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Famished Craving Series CDs
Think now
History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors
And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions,
Guides us by vanities. Think now
She gives when our attention is distracted
And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions
That the giving famishes the craving.
TS Eliot, Gerontion
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop and following the outline in Leo Braudy's book, The Frenzy of Renown, Gil Bailie rethinks the modern worlds's social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
This series of 13 weekly sessions recorded in 1995 was originally made on cassette tape and is now made available in digital audio CD and MP3 formats. Because of the differing lengths of the formats the breaks between sessions frequently occur within a CD or MP3 file (the MP3 replicate the CDs). We also offer the entire set of MP3 files on a data CD at a reduced price.
- Excerpts from this work were posted periodically on Gil Bailie's weblog "Reflections on Faith and Culture"
All 13 MP3 files in the Famished Craving series on a data CD
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All 13 CDs in the Famished Craving series encased in a vinyl binder.
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Famished Craving: the attention of others, the fascination of the famous and the need for faith. In part 1 of this series Gil Bailie explores the anthropological and religious roots of fame in the origins of kingship and human sacrifice.
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Famished Craving: the attention of others, the fascination of the famous and the need for faith. In part 2 of this series Gil Bailie explores the Heraciltan Logos of violence.
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From GLORY to modern fame via the desacralizing influence of the Gospel. In part 3 of the Famished Craving series Gil Bailie pursues the dynamics of moving from the false transcendence of primitive sacrifice to the true transcendence of self- sacrifice.
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“Lurking behind every chance to be made whole by fame is the ax man of further dismembering.”
In the fourth part of the Famished Craving series Gil Bailie looks at the relationship between the modern world’s infatuation with fame and nihilism.
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In this 5th part of the Famished Craving series Gil Bailie explores nihilism as a religious phenomenon; the religious experience of meaninglessness….the meaninglessness of my life as a numinous fact and I must witness to it.
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In this 6th part of the Famished Craving series Gil Bailie asks the question, “What is Modernity?”. Through examples taken from current articles Mr. Bailie examines modernity’s secularized Christian values of concern for the victim and the human person.
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In this 7th part of the Famished Craving series Gil Bailie follows the cultural effects of the Western world’s increasing secularism as it moves away from its Judeo-Christian roots; learning what it truly means to be cut off from revelation.
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In this 9th part of the Famished Craving series Gil Bailie looks at the role of models in the modern crisis. Using Jesus’ vine and branches discourse from the Gospels, Gil addresses the nature of hierarchy based on power versus that based on grace.
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Continuing with the story of Alexander the Great – the world’s first famous man - Gil Bailie in this 8th part of the Famished Craving series examines the role of Alexander’s ‘hero’ – Achilles – as the Macedonian’s mimetic model.
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In part 10 of the Famished Craving series Gil Bailie explores why the Dali Lama believes westerners have difficultly as disciples and uses Freud’s early work in hysteria as a lens to see the very real human social and psychological effects of idolatry.
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Part 11 of the Famished Craving series looks at the relationship between fame and myth through examples from texts of the ancient Romans (Vergil) and Greeks (Aeschylus) as well as from the modern world’s celebrity myth making media fonts of fame.
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Following on the discussion of Vergil’s understanding of fama as an image of both fame and myth Gil Bailie, takes up the work of Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid – Vergil’s later contemporary) contrasting these two exemplars of Roman letters.
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In part 13 of Famished Craving series, Gil Bailie uses the various meanings of the Latin word “liber” as a point of departure in an exploration of “book, liberation and Dionysus”. Beginning with Dante’s Paolo & Franchesca and ending with St. Augustine.
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