Seeking New Worlds, New Life - - -

Analyzing what we've been learning about other planetary systems, some scientists say that maybe Earth is unusual, after all: maybe.

Other scientists found another maybe-habitable planet less than 14 light-years away. Maybe planets like Earth are common: again, maybe.

1. Earth, Copernicus, and "a Preliminary Guess"
   • Life in the Universe: Eventually
   • Space Aliens Might Not be Human
2. Wolf 1061c: Nearby Super-Earth
   • Habitable: Maybe
   • Life as We Know It: and Maybe Otherwise

I like living in a world where last year's list of known planetary systems is obsolete. Some folks don't. I'll talk about Copernicus and Sacred Scripture — right after my usual harangue about using our brains.

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Curiosity, Ulysses, and Being Human

Thinking is not a sin.

Neither is wondering what's over the next hill.

Dante didn't put Ulysses in his eighth circle of Hell because being curious is wrong, and I've been over that before. (July 24, 2015)

We're supposed to use our brains. (Wisdom 7:17; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 35, 159, 1730-1738)

We're rational creatures, created in the image of God, and "little less than a god." Studying this universe, and using that knowledge is part of our job. So is using our power responsibly. (Genesis 1:26-27, 2:7; Psalms 8:6; Catechism, 35-36, 282-289, , 355-373, 1704, 2292-2295, 2402, 2415-2418, 2456)

"Little less than a god" isn't God. Forgetting that gets us in trouble, and that's another topic. (June 19, 2015; March 29, 2015)

Copernicus: Physician, Mathematician, and — Troublemaker?

Nicolaus Copernicus was a physician, classics scholar, translator, governor, diplomat, economist, and held a degree in Canon Law.

He's probably best-known these days as a mathematician and astronomer who helped establish that Earth orbits our sun, not the other way around.

Hermann Bondi coined the phrase "Copernican principle" in the 1950s, while discussing the equivalence principle, a working assumption that Earth isn't unique or central in this universe. Another name for that idea is the mediocrity principle, but it's not quite as catchy a name. My opinion.

Anyway, Copernicus knew that Aristarchus of Samos thought the universe centered on our sun, used more epicycles than Ptolemy, and came up with a better theory for predicting how long Earth's year will be.

Copernicus passed "Commentariolus," a 40-page discussion of his heliocentric theory, around his circle of friends and acquaintances in 1514.

Pope Clement VII most likely learned about Copernicus' work from lectures Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter gave in Rome.

Quite a few folks, including the Pope, liked the 'Copernican model.' The Pope really liked what he heard, giving Herr Widmannstetter a gift for explaining the new theory.

Others, not so much. Let's remember that the 16th century was a lively era.

The Protestant Reformation was getting hijacked by northern princes, and Barbary pirates were raiding the French coast. England's Henry VIII set up a national church and started going through wives; and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, said it wasn't his fault when his troops sacked Rome.

Understandably, publication of "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" was put off until just before Copernicus died.

Joshua, Aristotle, and Getting a Grip

Rumors about the book had leaked out, though, prompting Luther's condemnation:

"People gave ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the moon ... This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; but sacred Scripture tells us [Joshua 10:13] that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not the earth."
(Martin Luther; quoted in Thomas Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1957, p. 191; via Wikipedia)

Aristotle's fans were upset, too. I've talked about Thales of Miletus, Aristotle, and the 219 Propositions of 1277, before. (August 21, 2015)

It gets complicated at this point, including reaction to Pope Gregory XIII's Gregorian calendar: which was controversial for centuries.

An enthusiastic Christian told me that our sun goes around Earth a few decades back. He used Luther's 'because the Bible says so' argument, citing the same bit from Joshua. I'm fairly sure that he was sincere: but I'm quite sure that he's wrong.

I take Joshua 10:13, and the rest of Sacred Scripture, seriously. (February 21, 2016)

Since I'm a Catholic, I think the Bible is the Word of God: the entire Bible, not just the bits I like. I'm also expected to read Sacred Scripture: often. (Catechism, 101-133)

"Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely:⁶⁴

"You recall that one and the same Word of God extends throughout Scripture, that it is one and the same Utterance that resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers, since he who was in the beginning God with God has no need of separate syllables; for he is not subject to time.⁶⁵"

(Catechism, 102)

"...The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God's word and of Christ's body....

"...The sacred synod also earnestly and especially urges all the Christian faithful, especially Religious, to learn by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures the 'excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ' (Phil. 3:8). 'For ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.'(5)..."
("Dei Verbum," Pope Blessed Paul VI (November 18, 1965))

"...So convinced indeed was Jerome that familiarity with the Bible was the royal road to the knowledge and love of Christ that he did not hesitate to say: 'Ignorance of the Bible means ignorance of Christ.'[121] And 'what other life can there be without knowledge of the Bible wherein Christ, the life of them that believe, is set before us?'[122]..."
("Spiritus Paraclitus," Benedict XV (September 15, 1915))

I am not, however, required to believe that the Bible was written by metaphor-challenged Industrial Age Americans. (February 21, 2016)

And I'm certainly not obliged to believe that folks living in Mesopotamia, more than two dozen centuries back, knew everything there is to know about this universe.

Just the Bible and Me: and Catherine of Siena, and Albertus Magnus, and Thomas Aquinas, and - - -

I don't have to guess what the Bible 'really means.'

I'm a Catholic, so I take my cue from Sacred Scripture, Tradition with a capital "T," and the Magisterium.¹ (Matthew 16:16-19; Catechism, 65-95, 2032-2040)

Lower-case tradition, valuing customs and attitudes of a bygone age, can be nice: in moderation. I like some traditions — but don't yearn for the 'good old days' before 1962, 1954, 1933, 1848, or some other imagined golden age. (July 12, 2015; August 3, 2014)

With an upper-case "T," Tradition is the "living transmission" of the "full and living Gospel:" what the Apostles believed, passed down through our bishops, under the Holy Spirit. (Catechism, 77-78)

That is not trying to live as if the Council of Trent never happened.

The Catholic Church is old, ancient: but not old-fashioned. (February 13, 2015)

We've been passing along the best news humanity's ever had for two millennia: God loves us — all of us — and wants to adopt us. (John 1:12-14, 3:17; Romans 8:14-17; Peter 1:3-4; Catechism, 27-30, 52, 1825, 1996)

There's a catch, sort of. I'm expected to act as if what our Lord said matters: so I try to love God, love my neighbors, and see everyone as my neighbor. (Matthew 5:43-44, 7:12, 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31 10:25-27, 29-37; Catechism, 1789)

I see treating others the way I want them to treat me as a corollary, and that's yet another topic. (October 18, 2015; May 25, 2014)

Where was I? Copernicus, Joshua, the Council of Trent, Prohibition. Right.

I like being part of an outfit that predates my civilization's current iteration, was global before internationalism was cool, and embraces all cultures. For two millennia, we have been bringing a message of love and hope to the world. (Catechism, 758-776, 816, 1202)

We're not trying to drag the world back to some imagined golden age. Even if we could, our job is moving ahead, not repeating past mistakes. We have a mandate to build a better world. (Catechism, 1928-1942, 2419-2442)

One more thing: there isn't one 'correct' kind of government or culture, so our job is not trying to make everyone into Victorian-era Americans, Renaissance Italians, or Imperial Romans.

We're told to work with what we have, correcting what is unjust, and supporting what is right. (Catechism, 1897-1917, 1928-1942)

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1. Earth, Copernicus, and "a Preliminary Guess"

"Exoplanet Census Suggests Earth Is Special after All"
Shannon Hall, Scientific American (February 19, 2016)

"A new tally proposes that roughly 700 quintillion terrestrial exoplanets are likely to exist across the observable universe—most vastly different from Earth

"More than 400 years ago Renaissance scientist Nicolaus Copernicus reduced us to near nothingness by showing that our planet is not the center of the solar system. With every subsequent scientific revolution, most other privileged positions in the universe humans might have held dear have been further degraded, revealing the cold truth that our species is the smallest of specks on a speck of a planet, cosmologically speaking. A new calculation of exoplanets suggests that Earth is just one out of a likely 700 million trillion terrestrial planets in the entire observable universe. But the average age of these planets—well above Earth's age—and their typical locations—in galaxies vastly unlike the Milky Way—just might turn the Copernican principle on its head.

"Astronomer Erik Zackrisson from Uppsala University and his colleagues created a cosmic compendium of all the terrestrial exoplanets likely to exist throughout the observable universe, based on the rocky worlds astronomers have found so far. In a powerful computer simulation, they first created their own mini universe containing models of the earliest galaxies. Then they unleashed the laws of physics—as close as scientists understand them—that describe how galaxies grow, how stars evolve and how planets come to be. Finally, they fast-forwarded through 13.8 billion years of cosmic history. Their results, published to the preprint server arXiv (pdf) and submitted to The Astrophysical Journal, provide a tantalizing trove of probable exoplanet statistics that helps astronomers understand our place in the universe...."

Earth is special: so is North America, and the town I live in, near the top of the Mississippi watershed. It's where I live. It's also where everyone I know lives — plus all of humanity, except for Expedition 46 on the International Space Station.

Granted, they're in Earth orbit: about 400 kilometers/250 miles up, about as far away from Earth's surface as I am from Rochester, Minnesota. But it's a start. (February 5, 2016; January 8, 2016; December 24, 2015)

"...Their results...provide a tantalizing trove of probable exoplanet statistics that helps astronomers understand our place in the universe..." might imply that Shannon Hall wants us to depend exclusively on science for 'meaning of life' questions.

I don't think that is the case, since the "place in the universe" being discussed is whether or not Earth is exceptional: apart from it being where we live.

I'm fascinated by our expanding knowledge of the universe, but don't look to science for all the answers. Discovering why the universe, planets, and humanity, exist isn't what natural sciences study. (Catechism, 284)

However:

"The question about the origins of the world and of man has been the object of many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms and the appearance of man. These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for the understanding and wisdom he gives to scholars and researchers. With Solomon they can say: 'It is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists, to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements. . . for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.'¹²¹"
(Catechism, 283 [emphasis mine])

As I keep saying, studying this universe and using what we learn is part of being human: it's part of our job. (Wisdom 7:17; Catechism, 307, 1730, 2292-2295, 2415-2418)

I figure we'll see more studies like this, as scientists start sifting through data they're collecting about planets circling other stars.

"...'It's kind of mind-boggling that we're actually at a point where we can begin to do this,' says co-author Andrew Benson from the Carnegie Observatories in California. Until recently, he says, so few exoplanets were known that reasonable extrapolations to the rest of the universe were impossible. Still, his team’s findings are a preliminary guess at what the cosmos might hold. 'It's certainly the case that there are a lot of uncertainties in a calculation like this. Our knowledge of all of these pieces is imperfect,' he adds...."
(Shannon Hall, Scientific American)

Life in the Universe: Eventually

(From PlanetQuest, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory; via Wikimedia Commons; used w/o permission.)
(Illustrations of our neighborhood in the Milky Way Galaxy, and the Milky Way's position in the Local Galactic Group.)

"...'Whenever you find something that sticks out…' Zackrisson says, '…that means that either we are the result of a very improbable lottery draw or we don't understand how the lottery works.'

"But Max Tegmark from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who also was not part of the research, thinks Earth is a colossal violation of the Copernican principle—not because of its location but because of its young age. 'If you have these civilizations that had a 3.5-billion-year head start on us, why haven't they colonized our galaxy?' asks Tegmark. 'To me, the most likely explanation is that if the planets are a dime a dozen, then highly intelligent life evolves only rarely.' So should we feel insignificant? Should we be reduced to near nothingness? Not at all, he says. 'It might be that one day in the distant future much of our universe will be teeming with life because of what we did here.' "
(Shannon Hall, Scientific American)

I'm quite sure that Earth is the only place in the universe that supports life: or that we'll find life on millions of worlds in this galaxy. Right now, we don't know.

As I've said before, often, finding an extraterrestrial equivalent of bacteria would be a monumental discovery. Finding life like ourselves, self-willed intelligent creatures: I'd be delighted at news that we've got neighbors, others probably not so much. (August 2, 2015; November 7, 2014)

As for what MIT's Max Tegmark said: it's nice to see someone who looks at the universe and doesn't feel "reduced to near nothingness." As I've said before, humility isn't being delusional. (March 29, 2015; August 10, 2014)

On the other hand, I'm not so sure that "the most likely explanation is that if the planets are a dime a dozen, then highly intelligent life evolves only rarely."

Space Aliens Might Not be Human

If humans represent the only possible form that intelligence can take — any neighbors we meet will be as incurably chatty as we are, with the same wanderlust that started us seeing what's over the next hill at least 1,900,000 years ago.

If that's the case, maybe intelligent life is rare.

I don't know whether we have neighbors, or whether we're the only folks in this universe.

But if we do have neighbors, I'd be more than a little surprised if they were just like us: physically or psychologically.

For all I know, dozens of billion-year-old civilizations exist within a few hundred light-years of us: most of them serenely unscrewing the inscrutable and meditating on the whichness of what, safely anchored to the ocean floor of their home. (July 18, 2014)

More:

• "Terrestrial Planets Across Space and Time"
  Erik Zackrisson, Per Calissendorff, Juan Gonzalez, Andrew Benson, Anders Johansen, Markus Janson (February 1, 2016)
  (From arxiv.org/pdf/1602.00690v1.pdf (March 2, 2016))

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2. Wolf 1061c: Nearby Super-Earth

(From "The Aladin Sky Atlas," developed at CDS, Strasbourg Observatory, France; via CNN; used w/o permission.)
(Wolf 1061, seen from the Solar System.)

"Wolf 1061 exoplanet: 'Super-Earth' discovered only 14 light-years away"
Will Heilpern, CNN (December 17, 2015)

"Alien life could be closer to us than previously thought. Scientists have just discovered the nearest habitable planet to Earth.

"The new world is one of three surrounding a red dwarf star called Wolf 1061, which is just 14 light years away. It was detected by scientists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia.

"All three planets have the potential to be solid and rocky, but only Wolf 1061c exists within the 'Goldilocks zone' -- a distance from the star (much smaller and cooler than our sun) that is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water.

" 'This rare discovery is incredibly exciting,' UNSW's Duncan Wright, who led the study, told CNN.

" 'Other planets found that are habitable are not nearly this close to Earth. Because of the close proximity of this planet to us, there is good opportunity to find out more about it.'..."

At 13.8 light-years, Wolf 1061 is "close:" compared to most stars in our galaxy. As Duncan Wright said, the Wolf 1061 planetary system will be much easier to study than most.

We won't be sending probes there any time soon, though. One light-year is roughly 9,000,000,000,000 kilometers, 6,000,000,000,000 miles. That's a lot of zeroes.

Guy Ottewell's 'make a scale model of the Solar System' page ("THE THOUSAND-YARD MODEL/or, The Earth as a Peppercorn") gives an idea of how far away the closest stars are.

In this model, our sun is a ball eight inches across: like a bowling ball. Earth is a peppercorn 26 yards from the bowling ball. Pluto is about a thousand yards out.

At this scale, one light-year is about a thousand miles: so Wolf 1061 would be 13,800 miles from the bowling ball: going in a straight line, that's roughly halfway to satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

Habitable: Maybe

(From universesandbox.com, via CNN, used w/o permission.)
("The planets have orbits of 4.9 days, 17.9 days and 67.2 days."
(CNN))

"...'The close proximity of the planets around Wolf 1061 means there is a good chance these planets may pass across the face of the star,' UNSW team member Rob Wittenmyer said in an earlier statement. 'If they do, then it may be possible to study the atmospheres of these planets in future to see whether they would be conducive to life.' ..."
(Will Heilpern, CNN)

Studying light shining through another planet's atmosphere is sort of like looking through a glass of water to see what's dissolved in it. (February 19, 2016; August 21, 2015; October 3, 2014)

'Habitable' doesn't mean 'inhabited,' and I've said that before. (January 2, 2015; June 27, 2014)

Again, we don't know if there's life anywhere except Earth. Not yet.

My guess, based on how many potentially habitable exoplanets we've found so far, and how common life's chemical components are, is that we'll eventually find life-as-we-know-it on another world. (October 3, 2014)

I put a link list of 'exoplanet' resources at the end of this post.²

Life as We Know It: and Maybe Otherwise

Speaking of life-as-we-know-it, defining "life" has become increasingly tricky. By one definition, NASA's Mars rovers are "alive." I try to be open-minded, but that seems silly. (November 28, 2014)

More of my take on vitalism, robots, and space vampires —

• Life, Water, Fire, and Exploding Martians
• "Metropolis," Tsukumogami, and the Roomba Revolution that Wasn't

— and that's yet again another topic. Topics.

As if this post wasn't weird enough already — in the '60s, a former professor at Boston University put together a pretty good argument for life chemistries that might plausibly work in temperatures ranging from near red-hot to near absolute zero:

• Fluorosilicone in fluorosilicone
• Fluorocarbon in sulfur
• Nucleic acid/protein (O) in water
• Nucleic acid/protein (N) in ammonia
• Lipid in methane
• Lipid in hydrogen
  ("View from a Height" Isaac Asimov (1963), Lancer Books (p. 63))

Isaac Asimov's grasp of ecology and physics was a trifle shaky, at least in his fiction: but this time he was speculating in his professional field, chemistry.

Life-as-we-know-it may not be the only sort. We're #3 on that list, by the way. (Adapted from Apathetic Lemming of the North (March 24, 2010))

Like Haldane said, "....the Universe is ... queerer than we can suppose..." (July 31, 2015)

More; mostly about humanity's search for new worlds:

• "SETI: Looking for Neighbors"
  (January 15, 2016)
  Particularly
  • Flying Chicken Incubators, Invaders, and All That
  • Alone: Or Not
  • Assumptions
  • Globular Clusters and SETI
    • Outward Bound
• "Enceladus and Kepler's Planets"
  (December 18, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Thinking and Humility
  • Neighbors
  • Kepler Data Analyzed: False Positives and Big Planets
• "Faith, Fear, and Flying Saucers"
  (August 2, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Scala Naturae: The Ladder of Nature
  • First Contact
  • Predictions and Policies
  • Hands, Eyes, and Speculation
  • God's Decision, Not Mine
• "Pluto, Earth 2.0, and Life in the Universe"
  (July 31, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Oh Ye of Brittle Faith
  • Science, Truth, and God
  • Earth 2.0, Aristotle, and All That
  • Kepler 452b: 'Earth 2.0?'
  • HIP 11915b: An Extrasolar Jupiter
• "SpaceX, Mars, and Someday the Stars"
  (December 24, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Imagining, and Building, Spaceships
  • Faith, Fear, and Being Human
  • SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Cargo Runs

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¹ Definitions:

• "BIBLE: Sacred Scripture: the books which contain the truth of God's Revelation and were composed by human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit (105). The Bible contains both the forty-six books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament (120). See Old Testament; New Testament."
• "MAGISTERIUM: The living, teaching office of the Church, whose task it is to give as authentic interpretation of the word of God, whether in its written form (Sacred Scripture), or in the form of Tradition. The Magisterium ensures the Church's fidelity to the teaching of the Apostles in matters of faith and morals (85, 890, 2033)."
• "TRADITION: The living transmission of the message of the Gospel in the Church. The oral preaching of the Apostles, and the written message of salvation under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Bible), are conserved and handed on as the deposit of faith through the apostolic succession in the Church. Both the living Tradition and the written Scriptures have their common source in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ (75-82). The theological, liturgical, disciplinary, and devotional traditions of the local churches both contain and can be distinguished from this apostolic Tradition (83)."

And see Catechism, 95, 113, 174, and 126.

² A serious search for new worlds and life in this universe, resource link list:

• The Extrasolar Planet Catalog
  The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia; Exoplanet Team
• Wikipedia
  • Exoplanet
    
    • Detection methods
    • Formation and evolution
    • Planet-hosting stars
    • Atmosphere
    • Habitability
  • Extremophile
    • In astrobiology
  • Kepler (spacecraft)
    • Objectives and methods
    • Planet finding process
    • Mission status
  • List of exoplanets
  • List of nearest terrestrial exoplanet candidates
    [outdated (August 2015)]
  • List of potentially habitable exoplanets
  • Super-Earth
  • Terrestrial planet
    • Solar System's terrestrial planets
    • Extrasolar terrestrial planets
• NASA
  • Life on the Edge FAQ
    Dr. David Noever
  • "Identification and Characterization of Extremophile Microorganisms with Significance to Astrobiology"
    Asim K. Bej, Ph.D. (2002)

Taking the Bible Seriously

I take the Bible, Sacred Scripture, very seriously. As a Catholic I have to, and I'll get back to that.

I also pay attention to what some of the best minds of the last couple thousand years thought about this sort of thing:

"¹² I tell you, brothers, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them,

"those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning,

"those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away."
(1 Corinthians 7:29-31)

- - - which is why I still think my youthful decision to stay out of the rat race was right. (December 13, 2015; May 3, 2015)

I don't, however, take what folks like Harold Camping say seriously.

More exactly, I take the effect they have seriously; but not the perennial End Times Bible Prophecies. I've talked about doomsday predictions, new and old; Saint Hippolytus of Rome; and getting a grip; before. (July 5, 2015; April 19, 2015; January 25, 2015)

About "... the world ... is passing away...." — I do not think the end of the world is at hand: not any more so than usual, at least.

Last Judgment and Getting a Grip

(From Wily Miller's Non Sequitur, June 14, 2011 and May 3, 2010, used w/o permission.)

I've discussed fizzled doomsday predictions and cartoon characters before. (April 19, 2015)

This post is not about this world's eventual end — but I'd better explain my view of apocalyptic predictions.

I'm a Christian, a Catholic, so I take the Last Judgment and Mark 13:32 seriously.

The universe we live in won't last forever. (August 14, 2015; June 14, 2015)

We don't know how long we have before this world ends. I'm okay with that: and quite willing to let God the Father handle the 'big picture' stuff. (Mark 13:32-33; Catechism, 675-682, 1021-1022, 1038-1041, 1042-1050)

We've been on standby alert for two millennia, and I've been over that before, too. (November 29, 2015; April 19, 2015)

My guess is that we've got a long wait ahead of us, and I'll get back to that, too.

But my tour of duty in this world will end a decade or so from now: maybe less. I'm hoping that it's decades, since I'm dealing with a disturbingly long rap sheet.

More of my take on life, death, and long-term planning:

• "Life, Death, and Love"
  (November 1, 2015)
• "Time, Decisions, and the Long View"
  (August 12, 2015)
• "Fire, Brimstone, and Lollipop Faith"
  (March 15, 2015)

Bottom line; I'll experience death and my particular judgment, and then I'll live forever — which is good news or bad news, depending on choices I make. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1021-1037)

"The Truths We Need"

Josiah ruled Israel around the time Ashurbanipal set up his library and the Zhou Dynasty went through kings Xiang, Qing, and Kuang. I've mentioned Ashurbanipal, his library, and Gilgamesh, before. (December 20, 2015; November 1, 2015)

Josiah "pleased the LORD and conducted himself unswervingly just as his ancestor David had done." (2 Kings 22:2)

But Josiah had inherited a mess made by Israel's two preceding kings.

Then a long-ignored document turned up during a massive repair and restoration project. Can't say that I blame the scribe Shaphan for starting his report with good news about recycling:

"When the king had heard the contents of the book of the law, he tore his garments

"and issued this command to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, son of Shaphan, Achbor, son of Micaiah, the scribe Shaphan, and the king’s servant Asaiah:

" 'Go, consult the LORD for me, for the people, for all Judah, about the stipulations of this book that has been found, for the anger of the LORD has been set furiously ablaze against us, because our fathers did not obey the stipulations of this book, nor fulfill our written obligations.' "
(2 Kings 22:11-13)

I tend to remember Josiah's words in my own dialect – something along the lines of "we had a written contract!" or "we had a deal!" — with God the Almighty — and violated the terms.

No wonder that King Josiah was upset. He understood the consequences: which is why he paid attention to what the prophetess Huldah said. (November 9, 2014)

I'm not a king of Israel or any other nation, Josiah lived some 2,650 years back, so why should I care about that bit from 2 Kings 22?

For starters, Josiah shows up again in Matthew 1:10, about two thirds of the way through our Lord's genealogy as recorded in Matthew.

He isn't, however in Luke 3:23-38's genealogy. That one traces our Lord's family back to "Adam, the son of God." (Luke 3:38)

I could kvetch about inconsistencies between the two lists, or decide that the Bible doesn't matter — since Matthew and Luke didn't have an American literalist's worldview.

Instead, I read the Old Testament in part because it's our Lord's family history; and the New Testament because it is another part of the story —

"...Know what the Bible is – and what it isn't. The Bible is the story of God's relationship with the people he has called to himself. It is not intended to be read as history text, a science book, or a political manifesto. In the Bible, God teaches us the truths that we need for the sake of our salvation...."
("Understanding the Bible," Mary Elizabeth Sperry, USCCB)

That's from "10 points for fruitful Scripture reading:"

1. Bible reading is for Catholics
2. Prayer is the beginning and the end
3. Get the whole story!
4. The Bible isn't a book. It's a library
5. Know what the Bible is – and what it isn't
6. The sum is greater than the parts
7. The Old relates to the New
8. You do not read alone
9. What is God saying to me?
10. Reading isn't enough
    (From "Understanding the Bible," Mary Elizabeth Sperry, USCCB)

I put links to "Understanding..." and other resources at the end of this post.¹

Love, Freedom, and God's Family

I keep saying this: God loves us, and wants to adopt us. All of us. (John 1:12-14, 3:17; Romans 8:14-17; Peter 1:3-4; Catechism, 1, 27-30, 52, 1825, 1996)

Whether or not we accept the invitation is up to each of us. We have free will. (Catechism, 1021-1037)

I keep saying this, too: I should love God, love my neighbors, see everybody as my neighbor, and treat others as I want to be treated. (Matthew 5:43-44, 7:12, 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31 10:25-27, 29-37)

It's how our Lord acted; and as an adopted child, acting like part of the family makes sense — at least to me. (November 22, 2015)

It's simple, not easy, and that's another topic. (October 12, 2014; September 13, 2014)

Top Priority

My top priority is seeking, knowing, and loving God with all my strength: or should be. (Catechism, 1)

I can, using my senses and reason, notice the order and beauty surrounding us; and realize that God exists. That's a huge over-simplification. (Catechism, 31-35, 282-289)

The process would be a great deal easier if the first of us hadn't made a monumentally bad decision. (Catechism, 386-390, 396-412)

I've talked about our first parents, sin, and getting a grip, fairly often. Basically, God doesn't make junk, Adam and Eve aren't German, and we've been around for a very long time. (August 28, 2015; June 5, 2015; July 11, 2014)

Happily, God stayed in touch with us. About five millennia back, we began developing an information storage and retrieval technology you and I are using now: writing.

Pretty soon folks were using it to record business transactions, poems like the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the compilation of poems, census reports, and correspondence we call the Bible.

Sacred Scripture

By the time Confucius was starting his political career, the Pentateuch had been compiled. The book of Isaiah is a few centuries older. I've mentioned Isaiah, Micah, and the Assyrian menace, before. (December 20, 2015)

Pulu, a governor and general of Kalhu, said he was a son of Adad-nirari III. That may or may not be true, but by that time he'd killed the Assyrian royal family: so I suspect that nobody was eager to debate the point.

He changed his name to Tiglath-Pileser III, helped jump-start what we call the Neo-Assyrian Empire — which fell apart a few centuries later.

Like I keep saying, change happens. (December 20, 2015; August 31, 2014)

Where was I? Order and beauty, cunieform, Confucius, Kalhu — folks started calling it Nimrud recently — Isaiah, and Assyrians. Right.

Our Lord was born about two millennia back.

The Old Testament, 'the law and the prophets' tells the story of what happened up to that point. The New Testament tells us about our Lord, our work, and our goal. We're still discovering what it all means. (Catechism, 54-67)

The Bible, Sacred Scripture, is a vital part of my faith. (Catechism, 101-133)

"...The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God's word and of Christ's body....

"...The sacred synod also earnestly and especially urges all the Christian faithful, especially Religious, to learn by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures the 'excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ' (Phil. 3:8). 'For ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.'(5)..."
("Dei Verbum," Pope Blessed Paul VI (November 18, 1965))

"...So convinced indeed was Jerome that familiarity with the Bible was the royal road to the knowledge and love of Christ that he did not hesitate to say: 'Ignorance of the Bible means ignorance of Christ.'[121] And 'what other life can there be without knowledge of the Bible wherein Christ, the life of them that believe, is set before us?'[122]..."
("Spiritus Paraclitus," Benedict XV (September 15, 1915))

I'm expected to act as if what I know and believe matters, too, and that's yet another topic:

• "Love!"
  (January 31, 2016)
  Particularly
  • "...Love One Another"
  • Best - News - Ever
• "Defensive Architecture and Tobit"
  (January 17, 2016)
  Particularly
  • Places to Sleep
  • "Dignity of the Human Person"
• "Truth and the Big Picture"
  (November 22, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Truth and the Long Run
• "Hate People? Not an Option"
  (September 6, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Love: NO EXCEPTIONS
  • Faith, Works, and Bad Ideas
  • Sin and Forgiveness
• "Angst, Hope, and Building a Better World"
  (July 5, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Doomsday Predictions and Fashionable Melancholia
  • Love and Responsibilities
  • Looking Ahead

---

¹ About the Bible:

• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 101-133
• "Dei Verbum"
  Pope Blessed Paul VI (November 18, 1965)
• USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)
  • "The Senses of Scripture"
    by Pauline A. Viviano, PhD; National Bible Week (2015)
    (From www.usccb.org/bible/national-bible-week/upload/viviano-senses-scripture.pdf (February 19, 2016))
  • Liturgy: Questions about the Scriptures used during Mass
    • Do we read from the Bible at Mass?
    • What's the difference between a Bible and a Lectionary?
    • How can anyone own the copyright on the Bible? Isn't it free to everyone?
    • How is the Lectionary arranged?
    • Is the New American Bible the only translation of Scriptures we can read from at Mass?
  • "Understanding the Bible"
    Mary Elizabeth Sperry
    (From From "usccb.org/bible/understanding-the-bible (March 20, 2014 ))

Being a Citizen

I was surprised and flattered when two tourists from Thailand asked me if I was Jewish. That was about four decades back, at Grand Canyon National Park, near the visitor center.

I'd brought a big topographic map of that massive gulch, spreading it out at intervals to see what I was looking at, and taking photos. That's not mine, by the way: it's from Tom Bernard Anyz.

I think the Thai tourists had noticed that I had a full beard and never took my cap off.

Quite a few gentiles in America wore caps indoors and out at the time, and still do: but not many American men grow a 'haven't shaved in years' beard. The plain black jacket I wore probably helped, too.

I enjoyed being mistaken for one of our Lord's relatives, but my ancestors are about as gentile as it gets, west of the Urals. They probably hadn't even heard of Abraham or Isaac until missionaries arrived, and that's another topic.

Culture and Faith

Before I became a Catholic, I drove on the right side of the road. I wore pants instead of a kilt, seldom ate with chopsticks, spoke English with one of the American accents, and used "guess" as a verb.

I still do.

In a sense, becoming a Catholic made me 'more of an American.' Being a good citizen isn't an option for Catholics. We must contribute to the good of society and take part in public life, wherever we are. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1915, 2239)

Being Catholic doesn't mean being American, though: or Western.

By the end of the 1500s, something like 130,000 folks in Japan were Catholics. The new faith appealed to locals from one end of the economic spectrum to the other: peasants, traders, sailors, warriors, and courtesans.

Then a Spanish ship's captain claimed that missionaries were setting Japan up for European conquest. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, concerned about Western imperialism, outlawed Catholicism.

Some folks, given a choice between abandoning our faith or death, chose death. Six European Franciscan missionaries, three Japanese Jesuits and 17 Japanese laymen, including three young boys, were crucified on February 5, 1597.¹

Others were deported, or went underground. Two and a half centuries later, the Meiji Restoration restored imperial rule — and religious freedom. Many of the Kakure Kirishitan rejoined the Catholic Church.

Emperors, Tyrants, and Options

Japan has had one imperial family for about 2,600 years. I'm impressed by that sort of continuity. My civilization's history is — different.

Back in Emperor Jimmu's day, or thereabouts, Psamtik I re-unified Egypt, the Neo-Assyrian Empire dissolved, and Corinth was among the first Greek city-states to replace their traditional hereditary priest-kings with tyrants.

"Tyrant" eventually got unpleasant connotations, Rome's Republic became an empire, which crumbled after about five centuries. Charlemagne started the Carolingian dynasty. Then Saxons and Franks had emperors for a while.

England's Henry VIII was, by act of Parliament, 'imperial:' but never an emperor. A little over two centuries later, English colonists in North America got fed up with micromanagement, revolted, and set up a federal republic. A few more centuries, and we may try something else.

Meanwhile, back in Japan, Akihito is the world's only emperor. It's a largely ceremonial role at the moment, but that could change in the next millennium.

Japan's cultural continuity impresses me, but I'm used to the Western habit of kicking over the traces every few centuries.

Happily, the Church doesn't expect me to insist on a monarchy, or any other particular form of government.

As long as a local regime works for the common good, and the citizens are okay with how their country's authorities work, Catholics can live with any system. (Catechism, 1901)

Concern for the "common good" involves balancing individual and community needs, and that's yet another topic. (May 3, 2015; May 1, 2015)

United and Diverse

As I keep saying, the Catholic Church is καθολικός, universal: united and diverse, not tied to one era or region. I'm not forced into a particular cultural mold.² (September 7, 2014)

I could receive the Eucharist, the heart of our faith, in any parish — and recognize what's central in the Mass.

The essentials in our re-presentation of the Last Supper haven't changed in two millennia. Details in how we celebrate vary, according to local culture. This is okay. (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:17-20; Catechism, 1145-1149, 1202-1209, 1322-1419, 1668)

The parish church on Sauk Centre's south side, for example, brings a tree inside during the Christmas season. The Christmas tree's origins aren't entirely certain — but northwestern Europeans liked trees: like Donar's Oak.

Sacred groves aren't strictly European, and I am not going to get sidetracked by deodar, Nang Tani, mistletoe, and Höðr.

Catholic Tradition³ is a "living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit." (Catechism, 77-78)

Desperately clinging old habits and customs — is yet again another topic. (August 23, 2015; July 31, 2015)

Citizenship

Like I said last week, taking God seriously means acting as if what our Lord said matters. (September 6, 2015)

It boils down to love God, love neighbors, see everyone as a neighbor, and treat others the way I want them to treat me. (Matthew 5:43-44, 7:12, 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31 10:25-27, 29-37; Catechism, 1789)

Citizenship, Catholic style, includes taking an active part in public life; contributing to the good of society "in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom;" and submitting to legitimate authorities. (Catechism, 1915, 2239)

Submission to legitimate authority does not mean unthinking obedience.

Sometimes the local or regional boss tells us to do something that violates natural law.⁴ (Catechism, 2242)

Saying 'no' to England's Henry VIII got Saints Thomas More and John Fisher killed. Nobody said this was going to be easy. (June 22, 2012)

Interestingly, genocide is specifically mentioned as something we're not supposed to do: and voting when we have that right is an obligation. (Catechism, 2240, 2313)

Elections

America's 2015 national elections are coming in November. The presidential election comes next year, but we're already getting the usual blather.

I'm not "political," in the sense of claiming that one party or candidate is always right and anyone who disagrees with me is in league with Satan.

I have to pay attention to all the braying and trumpeting, though. Voting responsibly is part of being a good citizen here.

One of the issues I'm concerned about is religious freedom: which doesn't mean forcing everyone to agree with me. As a Catholic, I must support religious freedom — for everybody. (Catechism, 2104-2109)

And that's still another topic. (April 12, 2015)

More about life, love, and getting a grip:

• "Hate People? Not an Option"
  (September 6, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Love: NO EXCEPTIONS
  • Human Life
  • Death and Decisions
• "Angst, Hope, and Building a Better World"
  (July 5, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Love and Responsibilities
  • Looking Ahead
• "Climate Change Talks, and Remembering King Cnut"
  (July 3, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Learning, Sometimes From Our Mistakes
  • European Union Climate Position Statement: The Lords of Creation Speak?
• "Fire, Brimstone, and Lollipop Faith"
  (March 15, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Hellfire and Lollipops
  • Living the Truth
  • Responsibility and an Ancient Mandate
• "Caesar, Civilization, Dealing With Change — and Building a Better World"
  (August 31, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Fear, Flappers, and Europe Flambé
  • It's the End of Civilization as We Know It: And About Time!
  • The Code of Hammurabi, Plus 3,700 years: Looking at the Big Picture

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¹We celebrate 日本二十六聖人, Nihon Nijūroku Seiji, Saints Paul Miki and his Companions, on February 6. February 5 was already the feast day of Saint Agatha of Sicily.

² Background:

• "Catechesi Tradendae"
  On Catechesis in Our Time
   John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation (October 16, 1979)
  (From w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_16101979_catechesi-tradendae.html, w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_16101979_catechesi-tradendae.pdf (September 12, 2015))

³ Definitions:

• "BIBLE: Sacred Scripture: the books which contain the truth of God's Revelation and were composed by human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit (105). The Bible contains both the forty-six books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament (120). See Old Testament; New Testament."
• "MAGISTERIUM: The living, teaching office of the Church, whose task it is to give as authentic interpretation of the word of God, whether in its written form (Sacred Scripture), or in the form of Tradition. The Magisterium ensures the Church's fidelity to the teaching of the Apostles in matters of faith and morals (85, 890, 2033)."
• "TRADITION: The living transmission of the message of the Gospel in the Church. The oral preaching of the Apostles, and the written message of salvation under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Bible), are conserved and handed on as the deposit of faith through the apostolic succession in the Church. Both the living Tradition and the written Scriptures have their common source in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ (75-82). The theological, liturgical, disciplinary, and devotional traditions of the local churches both contain and can be distinguished from this apostolic Tradition (83)."

And see Catechism, 95, 113, 174, and 126.

⁴ Natural law is the set of ethical principles woven into reality. These principles do not change. How we apply them changes as our circumstances change. (Catechism, 1952, 1954-1960)

I've discussed natural law, unchanging principles; and positive law, rules we make up; before:

• "Caesar, Civilization, Dealing With Change — and Building a Better World"
  (August 31, 2014)
  Particularly
  • It's the End of Civilization as We Know It: And About Time!
  • The Code of Hammurabi, Plus 3,700 years: Looking at the Big Picture
• "Regeneration: Getting Closer to Growing Lost Organs"
  (August 29, 2014)
  Particularly
  • New Tech, New Rules, Same Old Principles
  • Positive Law, Isus Positum: Human-Made Rules
  • Natural Law, Lex Naturalis: Universal Principles, Changing Applications
  • Living in 'The Future'