“I think you received these ideas in your pipe dreams.”
From Defense and Explanation of All the Articles, pg. 56 of Luther’s Works, Vol. 32
Click on Luther’s head for more…
Erasmus would have something to say about this!
An artist came to Pendle Hill and asked for subjects who would be willing to be sketched while they were meditating or praying. Being quite picture phobic, I decided to accept the challenge and see what would happen….
Here is the sketch he drew of me.
From ABOUT TOWN May 5 , 2011…okay, it’s a year old..I just found it:)
Review of Saving Erasmus by Steven Cleaver. Paraclete Press, April 2007, 181 pages, $26.95 hardcover.
by Sachi Feris
In Saving Erasmus, Steven Cleaver links one man’s journey to self fulfillment with social commentary about capitalism, inequity, and the meaning of community. The novel opens with the narrator, Andrew Benoit, a recent seminary school graduate, en route to small-town Erasmus on account of a sign from God. On the way, Death climbs through the portal of a broken washing machine to inform Andrew that he has one week to help the people of Erasmus re-locate their faith, or Death will come to claim them.
Cleaver reels us in fast and furious, enabling the reader to go with the fantastical and real flow, recounting Andrew Benoit’s history with empathetic fullness and movie-like precision. When Mr. Benoit finally sets foot in Erasmus, I began to lose my sense of time. Since he only has a week to save the town, every day is important and time takes the fast track, as does the number of characters. I found myself wishing the tension, reflection, and freeze frames that typified Mr. Benoit’s journey to Erasmus had stuck around after he arrived.
An ongoing theme touches the concept of control by fear versus an appeal to humanity’s faith, whether in God or in each other. Like his narrator, Steven Cleaver has had religious training, and the town of Erasmus is appropriately named for the humanist theologian whose name itself means “beloved” or “to love.” Cleaver’s narrator introduces himself as a “prophet,” but in the end, Andrew Benoit needs Erasmus as much as Erasmus needs his prophecies.
I much appreciated Cleaver’s humor. Saving Erasmus is full of references to pop culture and childhood heroes— The Velveteen Rabbit, The Three Stooges, and I Love Lucy—who become Andrew Benoit’s co-conspirators, guides, and friends. I fear, though, that Cleaver undercuts the universality of his story with so many pieces of ultra-American pop culture infused throughout. In one hysterical moment, Cleaver describes the ragtag “army” trying to help Andrew Benoit’s cause and comments: “I hope Margaret Meade was right.” That is, of course, that a “small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.”
Saving Erasmus contains nuggets that are both compassionate and funny. Readers should be prepared to suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride.
—Sachi Feris
Steven Cleaver lives in Rhinebeck and teaches writing classes for staff at Omega Institute. Sachi Feris lives in Brooklyn.