#PP: Matthew Hart

[sergeifyodorov]

Saying mcdavo is better than sid right now is def true but overall carear im still taking sid over mcdavid ten times the fact that hes 36 and is on track to have the season hes having is insanity and the way he produces chanses just uggggghh if he didnt have thoses concusions i would take him over lemieux

And Ovi has 500 more goals than Matthews, but I still think Matthews > Ovi. That extra ten years in the league is a pretty big caveat -- when I say "Connor McDavid is better" I mean that measuring them both in the first six hundred-odd games of their career (McDavid to now, Sid to somewhere in the 2014-15 season) Connor has 65 more points; half the penalty minutes; almost twice the game-winning goals; fewer points on the power play (despite his reputation as a PP merchant). The dead-puck era to now is not as much of a difference as people say it is -- this isn't the 80s. I mean, even by individual awards, McDavid has three Harts right now to Sid's career two. He's Better.

Yes, we'll never know how good Sidney really could have been because of the concussions, and he will always have his three Cups (which, you know, not out of reach for Connor either), but we really do need to take a good long look at ourselves beyond the image of the perfect Canadian saviour sometimes

[capableism]

Where’s the upside in being a stereotypical burden?

The inspirational disabled character relies on able-bodied people being inspired by a person with a disability who perseveres through hardship and challenges, sporting a "can do" attitude despite their disability. This problematic stereotype reinforces the notion that people with disabilities are striving to be able-bodied. Every task accomplished represents progress toward that goal. The polar opposite disabled character stereotype is the self-pitying person that needs guidance from able-bodied characters to accept themselves. This stereotype emphasizes the burden a disabled person represents due to their special needs. 

"Burdens can also morph into background characters, centering the focus on the caretaker and how noble they are for dealing with the disabled person. 

An example is the film The Upside, where Kevin Hart's character is shown growing as a man, and the focus remains mostly on him. In the film, Kevin Hart plays an ex-convict looking for a job." (Campos, 43) 

Philip Laccase, played by Bryan Cranston, is presented as a billionaire quadriplegic searching for a caretaker who focuses less on how inspirational he is for doing the basic necessities. Applicants are shown talking about how much they want to help Philip do more in his life by being his caretaker. They are focused on Philip's special needs instead of treating him like "everyone else." Hart's character is an attractive candidate because he doesn't care about Philip's disability but takes the job to pay child support and avoid jail time. Shortly after Hart's character Dell Scott is hired, Philip asks him:" Have you ever taken care  of anyone?" Dell's response is, "yes, myself." For Dell's development, Philip must present a burden in need of "tough love" to learn how it feels to be treated like everyone else. 

"The implication of the burden stereotype is that a disabled person is reliant on the charity of others to survive. Jay Dolmage asserts that 'much of the language of disability relies on a semiotics of pity: myths of powerlessness that demand to be answered with charity'" (Campos, 40). 

This stereotype extends beyond feeling sorry for, or wanting to help the disabled, to a belief that disabled people are  incapable of taking care of themselves regardless of the severity of their disability." (Campos, 41)  

The Upside is based on a true story, and Philip's disability provides a visual cue for the audience to see Philip as a burden. As a quadriplegic, he has more need for others to take care of him than  some other disabilities require. 

"the ideal disabled person is someone who doesn't want or require any assistance or accommodation, particularly not social services, someone who does not want to be treated any differently than someone able-bodied." (Holtmier & Park-Primiano, 6) Philip doesn't want assistance, but he requires it. He also doesn't know that he needs Dell to show him the joys of everyday life.

Sources

Campos, B. (2021). Who Am I Now? The Value of Métis in the Construction of the Disabled Identity. Middle Tennessee State University, 1-212. https://jewlscholar.mtsu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/38942409-a101-426c-bc7e-63d0d5fa56e4/content

Holtmeier, Matthew, and Sueyoung Park-Primiano. "Ableism in Avatar: The Transhuman, Postcolonial Rapprochement to Bioregionalism." Studies in the Humanities, vol. 46, no. 1-2, Mar. 2020, pp. 135+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A673944097/AONE? u=nysl_oweb&sid=googleScholar&xid=036924f3. Accessed 17 July 2022.

[katatty]

[caniacwrites]

NHL Playoff Preview - East Play-in Matchup 3/4: CAR vs NYR

Hello, and welcome back to my series preview each of the upcoming matchups for the qualifying round of the 2020 NHL playoffs! Today, we’re taking a gander at the third matchup in the Eastern Conference, the Carolina Hurricanes vs the New York Rangers.

So here we are: the write-up I’ve simultaneously been looking forward to and dreading. I feel like I should include a disclaimer here, that I grew up in Raleigh and I’ve been a Hurricanes fan all my life. I’m going to try to be as unbiased as possible (while also not overcompensating so much that I end up conveying an opposite bias), but it’s a tricky balance to strike. Also, by dint of being a Canes fan, there’s also the simple fact that I know more about Carolina than I do any other team, so I’ll likely end up giving them more focus. Still, I’ll do my best to keep it relatively even.

Ok, so first off, there’ve been a lot of jokes being made about how Carolina was one of two teams to vote against the Return to Play plan as it was proposed, that they did that because they were scared of playing against the Rangers. There was more to it than that, which I won’t go into here, but also... the joke works because it’s kind of true.

The Canes have lost 19 of their last 20 games at Madison Square Garden including both this year, en route to dropping all 4 games of the season series against the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist has been a Cane-Killer his entire career, and unfortunately, his two young protegées Alex Georgiev and Igor Shesterkin both seem to have inherited that trait from him. So many of the Hurricanes’ recent losses to New York that I can remember were almost single-handedly won by the Rangers’ goaltender, whoever it happened to be on that particular night. And in the playoffs, running up against a hot goalie is a death sentence.

New York

Of course, the Rangers have a lot else to talk about, too. FA signing from Columbus Artemi Panarin is easily a leading candidate for the Hart with his 63 assists - tied for 2nd in the league with Connor McDavid - and 95 points. He’s shattered his previous career high by 8 points in 10 fewer games, and was on track to record 110+ in a full-length season. Mika Zibanejad has benefitted enormously from playing with Panarin, also setting a new career high in points in 25 fewer games. He’s also one of just five players in the NHL to score 40+ goals.

Panarin and Zibanejad may be the superstars, but their lineup isn’t top-heavy. The Rangers have seven players who have scored at least 40 points - two of whom are defensemen, Adam Fox and Tony DeAngelo - and four who have at least 50. Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich, two speedy, strong forwards, both had great seasons, and will need to continue to be key factors for the Rangers to make a deep playoff run.

New York is still a pretty young lineup, though, and it remains to be seen if they can buckle down and play playoff hockey. If they want to succeed, they’re going to need a little more depth production from guys like 2019 2nd overall pick Kaapo Kakko and Philip Chytil.

Carolina

Like the Rangers, the Hurricanes also have a good balance of point-producing stars and bottom 6 depth. Sebastian Aho finished the shortened season with a career-high 38 goals in 68 games, up from 30 in the full 82 game season last year. If not for the virus can cancellation, he would’ve easily eclisped 40 and likely even gotten to at least 45. Even so, he was tied for 20th in the NHL in points and tied for 6th in goals.

Aho’s fellow Finn Teuvo Teravainen has also continued to be a consistent producer with 63 points.

Andrei Svechnikov, the #2 pick in the 2018 draft the year before Kakko, has also really begun to come into his own this season. He set career highs in all three offensive categories with 24 goals and 37 assists for 61 points in just 68 games, obliterating his rookie year totals of 20 goals and 17 assists for 37 points in the full 82 games. 

Carolina is one of only five teams with 3 or more 60+ point scorers. The other four? Edmonton (Draisaitl, McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins), Tampa Bay (Kucherov, Stamkos, Point), Toronto (Marner, Matthews, Tavares), and Winnipeg (Connor, Scheifele, Wheeler, Laine). I don’t know about you, but I think that’s some pretty good company.

Carolina’s depth scoring has been a slight problem at times, but the acquisition of Vincent Trochek at the deadline and the return of Justin Williams were already starting to improve that in the short time before the season was cancelled.

There’s also going to be a lot of attention on the Canes’ goaltending duo Petr Mrazek and James Reimer. They’ve been very good at times but have also struggled for consistency, and it’s going to be vital that they be able to backstop the Canes from the crease.

Injuries

I’m giving this one a whole section because it’s huge. The Hurricanes are going to be getting some big pieces back from injury by the time the qualifying round begins. Brett Pesce will still be recovering from shoulder surgery, unfortunately, but Ryan Dzingel and Sami Vatanen will both be available for the start of the series vs New York.

By far the most important return for Carolina, though, will be Dougie Hamilton.

Hamilton is, to use a phrase of Tripp Tracy’s, “the straw that stirs the drink,” in so many ways. He’s a cornerstone of both special teams units, a reliable defender who also provides tons of offense. Before he got injured, he’d notched 14 goals and 40 points in 47 games and was a leading candidate to be nominated for the Norris trophy for Best Defenseman. He was on track for a career-high 20+ goals and 70+ points, until an unfortunate collision in mid-January fractured his fibula and kept him out for the rest of the shortened season. The positive impact of what his return will do for the team can’t be understated.

Defense

That leads me nicely into the next thing I wanted to touch on briefly: defense. The Rangers corps of defensemen is really good.  They have some great young players in Fox, DeAngelo, and Jacob Trouba, and veterans Marc Staal and Brendan Smith to help anchor them. 

But Carolina’s group is incredible, easily one of the best in the league. Jaccob Slavin is one of the most consistent players in the entire NHL. You always know what you’re going to get from him, and it’s always going to be top-tier defense. When he’s reunited with his now-healthy partner Dougie Hamilton, the Hurricanes’ top pairing has few equals.

Additionally, the acquisitions of Brady Skjei and Sami Vatanen at the deadline could make Carolina’s defensive pairs look something like this:

Slavin - Hamilton

Gardiner - Skjei

Edmundson - Vatanen

That’s an exceptional lineup that has a great balance of helping boost the offense of prodiving solid defense. And that even leaves out Trevor van Reimsdyk and Haydn Fleury as healthy scratches - both of whom have been really good this year - and of course, the injury to Brett Pesce. Carolina has a plethora of skilled defensemen, and now that they’re (almost) all going to be healthy, the Hurricanes are going to be even more dangerous than before.

Special Teams

The last thing I want to talk about before I reveal my prediction is, as usual, special teams. And honestly, it doesn’t make the final decision any easier. These teams continue to be very evenly-matched, even in the special teams department.

Thanks to their strong groups of star forwards and high-talent offensive defensemen, both teams have dangerous powerplays. The Rangers with the 7th best PP at 22.9%, and Carolina came in right under them in 8th with 22.3%. But Carolina’s PP is going to hugely benefit from returning Hamilton and Williams to the top unit and adding Trochek and Vatanen to the second unit, so I think I give them a slight edge.

There’s another reason I think that, though. The Hurricanes penalty kill is very good - 4th in the NHL, in fact, at 84%. They’re also tied for 2nd in the NHL with 10 shorthanded goals, 4 of which have been scored by Sebastian Aho. The Rangers, meanwhile, have the 9th worst PK at just 77.4%. 

Final Prediction: Carolina, 3-2

Now I know what you’re thinking, of course I picked Carolina. And I admit, it is partially because that’s who I want to win. And yes, there’s the Curse of MSG to consider. But Carolina could still win the series even without winning a game in New York. The bottom line is that both of these teams are very closely matched and there’s a lot that could swing the series either way. For the Hurricanes to win, they need to capitalize on their powerplay chances to solve the Rangers goaltending, and they need Mrazek and Reimer to be at their best. If they can get those things, I think the Hurricanes will win.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for my look at the final play-in matchup in the East, the Pittsburgh Penguins vs Montreal Canadiens!

CaniacWrites

[paradoxicalca]

r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 1: Toothless Sharks Edition

/r/Hockey NHL Power Rankings Week Sep 30, 2019 - Oct 6, 2019 (29/31 Rankers Reporting)Thank YouThank you to all of the volunteers doing the power rankings. Each ranker has their own system and have their own reasonings and analyis. It truly is a lot of work.RankersSpoilerOrganizersSpoilerVisualizationThe visualization contains historical data, so you can see how your team has done over time. Hopefully, we can run this for many years in hopes that we can see the rise and fall of teams by /r/hockey opinion.It automatically updates so feel free to bookmark. You can find it hereProcessHow does this work? Throughout the course of the week rankers are able to access an app that will allow them to rank teams. At the end of the period we calculate the average ranking for every team and collate all of the analysis provided by rankers.The app then generates a post that is first proofread and then posted to /r/hockey!RankingsRanking (avg)TeamDeltaOverall RecordRecord This WeekComments1 (3.09)Vegas Golden Knights-2-0-02-0-0Not a major surprise the Golden Knights came out with something to prove when they played the San Jose Sharks and out scored them 9-2 in two games to start the season. The Knights have clearly worked on their Penalty Kill allowing 0 goals while scoring 3 shorthanded goals themselves. The Golden Knights have only played against one team so far but they have a huge test on Tuesday as the Boston Bruins visits T-Mobile Arena. The Golden Knights are playing without two quality forwards in Cody Eakin and Alex Tuch, who got hurt during the preseason, and their number 1 defenseman, Nate Schmidt, who got hurt early during the season opener.2 (3.35)Boston Bruins-2-0-02-0-0The Bruins start the season on the road and picked up where they left off last season, playing a strong defensive game but not a high octane offense either. Two wins to start the season is great but the real test will be Vegas this Tuesday. With some new teammates and players still recovering from the long playoff run, it will take time to build chemistry and the anemic powerplay shows that. Halak got the first shutout in the League which bodes well for another 1a/1b season.3 (4.89)Toronto Maple Leafs-2-0-12-0-1Its the first week of the season and the leafs are showing they still have some rust to shake off. Going 2-0-1 is great espcially when we had a back to back but 10 goals against is not ideal. That being said the team has looked good. Auston Matthews once again getting off to an early start with 5 goals in 3 games. Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly also sitting with 5 points in 3 games. The offence is as usual clicking for the Leafs it's just a matter of getting things set on the defensive end and not taking dumb penalties. Despite this though the leafs have stilled walked away with 5 of a possible 6 points so I think it safe to say this has been a successful opening weeks for the buds.4 (5.56)Colorado Avalanche-2-0-02-0-0Start of a new season and Big Moose (Rantanen) is back! Avs have a lot of turnover from last season 8 different players starting from closing night of the regular season, though some of that is injuries. The new guys look good, but the Top Line is still flying. This defense is ridiculously young, only Johnson has more than 300 games played and 3 of them have less than 50 combined, mistakes will be made, but the hope is they learn from them and get better and better. Our depth is better this year, but chemistry still needs to be worked on, our second line cannot find its flow right now, but it has moments. Shout out to Grubauer already stealing a game against Minnesota. Oh and Calder watch Makar already has two assists through two games, oh and he played 22 minutes on opening night.5 (6.18)Carolina Hurricanes-3-0-03-0-0Hard to judge a team after only 1 week of play, but as the team is starting to gel around the newcomers, flashes of brilliance are starting to mainfest. Gardnier is looking like the #1 PP QB we have been lusting for, Haula has a nose for the net, Aho and Svech are looking brilliant, and Edmusson and Slavin are making the brilliant defensive plays we need of them.6 (6.35)Washington Capitals-2-0-12-0-1Even in the absence of Kuznetsoz the Caps are still one of the best teams in the league. Vrana seems poised to enter the next level this season which is good news as Ovechkin is starting the season off slow.7 (8.29)Tampa Bay Lightning-1-1-11-1-1Tampa looks different this season so far. While the new additions like Kevin Shattenkirk and Patrick Maroon seem to be plugging in very well, the team is having a lot of trouble staying out of the box, especially in key situations. That, combined with a low shot total, is resulting in some frustrating play, and has caused 2 bad losses. Hopefully this is just a slow start for the team, because if these penalties continue, it could be a long season.8 (8.29)Buffalo Sabres-2-0-02-0-0Players without a point after two games: Elite 2nd line winger Vladimir Sobotka, Johan Larsson, Jimmy Vesey, and Henri Jokiharju. Our fourth line has been on fire. Sam Reinhart looks like a top 10 passer in the league. The hype level is reaching heights never before seen, and there are two possible outcomes. First, the Sabres Sabres it all up, or second, the Jack Adams trophy is renamed in Ralph Krueger's honor. Don't let me down Buffalo.9 (9.47)St. Louis Blues-1-0-11-0-1Binnington looks good, Faulk seems to fit in, Blais and some other young players look primed to fill in the gaps in our roster, and Jaden Schwartz decided to avoid the early season slump from last season by scoring one last night!10 (11.09)New York Rangers-2-0-02-0-0Mika Zibanejad is a God. Ok we got that out of the way. This team is very fun to watch right now, but there are obviously still issues. The first line is very fun to watch and so is the first power play unit. Mika has 8 points in 2 games which is very exciting, but in terms of the rest of our centers, there isn't much to say. We need a true 2C but we should let one of the kids (Andersson, Chytil, Howden) grow in to the role rather than panic and just get a rental, even though Strome has been quite the opposite of good. The defensive side of things hasn't been as bad as projected also. I think we should stick with the pairings we played in game 2, but there will likely be a lot of shuffling. I'm looking forward to the rest of this season though! LGR11 (12.97)Nashville Predators-1-1-01-1-0Hockey's finally back, and it's time for the first (half) week of power rankings where everything's made up and the points don't matter. This offseason saw the Preds make some pretty major moves, which even after the limited sample size of 2 games are already making an impact. The biggest headline was of course the 1-2 combo of a trade that saw Subban go to NJ, freeing the cap space needed to sign UFA Duchene to a 7 year, $56m deal. The addition gives the Preds a solid 1a/1b, and Duchene has looked strong already posting 5 assists. Also significant was the hiring of Dan Lambert to run the PP, after a year where the Preds posted the 33rd worst PP% since the stat began being tracked in 1977. While only time will tell how the change in system works out, it has already looked promising in the preseason and first 2 games. Overall optimism is high, as this looks to be another year where the Preds will be a top contender in the West and hopefully make up for their first round exit in last year's playoffs.12 (13)Calgary Flames-1-1-01-1-0The curse continued for the Flames as they lost their 10th straight season opener. The team rebounded nicely against Vancouver, largely due to a great shutout performance from Rittich. Through 2 games Lucic has been mostly unnoticeable other than his 21 PIMs, but I don't think Flames fans expected much else. Thankfully, the Flames have enough firepower elsewhere, especially from Johnny Hockey whos started the season strong with 5 points through 2 games.13 (14.29)Anaheim Ducks-2-0-02-0-0The ducks are finally exciting to watch. Throw out your watch ability rankings and tune in for some high event hockey. In other news, Ondrej Kase is good and probably underrated. He leads the team in shots and was a driving force behind the ducks 3 goals against the sharks.14 (14.35)Edmonton Oilers-2-0-02-0-0The Oilers have come out this season swinging with a solid 2-0 first week. With wins against the Canucks and the Kings, both divisional opponents, the Oilers look poised to continue their positive efforts on the penalty kill to provide solid results on the final score line. Mike Smith has looked shaky, but the top line of McDavid, Draisaitl and Kassian has looked potent. The powerplay too with Klefbom and Neal has been dynamic. There are definite gaps with the loss of Larsson further exposing the lack of depth on defense, no scoring coming from the bottom 6, and close 1 goal games against teams unlikely to be in the running for playoffs come February. RNH is also distinctly missing from the score sheet. Cautious optimism is the way to go for now.15 (14.56)Montreal Canadiens-1-0-11-0-1Kept up with the best teams in the league, crazy fast and had a nice comeback win against the leafs (4-1). If the defense stabilizes, they will be a serious threat.16 (14.88)Florida Panthers-1-1-01-1-0The Panthers had two solid games and Bob and Hoffman stole the show during the home opener. Q's system will take some time to cement itself, but it's looking good.17 (15.47)Pittsburgh Penguins-1-1-01-1-018 (17.71)Philadelphia Flyers-1-0-01-0-0Thank goodness this only counts for the regular season and I dont have to address the HC Lausanne game. They played well against the blackhawks, with AV's system seeming to help us create chances. Hart looked good in net, giving up larger rebounds as the only real knock I had for him. Basically we won the first game, so its about to be an 82-0 season and a 16-0 playoff run. Gritty will hoist the cup soon. And his day with the cup will be glorious. Praise Gritty.19 (17.94)New York Islanders-1-1-01-1-0The biggest change this off-season was in net, with Varlamov replacing Lehner as the 1a. Varlamov didn't look fantastic but only let in 2 goals in his debut, with improvement surely to come as he settles into the Korn system with the tremendous defense in front of him. Greiss picked up where he left off last year, looking fantastic. Barzal continues to be a magician with the puck, Nelson still has a filthy wrister, and perhaps most importantly, the fourth line is looking completely healthy. Beauvillier has impressed in his two games, hoping to add consistency. Things to look for include Dobson making his debut, and what the Islanders end up doing with Hickey (consistent part of their blue-line for the last half-decade) and Ho-Sang (requested a trade) who are on their AHL affiliate while having the talent that would make some NHL rosters.20 (18.44)Detroit Red Wings-2-0-02-0-0The Bertuzzi-Larkin-Mantha line that broke through last season picked up where they left off in their weekend openers against Nashville and Dallas. Jimmy Howard is looking excellent and looks to have another season where he can give the Wings a chance to win any game as long as there’s effort from the skaters. Outside of the top line and goaltender the Wings look absolutely average especially without Andreas Athanasiou carrying a 2nd line. Outside of Hronek, the defense group looks slow and sometimes even lazy as they fail to exit the defensive zone on many attempts and produce too many unforced turnovers, giving opposing teams extended zone pressure. This team can definitely score and get their shots off however any opposing teams will not have trouble keeping up with the Wings on the scoreboard regardless of any lead the Wings have. If they keep scoring 4+ goals a game, they will have a chance at competing for a wild card spot this season.21 (19.62)Winnipeg Jets-1-2-01-2-0Little bit of good, lots of bad. Defensive depth seemed to be a real liability, Anthony Bitteto proved he was not a worthy NHL defenseman, Helly and Brossoit have yet to return to the forms we know they can get to and we have trailed for almost all of our 3 games. But, on the bright side, Laine and Connor seem to have real chemistry and are working well with Copp, and the top line of The Knife, Ehlers and Captain Wrench has been quite good. The Letestu/Bourque line has left lots to be desired, as their age has certainly shown through. For this team to succeed we need lots of 3rd Period vs New Jersey and much much less whole game vs the Islanders. One brighter note is that Kulikov has been a lot better than last season, and Heinola is also one of the lone bright spots on an inexperienced/unskilled back end.22 (21.71)Chicago Blackhawks-0-1-00-1-0The Blackhawks started on the wrong foot, losing 4-3 against the Flyers in Prague. Patrick Kane factored in every goal (1G, 2A). Alex DeBrincat signed a 3 year extension at $6.4M AAV. Team defense should hopefully improve when both Connor Murphy and Calvin de Haan recover from their groin injuries. Also, fans are excited to see if Kirby Dach can contribute this season after missing training camp with a concussion.23 (22.24)Dallas Stars-0-3-00-3-0There's many issues. Injuries. Slow starts or weak finishes. Key players not producing. But there's signs of life, and the pieces are still here. Monty has some work to do to make those pieces fit. More tough opponents next week, so things need to change sooner than later or this losing streak is bound to grow.24 (24.03)New Jersey Devils-0-1-10-1-1This week is a shitshow with rankings, so I personally put anyone with one game played near the lower middle simply for not enough data. Now onto the Devils. Oof. Nearly 2 full periods that went really well and then just everything just seemed to fall apart. We had a scare thinking Cory may have hurt himself again, but that seems to be averted and he was available in Buffalo. Speaking of Buffalo, damn I hope that game doesn't weigh too much on Blackwoods mind. Honestly, I'm just hoping that this is the struggle of having several new guys on the team all learning to play together. I don't want to believe that the Devils are in the bottom 10 of the league, but the last 4 periods they played certainly made it appear that they are.25 (24.94)Arizona Coyotes-0-2-00-2-0Two games into the season, the Coyotes are looking extremely good, despite the win %. The defense, which was 5th best in the NHL last season, is starting right where it left off, allowing only 1.5 GPG. Kuemper has been stellar as well, with a SV% of 94.5%. In regards to offense, the Coyotes are finding it, but are yet to convert; in fact, the only goal comes in the first game against Anaheim, courtesy of the Kessel-Keller-Stepan line. This being said, the Coyotes have outshot the opponent 68 to 55 in the first two showings (owning 54.3% of high danger scoring chances), especially flashing dominance against Boston, controlling possession the majority of the game. With a shot percentage of only 1.5% and a PDO at 94.7, the Coyotes can expect to start winning games at a high level, so long as they continue playing how they are playing.26 (25.91)San Jose Sharks-0-3-00-3-0Not much to say, just that the Sharks have looked awful so far this season. Everyone looks lazy. It feels like the Sharks want to recreate game 7 against Vegas by giving everyone 3 goal leads.27 (26.06)Los Angeles Kings-0-1-00-1-028 (26.38)Minnesota Wild-0-2-00-2-0The only real change from last season to this season is the aging process for the Minnesota Wild. Key signing Mats "Lizard" Zuccarello was just another step in that direction. It's very early, but Nashville and Colorado should fight for the Central title; Minnesota clearly looked outmatched and outskilled in these first two games. New GM Bill Guerin may get the green light to blow things up early if this is all the Wild have to offer for their on-ice product - and their off-ice product is not much better.29 (26.79)Vancouver Canucks-0-2-00-2-0The Canucks probably deserved better in their season opener vs. The Oilers, and they probably deserved exactly what they got on Saturday vs. the Flames. Thus far, the team has demonstrated that it can be quite exciting - even dominant. It has also demonstrated how difficult it is to compete in this league - even with a few shiny new pieces on your roster. Hopefully the announcement of the new Team Captain during Wednesday's home opener will bring about a much needed change of fortunes - because as Oilers and Buffalo fans can long attest, a prolonged skid to start the season can make it very difficult for a team of young guns to turn the corner.30 (28.03)Columbus Blue Jackets-0-2-00-2-0Not quite the start of the season the Jackets were hoping for. The youngest team in the league is going to have some growing pains, especially with our two unproven goaltenders. That being said, outside of the goaltending, the rookies have looked promising. Within the next few games, stuff will start to click.31 (30.09)Ottawa Senators-0-2-00-2-0Operation #DernièrePourLafrenière is moving forward swimmingly, with the Sens giving up the season's first hat trick to Zibby and looking nearly as bad as the Sharks on the PP. Chabot and White are signed up long term, so all that's left to do for the season is to lose a ton of games, let the kids get as much playing experience as possible, and watch hometown hero Scott Sabourin trigger some Leafs and Habs fans. Oh, and pray Eugene Melnyk's cash-flow problems to force a sale of the team. r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 1: Toothless Sharks Edition Source

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Chiarelli Fired; OEL Update; All-Star Game; Datsyuk, and More – January 24

  Arizona defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson is set to have an MRI Thursday which should help determine the nature and extent of the injury he sustained Tuesday night. We’ll have a better idea of what’s going on in the next couple of days.

As a small aside: can we mention how good the Coyotes have been this year? Sure, they’re not currently in a playoff spot, but they’re also just two points out of a wild card position (as of Wednesday afternoon). They’ve done this with significant (and in some cases, season-ending) injuries to the likes of Alex Galchneyuk, Antti Raanta, Jason Demers, Jakob Chychrun, Christian Dvorak, Michael Grabner, more recently Nick Schmaltz, and now Ekman-Larsson. That’s their top-line centre, third-line centre, a top-6 winger, a top-9 winger and penalty killer, two top-4 defencemen, and their starting goalie. Each of those names (save for OEL) has missed at least 10 games, and some will miss much, much more than that. And yet, they’re two points outside of a playoff spot. John Chayka has put together a very solid roster. They absolutely need more top-end talent up front, but this is a team to watch in 2019-20.  

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Some bad news for the Ducks and their fans:

  Ondrej Kase out 5-6 months with a torn labrum. Will have surgery — this comes from Ducks GM Bob Murray …

— Josh Cooper (@JoshuaCooper) January 24, 2019

  Kase had been playing extremely well since returning from his early-season injury and then this. He's an invaluable part of the roster, being the team's second-best (possibly even best) winger on a team with very few scorers on the wing. His defensive game is extremely solid as well. There's no replacing him if you're Anaheim. If you're a fantasy owner, he was likely a late pick or a waiver addition so it's not as big of a deal. 

On the bright side, they could be getting Corey Perry back sooner rather than later. 

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Don’t forget to grab your copy of the 2019 Dobber Hockey Midseason Guide! With the All-Star break here, it’s the perfect chance for those in striking distance of a championship to get the edge they need to push for that title. There is also many pages covering prospects and potential call-ups, so even those out of the running for a league win can put their keeper/dynasty teams in a better situation for 2019-20. Get the Dobber Midseason Guide in the Dobber Shop today!

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The Leafs re-configured their PP units to put Auston Matthews back with their big guns. The last change (thankfully) didn’t last very long. Now, please just put William Nylander on that PP unit as well.

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Erik Johnson seems to be fine for the Avalanche. He didn't play Wednesday night, his second in a row, but was skating at the game-day skate. We'll circle back after the All-Star break. 

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Reilly Smith was back skating with the team but in a non-contact jersey. He obviously didn’t play in Wednesday night’s game, but it sure does bode well for him returning after the All-Star break.

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Not immediately fantasy relevant but it appears that Pavel Datsyuk may be eyeing a return to the NHL? There’s a lot of time between now and October so who knows what he ultimately decides. With his style of play, simply being a bit slower probably wouldn’t be the biggest impediment to playing in today’s game. It’s whether his body could hold up. Surely some team could use him for 14-15 minutes a night on the third line and power play?

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Both Tyler Bozak and Zach Sanford were activated from the injured reserve and played in Wednesday night’s contest. The result was Jordan Kyrou (and Jordan Nolan) being sent to the AHL. It doesn’t appear that this will be the year for Kyrou to break out, but he’s definitely a player to remember for next season.

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I don’t really have a lot to say on the topic of Peter Chiarelli getting fired. Everything I’ve ever had to say about him as a GM has been said in these Ramblings or on my Twitter feed (and you can read Cam’s take here). I’m kind of stunned they actually did this a month before the trade deadline (Edmonton is generally known for picking the worst of all the bad options) but that might be the saving grace for the team.

Until they give up the 200 Hockey Men mentality, the franchise won't improve fundamentally, and fans of both the team and the game in general will have been done a disservice. 

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Although, on the other hand, maybe another rebuild isn’t on the way:

  “We’re not into a rebuild. I truly believe we’re not into a rebuild.”—#Oilers Bob Nicholson

— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) January 23, 2019

  All they need is intangibles:

  Nicholson touched on the need for character. A primary focus will be on bringing in secondary leadership to help McDavid.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) January 23, 2019

  Light a candle for Edmonton Oilers fans tonight. If Nicholson means what he says, there is a lot more darkness ahead.

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While all the talk was about Auston Matthews getting Mitch Marner as a winger for Wedneday’s home game against Washington, it was Nazem Kadri and William Nylander who did the damage. In fact, that whole line did as they combined for nine points: Kadri had a hat trick and one assist, William Nylaner had three assists, and Connor Brown chipped in a pair of helpers as the Leafs defeated the Caps 5-3.

For Nylander, it was his first three-assist game of his career, and he added three shots on goal for good measure. He and Kadri have been a very good duo on the third line, if a bit unlucky. It appears that fortune is (predictably) starting to turn in their favour.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 37th goal of the year in the loss.

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Alex Galchenyuk had a goal taken away late in his return to Montreal as the Coyotes lost 2-1. Charles Hudon drew in on the third line and assisted on Mike Reilly’s game-winner.

With Oliver Ekman-Larsson out of the lineup, Alex Goligoski played just under 25 minutes. It was his third-highest mark of the season and his highest in a month. He also skated on what would be called their top PP unit with Galchenyuk and Clayton Keller. Something to keep in mind. Check your waiver wires if you need some depth on defence. If the OEL injury is serious, Goligoski stands to be the immediate beneficiary (as morbid as that is, let’s hope OEL is ok).

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More in the morning. 

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With the NHL All-Star Game nearly upon us, I wanted to do something a little fun. What would All-Star teams look like if they were chosen for fantasy production? Let’s take a look at that. A quick rundown of the qualifications:

Assuming standard Yahoo! scoring (goals, assists, +/-, shots, PPPs, hits for skaters; wins, goals against average, save percentage, shutouts for goalies).

Four rosters, one for each division.

Each roster will include six forwards, three defencemen, and two goalies.

Each team needs to be represented.

It’s a fun exercise about how hard it is to actually pick teams in this format. All stats as of Wednesday afternoon and either from Dobber Tools, Natural Stat Trick, or Corsica. I’ll do the East today and talk about a few of the players. We’ll touch on the West tomorrow.

  Atlantic

F – Nikita Kucherov (TB)

F – John Tavares (TOR)

F – Jeff Skinner (BUF)

F – David Pastrnak (BOS)

F – Dylan Larkin (DET)

F – Aleksander Barkov (FLA)

D – Thomas Chabot (OTT)

D – Morgan Rielly (TOR)

D – Jeff Petry (MTL)

G – Andrei Vasilevskiy (TB)

G – Jaroslav Halak (BOS)

  This is why it’s so hard. Say you want to remove Dylan Larkin for someone like Mitch Marner. Ok, fine. You still need someone from Detroit, so you need to take a player whose team is represented by multiple players off the list. Let’s say we remove Halak and add Jimmy Howard (he’s actually going to the real one). Howard isn’t even a top-25 fantasy goalie at the moment, but is now on his way to a fantasy All-Star Game because we wanted Marner over Larkin. Not so easy, is it?

People might laugh at Jeff Petry, but let’s break this down. He has 34 total points, 12th among all defencemen, and one more than Victor Hedman. Among all defencemen with at least 500 minutes at five-on-five this year, he’s 15th in points/60 minutes. The two defencemen directly above him are Roman Josi and Tyson Barrie. At all strengths, he’s 17th, just behind Matt Dumba. He’s also in the top-20 for defenceman shot share at five-on-five. He’s averaging over 2.5 hits and over 2.25 shots per game. Why wouldn’t he be a fantasy all-star?

Here’s something I want to bring up: when are we going to start the Thomas Chabot For Norris Trophy campaign? I’m not kidding, either: his point production is elite, his play-driving is elite, and his goal-driving is elite; among d-men, he’s top-10 in points/game, top-10 in relative shot share, and top-10 in expected goal share. Even for actual goals, he’s top-25 among all defencemen in the league in relative goal share (all of this relative to his team). I imagine guys like Mark Giordano, Brent Burns, and John Carlson will all get heavy consideration, being established stalwarts on playoff teams. And maybe Chabot will get his due someday, but he’s been outstanding this year and it’s not just because of his point total.

  Metropolitan

F – Alex Ovechkin (WSH)

F – Sidney Crosby (PIT)

F – Cam Atkinson (CBJ)

F – Kyle Palmieri (NJD)

F – Chris Kreider (NYR)

F – Jake Guentzel (PIT)

D – Kris Letang (PIT)

D – John Carlson (WSH)

D – Justin Faulk (CAR)

G – Robin Lehner (NYI)

G – Carter Hart (PHI)

This was a lot harder than you’d expect for this reason: the Metro has been mostly devoid of top-end fantasy talent this year. For example, only Ovechkin, Crosby, and Sebastian Aho are top-25 skaters so far this season, while Letang, Carlson, Faulk, and Radko Gudas (yes, really) are the only top-25 defencemen. It gets even worse in net as the Islanders goaltending tandem of Lehner and Thomas Greiss are the only Metro goalies in the top-15 fantasy netminders. MacKenzie Blackwood is also there but he’s not even in the league at the moment.

I suppose one change we could make would be having Henrik Lundqvist instead of Hart, taking out Kreider, and adding Claude Giroux. But this is my list and I’m a big Krieder fan so I’m going to do what I want. Get Carter to the All-Star Game!

Justin Faulk is a favourite punching bag for some, and that’s fair given his calamitous fall in fantasy over the last couple seasons, namely in the goals department. All the same, his hit and shot totals are very stout (he’s on pace for his most hits in four years) and a 30-point season with his level of peripherals (he’ll fly past 200 shots as well) has a lot of value. Imagine if his shooting percentage ever reverts to what it was a couple years ago?

Can I just say that despite Faulk having more value than Jaccob Slavin in fantasy so far this year (at least in this format), that Slavin is probably the most under-appreciated defenceman in the NHL, and I wanted to put him in the All-Star Game for that reason. He drives the play exceptionally well, defends his blue line about as good as anyone, and is really an engine for the team on the blue line. He reminds me a lot of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, minus the shot-happiness. There are some areas the ‘Canes still need improvement, but their defence is certainly not one of them.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-chiarelli-fired-oel-update-all-star-game-datsyuk-and-more-january-24/

[thetruthseekerway]

Between Paul and Jesus Christ

New Post has been published on http://www.truth-seeker.info/oasis-of-faith/between-paul-and-jesus-christ/

Between Paul and Jesus Christ

By Laurence B. Brown, MD

Many authors have pointed out the disparity in the teachings of Paul and Jesus; the best of them have avoided opinionated commentary and concentrated on simply exposing the elements of difference.

In the midst of the growing 19th and 20th-century awareness of the differences between Trinitarian doctrine and the period of origins, a person might be surprised to find one group who claim to be followers of Christ Jesus reading the following in the Noble Qur’an:

“O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: nor say of God anything but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a Messenger of God, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in God and His Messengers. Do not say “Trinity”: desist: it will be better for you: for God is One God: glory be to Him: (far Exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is God as a Disposer of affairs” (Al-Nisa’ 4:171)

And warning:

“O People of the Book! Exceed not in your religion the bounds (of what is proper), trespassing beyond the truth, nor follow the vain desires of people who went wrong in times gone by – who misled many, and strayed (themselves) from the even Way.” (Al-Ma’idah 5:77)

One may wonder what, from the New Testament, separates these two groups by such a vast expanse of understanding. No doubt the key difference which divides Trinitarians from Unitarians, and Christians from Muslims, is Pauline theology. For centuries the argument has been put forth that Trinitarian Christians largely follow Pauline theology more than that of Jesus. This charge is difficult to deny, for Jesus taught the Law of the Old Testament, whereas Paul preached mysteries of faith, in denial of the Law which the prophets had suffered and struggled to convey. In disrespect to thousands of years of revelation conveyed through a long chain of esteemed prophets, and contrary to the teachings of the rabbi Jesus himself, Paul focused not on the life and teachings of Jesus, but upon his death. As Lehmann put it:

“The only thing which Paul considers important is the Jew Jesus’ death, which destroyed all hopes of liberation by a Messiah. He makes the victorious Christ out of the failed Jewish Messiah, the living out of the dead, the son of God out of the son of man.”[1]

More than a few scholars consider Paul the main corrupter of Apostolic Christianity and of the teachings of Jesus:

“What Paul proclaimed as ‘Christianity’ was sheer heresy which could not be based on the Jewish or Essene faith, or on the teaching of Rabbi Jesus. But, as Schonfield says, ‘The Pauline heresy became the foundation of Christian orthodoxy and the legitimate church was disowned as heretical.’”[2]

Lehmann continues:

“Paul did something that Rabbi Jesus never did and refused to do. He extended God’s promise of salvation to the Gentiles; he abolished the law of Moses, and he prevented direct access to God by introducing an intermediary.”[3]

Others elevate Paul to sainthood. Joel Carmichael, who commented as follows, very clearly is not one of them:

“We are a universe away from Jesus. If Jesus came “only to fulfill” the Law and the Prophets; If he thought that “not an iota, not a dot” would “pass from the Law,” that the cardinal commandment was “Hear, O Israel, the Lord Our God, the Lord is one,” and that “no one was good but God”….What would he have thought of Paul’s handiwork! Paul’s triumph meant the final obliteration of the historic Jesus; he comes to us embalmed in Christianity like a fly in amber.”[4]

Many authors have pointed out the disparity in the teachings of Paul and Jesus; the best of them have avoided opinionated commentary and concentrated on simply exposing the elements of difference. Dr. Wrede comments:

“In Paul the central point is a divine act, in history but transcending history, or a complex of such acts, which impart to all mankind a ready-made salvation. Whoever believes in these divine acts – the incarnation, death, and resurrection of a celestial being, receives salvation.

“And this, which to Paul is the sum of religion – the skeleton of the fabric of his piety, without which it would collapse – can this be a continuation or a remoulding of the gospel of Jesus? Where, in all this, is that gospel to be found, which Paul is said to have understood?

“Of that which is to Paul all and everything, how much does Jesus know? Nothing whatever.”[5]

And Dr. Johannes Weiss contributes:

“Hence the faith in Christ as held by the primitive churches and by Paul was something new in comparison with the preaching of Jesus; it was a new type of religion.”[6]

Which theology won the day, and why, and how, are questions left to the analyses of the above authors. Should a person come to recognize that the teachings of Paul and those of Jesus oppose one another, consideration should be given to the question: “If I had to choose between the two, to whom should I give priority — Jesus or Paul?” The question is so relevant that Michael Hart had the following to say in his scholastic tome, in which he ranks the 100 most influential men of history:

“Although Jesus was responsible for the main ethical and moral precepts of Christianity (insofar as these differed from Judaism), St. Paul was the main developer of Christian theology, its principal proselytizer, and the author of a large portion of the New Testament.”[7]

With regard to Paul’s perspective:

“He does not ask what led to Jesus’ death, he only sees what it means to him personally. He turns a man who summoned people to reconciliation with God into the savior. He turns an orthodox Jewish movement into a universal religion which ultimately clashed with Judaism.”[8]

The three main points where Pauline theology conflicts with that of Jesus are critical — elements so crucial that deviation from the truth threatens a person’s salvation. In order of importance they rank:

1) The divinity of Jesus alleged by Pauline theology versus the oneness of God taught by Christ Jesus;

2) Justification by faith, as proposed by Paul, versus Old Testament law, as endorsed by Christ Jesus;

3) Jesus having been a universal prophet, as per Paul, versus an ethnic prophet, as per the teachings of Christ Jesus.[9] Interestingly enough, these three points constitute the greatest doctrinal differences separating Christianity not only from Judaism, but also from Islam. Running a theological finger down the backbone of revealed monotheism, Trinitarian Christianity seems to stand out of joint.

To address the first of these points, Jesus is recorded as having taught the oneness of God, as in Mark 12:29:

“Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Jesus reportedly continued with “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength,” finishing with emphasis upon the initial claim, “This is the first commandment.” (Mark 12:30). Not only did Jesus stress importance by sandwiching his statement between the repeated and emphatic “This is the first commandment,” but the importance of this teaching is equally stressed in Matthew 22:37 and Luke 10:27, and further complemented by the first commandment as recorded in Exodus 20:3 — “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Jesus conveyed the above teaching from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (as acknowledged in all reputable Biblical commentaries), yet Pauline theology somehow arrived at concepts which have been extrapolated to support what is now known as the Trinity. One wonders how. Jesus referred to the Old Testament — what did the Pauline theologians refer to? Significantly absent from the above teaching of Jesus is the association of himself with God. There never was a better time or place, throughout the New Testament, for Jesus to have claimed partnership in divinity, were it true. But he didn’t. He didn’t say, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one — but it’s not quite that simple, so let me explain…”

———–

Copyright © 2007 Laurence B. Brown; used by permission.

The above excerpt is taken from Dr. Brown’s forthcoming book, MisGod’ed, which is expected to be published along with its sequel, God’ed. Both books can be viewed on Dr. Brown’s website, www.LevelTruth.com. Dr. Brown can be contacted at BrownL38@yahoo.com

  FOOTNOTES:

[1] Lehmann, Johannes. pp. 125-6.

[2] Lehmann, Johannes. p. 128.

[3] Lehmann, Johannes. p. 134.

[4] Carmichael, Joel. p. 270.

[5] Wrede, William. 1962. Paul. Translated by Edward Lummis. Lexington, Kentucky: American Theological Library Association Committee on Reprinting. p. 163.

[6] Weiss, Johannes. 1909. Paul and Jesus. (Translated by Rev. H. J. Chaytor). London and New York: Harper and Brothers. p. 130.

[7] Hart, Michael H. The 100, A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. p. 39 of the 1978 edition by Hart Publishing Co.; p. 9 of the 1998 edition my Citadel Press. Go figure.

[8] Lehmann, Johannes. p. 137.

[9] Christ Jesus was one more prophet in the long line of prophets sent to guide the astray Israelites. As Christ Jesus so clearly affirmed, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24) When Jesus sent the disciples out in the path of God, he instructed them in such a manner as to leave no uncertainty in this regard, for he told them, “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 10:5-6) Throughout his ministry, Jesus was never recorded as having converted a single Gentile, and in fact is recorded as having initially rebuked a Gentile for seeking his favors, likening her to a dog (Matthew 15:22-28 and Mark 7:25-30). One wonders, what does that mean now, for those who have taken Jesus to be their ‘personal savior’ and presume to speak in his name?

[trinitiesblog]

Kimel’s review of What is the Trinity – Part 3

In part 3 of his review of my book What is the Trinity?, called “Ante-Nicene Subordinationism and the Unitarian Narrative” our Orthodox friend Al Kimel claims that I’ve misunderstood Origen.

First, a picky point: the subordinationism in historical catholic theology goes way past Nicea (325). It’s prominent in the years 325-381, and persisted for some time after they started to stomp it out in 381. Nor was the 325 statement always understood to remove all (ontological) subordination! Perhaps it should be more like Ante-Chalcedon subordinationism.

…until the ecumenical councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381). At this point, he claims, the unitarian wheels fell off and a very different Deity began to be proclaimed and dogmatically imposed.

As I say in the book, there is no mention or hint of a tripersonal God in the 325 creed. In the 381 version, I hold that the Trinity is implicit. Is the Trinity “a different deity”? Well, it’s a fictional deity, unfortunately. Many trinitarians will say, though, that it’s the same deity as the Father, who according to the NT is the one true god, aka God. This would seem to require relative identity theory; but I won’t go there now.

Our reviewer then quotes the “Athanasian” creed, as if this expresses “the” doctrine of the Trinity. I know this has become a popular creed for trinitarians, but as I discuss in the book, it’s not easy to find any actual view there – just as with Augustine, whose writings are clearly a main source for the anonymous creed writer. Fr. Kimel rightly notes, though, how strikingly different that creed is from the many earlier ones which start by confessing belief in “one God, the Father Almighty.”

He describes these earlier creeds as having “‘unitarian’ structure,” I guess because he doesn’t want to admit that they’re unitarian, in that they presuppose a unipersonal God. But I don’t know what he means by “structure” there, or why he put quotes around the word “unitarian.” Such statements plainly presuppose that the one God just is the Father himself. They are unitarian creeds; it is a mere distraction to say only the “structure” (but not the content?) is unitarian.

Naturally, he would like to find some sort of trinitarian theology much earlier in church history than the late 4th c.

But perhaps we should look earlier than the fourth century for the decisive departure from the allegedly unitarian Deity of the New Testament—namely, to the mid-second century when Christians began to interpret their triadic faith in light of Hellenistic philosophy.

When trinitarians can’t find a triadic God were they would like to find one, they often postulate something else that is “triadic” (triple in some way or other). Thus, our reviewer says that 2nd c. Christians had a “triadic” faith. What does this mean? The statement will be false if “triadic” means having to do with a tripersonal God. But in what sense might it be true? I don’t know. Perhaps just, a (unitarian) faith that involves using a three-part baptismal formula based on Matthew 28:19?

In any case, Fr. Kimel quotes me discussing the theology of Origen (mid 3rd c.):

… other things which are to some degree divine must “participate in” or “imitate” God, who is the universal divinity, to various degrees. Thus, the Son and Spirit, as divine, get their degree of divinity ultimately from the Father, that is, from God himself. And for some, the Spirit gets his indirectly, by way of the Son. … there is a triad of three divine beings, with the second and third ultimately depending on the first for their existence and divine nature/essence. In this way, the members of the trinity share the universal essence divinity. It is the result of God (either eternally or a long time ago) as it were producing inferior copies of himself, putting a degree or amount of his divinity into two others.

Fr. Kimel comments,

Here we see the decisive movement from Jewish monolatry to philosophical monotheism.

I disagree. Jewish monolatry (worship of exactly one) has been changed by the time of Paul; early Christians worship the risen and exalted man Jesus, now honored as “the Lord.” Two are worshiped, in both Philippians 2 and in Revelation 5. That’s not monolatry! But it is monotheism. The second, despite what our Muslim friends will assert, does not obviously entail the first.

Beginning with the Apologists, divinity is identified as ultimate reality and the unconditioned ground of being. God is a monadic being whose properties include reason, wisdom, goodness. Once having decided to create a cosmos, he needs to generate a second divine self, the Logos, to mediate the divine act of creation. This being now stands between Deity and the world.

Yes, this is basically right – for the Platonists. “Unconditioned ground of being” is probably going too far for some of them. And it is clear in most of the logos theorists (c. 150 on) that God somehow can’t create directly – a strange limitation for an omnipotent being, if you think about it!

One might even argue that the positing of metaphysical mediators began with the Apostles Paul and John. After all, it’s pretty strange hearing Paul asserting that the entirety of creation exists through the man Jesus [1 Cor 8:6] or John declaring that “all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (Jn 1:3).

Well, that’s how the logos theorists taught us to read Paul and John. It’s not clear that this is correct, though. Briefly, it’s not clear that 1 Cor 8 has to do with the Genesis creation, and it’s not clear that the “Logos” or Word of John 1 is supposed to be personally identical to the man Jesus. The idea that God can’t directly interact with the cosmos is foreign to the Bible; see the many theophanies of the OT, or God speaking at Jesus’s baptism.

But why the need for one or more intermediaries between the absolute Creator and the cosmos?

Good question!

More importantly, how is this not polytheism?

Yeah, that’s what all the “monarchian” catholics objected, c. 150-250. Christians still, in that time, instinctively named God the Father as creator – despite having had Paul and John’s writings available for many decades.

Clearly neither Apostle thought he was compro­mising the monotheistic commitment of their Jewish faith,

Right, because there is still only one god – the Father. Jesus is, in contrast, the unique “Lord,” clearly understood by all the NT writers to be under God. The Father, for them, is Jesus’s god. This can neither be disputed, nor, unfortunately, can it be reconciled with any known Trinity theory. Hence, the clash between NT and later theologies.

…yet here they are identifying the crucified and exalted Nazarene as an agent of divine creation (for analysis of Jewish monotheism and the divinity of Jesus, see Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel).

I do not recommend that book! It is the source of much confusion. I’m surprised to see my Orthodox friend recommend it too, as Dr. Bauckham suggests that the old language is outdated, and he’s trying to replace it with his confused language of “the divine identity.”

Is this Jesus divine, semi-divine, quasi-divine, or perhaps just an exalted creature?

We’d better get clear on what we mean by “divine” before we hazard an answer!

He then gives an interesting quote from Dr. David Bentley Hart:

…For Christians who thought in [broadly Platonist, subordinationist] terms, this almost inevitably implied that the Logos had been, in some sense, generated with respect to the created order, as its most exalted expression, certainly, but also somehow contingent upon it. Thus Christian apologists of the second century often spoke of the Logos as having issued from the Father in eternity shortly before the creation of the world. (“The Hidden and the Manifest,” The Hidden and the Manifest, pp. 143-144)

Well, contingent only on God, or maybe we could say or his decision to create. In other the words, this Logos exists because God needs an intermediary to create, and he is intending to create.

The metaphysical result is a hierarchical chain of being, with a series of mediators between the immutable One and the world of change and multiplicity. Hart’s analysis jives with Tuggy’s observation that the Logos theorists of the second and third centuries consistently speak of degrees of divinity: the Father is perfectly divine in the simplicity of his being; the Son is in some sense less divine; the Spirit even less so.

Right. Again quoting me,

Elaborating this scheme, in the 1st and 2nd centuries it became popular for platonic philosophers to posit some transcendent triad, three sources of the cosmos, the primary among which is always the ultimate source, with the other two standing between this and the cosmos. In the latter half of the 2nd century, philosophically minded Christians too started touting their own triad and coined the words we now translate as “Trinity” (Greek, trias; Latin, trinitas) to refer to it.

[Kimel adds:] Given the Hellenistic worldview which everyone inbreathed, it is hardly surprising that early Christian theologians would interpret the biblical narrative of the Father, Son, and Spirit in subordinationist terms. To have done otherwise would have required a metaphysical revolution.

Keep in mind that most believers would have been thoroughly non-philosophical. And others might have been more influenced by the Stoics. So, they weren’t all Platonists, although that philosophy had a lot of prestige in these times. I view this as a failure within the Christian community. There weren’t enough Christian scholars to talk back to the Platonists, to temper their influence, or to push back against ideas that really did not fit apostolic tradition. Too little philosophy, in my view, not too much! Yes, I know that people like Origen did not just uncritically accept all Platonic claims. But there should have been more independent-minded people loving God with their minds, to reign in the creeping dominance of divine timelessness, simplicity, the cosmological scheme of Plato’s Timaeus, and hazy ideas about universals and “humanity,” and the whole Platonist anti-matter ethos.

I must admit here, that many of my biblical unitarian brethren would just say phooey on all philosophy. I would answer them that there is no getting rid of philosophy; it can’t be done! As nowadays, the solution for bad science is good science, even then, the solution to bad philosophy was pushback from people no so enamored of the Platonic and Stoic traditions.

Even the great Origen appears to have maintained the subordinationist structure:

The God and Father, who holds the universe together, is superior to every being that exists, for he imparts to each one from his own existence that which each one is; the Son, being less than the Father, is superior to rational creatures alone (for he is second to the Father); the Holy Spirit is still less, and dwells within the saints alone. So that in this way the power of the Father is greater than that of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and that of the Son is more than that of the Holy Spirit, and in turn the power of the Holy Spirit exceeds that of every other holy being. (First Principles 1.3.9; fragment 9)

Yes. Not a slavish or stupid Platonist, but very influenced by that school.

Origen is a critical figure for both the unitarian and Trinitarian narratives of the develop­ment of Christian doctrine during the first four centuries. Tuggy sees Origen as continuing the subordinationist Logos tradition, while noting (though without comment) Origen’s crucial innovation—namely, his assertion of the eternal pre-existence of the Son and Spirit. Why is this important? Because it means that at no point did God ever exist apart from the Son whom he has begotten. God exists eternally in relation to his Son; the Son exists eternally in relation to his Father. …Christ is intrinsic to the divine being and constitutes the identity of the Creator.

Whoah! A trinity of glaring non sequiturs at the end here!

If X eternally causes Y to exist, then essentially (perhaps even necessarily) X and Y are related. That doesn’t follow. X might by an act of free will cause Y, and be able to not do that.

If X eternally causes Y to exist, then Y is intrinsic to X. But Y is not intrinsic to X; “intrinsic” basically means non-relational. A part, property, or aspect of something would be intrinsic to it. But presumably not something else, which forms no part or component of it, which it causes.

About the Bauckhamism “constitutes the identity of” – goodness. What does that even mean? And why think it follows from the one eternally causing the other?

Notice what is happening here. Through (all too quick) speculation, Fr. Kimel is trying to show how Origen etc. really imply something that is hopefully trinitarian. But these are not their ancient lines of argument. The situation is being “reverse engineered.” And not successfully. If you find this spinning persuasive, I say, read Origen’s Commentary on John , his short Dialogue with Heraclides, and his Against Celsus.

A century later St Athanasius would echo his fellow Alexandrian: “God, in that he ever is, is ever Father of the Son” (De decretis 12). Origen thus quietly subverts the subordinationist framework in which he is theologizing.

I don’t get it. Seems wholly compatible with subordinationism. We can say that priority in time (existing before) is one kind of superiority one being may have to another. But it’s not the only kind! Being may completely overlap in time, or both be timeless, and yet one may be greater in various ways than the other.

Fr. Kimel goes on to quote Dr. Lewis Ayres as saying that for Origen, the Son is “intrinsic to the nature of God.”

No! For Origen, God and the Logos are two beings.

[Ayres continues]…Origen argues that Father and Son are ‘correlative’ terms. The name Father implies the existence of a child, and if God is truly called Father, the Son’s generation must be eternal.

It’s a dodgy argument, though. I can truly say things like, “My father grew up in California” – but of course then he was not my father, or anyone’s father. If God was only a Father-to-be at some point… so what?

The Son’s existence thus seems to be essential to God’s being what God from all eternity wills to be. Thus we see that while the Father is superior to the Son, Origen works to make the Son intrinsic to the being of God: subordinationism is an inappropriate word for describing this theological dynamic. (Nicaea and Its Legacy, pp. 22-23; also see John Behr, The Way to Nicaea, chap. 7)

I would ask Dr. Ayers here what he means by “intrinsic.” As best I can tell, for ancient thinkers it is properties which are essential to a thing, and these must all be intrinsic (I think they analyze relations as really being sort of directed or vector-like intrinsic properties). Logos, though, is supposed to be a being, not a mere property. I’m not sure than what he means by saying that on this theology the Logos is “essential to” the Father.

Sometimes we mean by “essential” just whatever properties or relations which a thing must have or stand in, so long as that thing exists. Roughly: ways it must intrinsically be, or must be related to some other thing(s).

Tuggy has evidently overlooked this crucial point, thus marring both his presentation of Origen and his analysis of the fourth-century debates on the nature of God. This leads me to make the following observation: Dr Tuggy is strongest when he is writing on the analytic philosophical discussions of the Trinity; he is weakest when he writes on the Church Fathers (excepting, perhaps, Tertullian, whom he seems to know pretty well).

Sorry, but I don’t think that I have overlooked any crucial point here, or that I have misinterpreted Origen. Honestly, the above sounds like his prejudice against analytic philosophers coming out, the idea that we are all mere logic choppers who are mentally rigid, and so cannot get their heads around historically important sources. But my training, and a lot of my work, has been on older material. And a lot of analytic philosophers are very careful readers of historical works.

Origen is not all that hard to interpret on these things, so long as we take care to work around the corruption problems in On First Principles. He thinks the one God just is the Father, and that the Father eternally causes a lesser divine being, the Logos, who in turn eternally causes the yet lesser, but divine Spirit.

In sum, our reviewer feels the sting of the plausible unitarian historical narrative that I briefly outline in the book. So he wants to undermine that narrative, and rehabilitate the trinitarian narrative. I don’t see that he’s really got anywhere in the first project. For the second, let’s see what he does in his next installment.

http://trinities.org/blog/kimels-review-of-what-is-the-trinity-part-3/

[katatty]

The date seemed like it was going well, but just when Jasmine plucked up the courage to ask him back to her place he made an excuse and took off! She couldn’t quite manage to feel dissapointed.

(Cute seeing Lucy and Jill together, especially with Buck hanging out there too.)

[katatty]

Some of the old college crew come over for a housewarming party. He and Frances J are still going steady.

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Dixie has been skipping a fair number of classes, so time to catch up on some studying! Group research beats sitting around listening to lectures any day. 

[katatty]

She’s pretty secure at the end of the day, though. Matt’s clearly very devoted to her.

[katatty]

[katatty]

“Okay, so, I’m sure this won’t be that much of a suprise to you, you already know what it is I’m gonna say, but, still... You’re the love of my life, Sarah. Marry me?”

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Meanwhile, back at the house... what? not the end of the round yet, I still have another 53 pictures in my folder and they’re all rivetting

[katatty]

Resuming where we left off with the sorority! Stella’s feeling sociable today. I have no idea why she and Almeric Davis took against each other all of a sudden but I’m loving it, honestly.