from Two Feet
    https://wingsofthewind.retalk.com/the-fear-express-and-how-to-get-off-it

    ReplyDelete
  44. Technology is a little beyond my understanding, but with some assistance I have ended up here, wherever here may be. Greetings to all.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Even slower than me! Is this a record! Is he a slug?

    ReplyDelete
  46. Thoughts on the passing of the Cranmer blog https://wingsofthewind.retalk.com/thoughts-on-the-passing-of-the-cranmer-blog

    ReplyDelete
  47. My blog today is ow the World Cup is not the real world contest:

    https://wingsofthewind.retalk.com/the-world-cup-is-not-the-real-world-contest

    ReplyDelete
  48. This is Happy Jack testing the Anonymous button!

    ReplyDelete
  49. A happy and a blessed New Year to all. Our prayers will be for the raising of the nations of the world out of the troubles we see at every hand, and that perhaps when this do get better, the nations may express some thanksgiving to the Lord for the blessings they enjoy even now.

    ReplyDelete

  50. Seeing the new name for this community / blog, I naturally thought of Craggy Island, which I expect is what was expected. The real Craggy Island has a more frosty welcome than its fictional, Irish counterpart though, even in the height of summer, as it is today:
    https://wikishire.co.uk/wiki/Craggy_Island

    ReplyDelete
  51. Happy New Year, Little Hobb!

    The name for our little island is derived from Irish: 'Crannógs', early dwelling abodes on or near water. Jack had in mind a combination of Cranmer, as well as 'Craggy Island'.

    ReplyDelete

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