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Terminal Despair
December 15, 2023 | Zeki Tan MY ‘25
Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, though certainly not the first to correlate despair with disease, described despair as “the sickness unto death.” [3] As I have come to understand it, despair is at its root a relational illness whose symptoms involve a breakdown of one’s relationships: the self to one’s self, the self to the eternal, and the self to one’s community.
A Persistent God
February 27, 2023 | Caleb Mangesho BK ‘26
In mourning, “good” meant showing emotion, but not too much. “Good”, irrational as it seemed, meant keeping my naked grief to myself. So I let my sadness settle into an open resentment of God, this savior who left me to suffer alone in the darkest moment of my life, and the people around me who encouraged me to follow Him. I wouldn’t let myself be loved. I came to Yale sure that God and his love would wither away like a rose, pretty in the summer, dead in the winter.
Being with the Dead
February 1, 2023 | Zeki Tan PM ‘25
This culture of isolation was on full display during the Covid-19 pandemic, in which many people died alone in the hospital, their families denied visitation under lockdown rules. How did these people feel as death approached? Perhaps they still had dreams to fulfill, places they wanted to visit, or people they wanted to see when Death came knocking.
Terror at the Cross, Transformed
April 15, 2022 | By Jadan Anderson MC’22
On that Friday, we looked at Jesus on the cross and were appalled. From what did we avert our eyes?
With guilty relief and a strange sense of injustice, we try to grasp how in God’s just world this perfect Man would die our deaths. How could we look? How could we look away?
A Funeral Song
April 5, 2022 | By Nathan Moran BF ‘24
Why do we mourn? Has God not conquered death? Why do we fast? Has God not filled the hungry with good things? Why, when Christ has overcome the grave, when the morning stars sing together and all the sons and daughters of God shout for joy, do we sing a funeral dirge?
Batter My Heart
December 31, 2021 | Shi Wen Yeo MC ‘23
The famous English poet John Donne is said to have been so afraid of and obsessed about death that he, on multiple occasions, rehearsed his death by lying still in his hearse and having someone paint the dead likeness of him. Indeed, he was a poet of the English Renaissance, characterised by his polemic attitudes—in his youth, he wrote many famous erotic love poems yet moved to somber sermons in adulthood, and he even converted from the “salvation through works” Catholicism to “faith and works” Anglicanism to become an important preacher in the Church of England. Ostensibly, he was a troubled figure, full of personal vacillations and characterised by contradictions—not unlike many Christians today.
Upcoming Events:
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Weekly Meetings
THURSDAYS 5-7PM, Branford College Trumbull Room
Discuss with us what it means to think Christianly and write for our publication.
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Philosophy of Everyday Life Seminar
THURSDAY SEPT 11TH 6:15-7:45PM, Elm Institute
Join us at the Elm Institute for a private version of the Elm’s popular seminar “The Philosophy of Everyday Life”. Readings will be focused on Friendship. No prior reading required. Food provided.
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Divinity School Private Archival Tour
THURSDAY SEPT 18th, 9AM, Yale Divinity School
We will be looking at the Yale Divinity School’s missionary collection, specifically focusing on letters from international ecumenical movements from America to China. We will be looking at how these relate to our theme of freidnship in a more nuanced way. We will be walking up from cross-campus at 8:30 am, but you can also meet at the YDS gates at 9 am.
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William Blake Private Exhibition Tour
THURSDAY OCT 2ND, TIME TBA
Peter Wicks of the Elm Institute will guide us through the traveling exhibition ‘William Blake: Burning Bright’ at Yale Center for British Art. No previous experience with art or William Blake required.