Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@tinyroofnail one of my favorite novels! But certainly not an easy one to write about nor to read even
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@mjkaul thanks! I hope my students agree, ha. It's my first time teaching it, & so this semester is very much something of an experiment
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@tinyroofnail nice connection! Pseudo-Dionysius is all about the superluminous darkness: so bright it blinds
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Teaching prep for “Theology through Film”: Pseudo-Dionysius’s Mystical Theology & La passion de Jeanne d’Arc:
Darkness & light, error & truth—the Cause is none of these. It is beyond assertion & denial. We make assertions & denials of what is next to it, but never of it, for it is both beyond every assertion, being the perfect & unique cause of all things, &, by virtue of its preeminently simple & absolute nature, free of every limitation, beyond every limitation; it is also beyond every denial.
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
As I’m rereading parts of Paul Griffiths’s Regret: A Theology, I’m reminded of just how much I love this little book. I’m not sure I totally agree with him in all cases—I’m not quite convinced by his account of penance—but it makes for a fun read.
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
I read Pride & Prejudice a few weeks ago (I know, what took me so long?) & now I want to sign all my communications with “Yours, etc.”
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@mineinmono thanks—this was one of my favorites of the trip
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@elliotlovegrove coming from a trained painter, that means a lot!
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
One of the few color shots I took in the UK. It’s a little overexposed, but I think it works here. I used a film recipe for the Fuji X100T that’s supposed to simulate Portra 400. I’m not totally satisfied with the colors, but I think it looks well enough here.
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@fabioteixeira thanks! Of course, it's hard to capture a bad shot there
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Tall grasses on the hills overlooking Whitby
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
A couple frames of the piers at Whitby. I especially like the lines on the second one.
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Waves in Whitby
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
The beach at Whitby
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@jonah oh, that's right. That software/hardware mismatch is frustrating. I don't mind the Remarkable's hardware, though I don't have the Scribe to compare to
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@jonah I never found a good way to use Zotero on Android, though I do have a remarkable tablet which I use fairly often. I don't think I've heard of Scribe
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@jonah oh interesting—thanks for sharing. I've been using Zotero for annotating PDFs, but this has some attractive options too
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@odd I'd love something open source, though there doesn't seem to be a ton out there for PDF readers. I do use LibreOffice when I have to work with Word documents
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@JohnBrady oh good idea. I occasionally open recently downloaded PDFs in my browser, but hadn't considered using it by default. I guess one feature I do want is a sidebar displaying the table of contents (if applicable)—I sometimes end up reading some long PDFs & they can be tough to navigate if just scrolling. I'm not sure whether a browser has such a sidebar
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Adobe Acrobat is practically unusable. The constant pop-ups for Acrobat Pro only seem to be getting worse, & now Adobe is trying to bully me into using “AI Assistant.” Any recommendations for a simple, feature-poor Windows PDF reader? I don’t need any bells or whistles—just show me my documents!
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@jabel as it happens, I just read that same chapter the other day! Thanks for connecting it to my lament
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@jonah yeah, that is an interesting take. One thing's certain: these technologies are no solution to loneliness
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Well, between “friend” & Google’s Olympics ad, it’s been a bad couple days for humans.
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@amerpie yes, Leeds. We were fortunate to have some unusually good weather for our trip (not much rain at all), but I can imagine the ruins being particularly affecting in the rain
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
One more from Kirkstall Abbey
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Another view of Kirkstall Abbey
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Kirkstall Abbey, a remarkably well-preserved ruined monastery just outside Leeds.
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@DaveyCraney @ChrisJWilson I didn't get to see much of Leeds (most of my time there I spent at the university for the conference) but I did make it out to Kirkstall Abbey & to Sela Bar for an excellent local jazz band
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
St. Mary’s Abbey ruins in the rain
This is one of my favorite shots of the entire trip.
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Finished reading: The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism by Mark D. Jordan 📚
A little dated in certain respects, but perhaps not as much as one might think.
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Hell’s harrowing, in the crypt at York Minster
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@ChrisJWilson I use the Bellroy Venture Sling, though to be honest I don't typically carry a lot of camera equipment with me. The two cameras I most often shoot with (a Canonet rangefinder for film; and a Fuji X100T for digital) have fixed lens, so at most I'm really only carrying a camera & maybe a couple filters.
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@ChrisJWilson I almost didn't make it to York (I had to play hooky from the conference in Leeds for the day trip to York, & I felt guilty about doing so) but I'm glad I did! It turned out to be a highlight of the trip
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
York Minster again
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Another photograph from the Chapter House at York Minster
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Chapter House Ceiling
York Minster
York, UK
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
After Craigmillar Castle, we went to Hollyrood Park & hiked up Arthur’s Seat, passing by the St. Anthony’s Chapel ruins on the way.
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
A few pictures from our visit to Craigmillar Castle outside of Edinburgh, Scotland. I went all-in on black & white for most of this trip.
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Jacqueline & I got home late last night from about a week & a half in the UK. We were in Edinburgh, York, Leeds (for the International Medieval Congress), & Whitby. Here we are on the West Pier in Whitby.
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@jordanellishall I don't, but it sounds great! I'll add it to my list
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@JimRain for what it's worth, what you've laid out here sounds a lot like Anselm of Canterbury's soteriology (which, pace @ReaderJohn, I do not take to be an instance of PSA)
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@robertbreen I did! I'm fascinated by Dillard's religious journey—when I started the book I didn't realize she'd modeled it on a Neoplatonic exitus / reditus pattern, nor that she became (for a time) Catholic. I'll have to read more of her work
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@tinyroofnail yes! they always have good themes, but this one is particularly tempting
Andrew Belfield
@drewbelf
@ronkjeffries thanks! I've been trying to shoot more black and white