Simon Barrow

'Transforming Christian-Muslim relations', with Rowan Williams, @monasiddiqui7 & @simonbarrow Videocast now online youtu.be/iyMWv_U4T9Y

@themarginalian Beautiful. (Though it should be pointed out that the scriptural word hesed literally means ‘loving kindness’. Whether and by whom it is truly practiced is another matter…)

“Tenderness is the most modest form of love. It is the kind of love that does not appear in the scriptures or the gospels… It appears wherever we take a close and careful look at another being, at something that is not our ‘self.’” Superb read: themarginalian.org/2022/11/21/ten…

@BylineTimes @Hardeep_Matharu @GoldbergRadio @peterjukes @simonbarrow In the video of the conversation between Rowan Williams & Mona Siddiqui embedded in that thread, Simon Barrow mentions Gilbert Achcar’s book ‘The Clash of Barbarisms (2002) - new to me - which seems such a good phrase for what we’re seeing. I’ve been referring to….(contd.)/

Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam Webster have just sued Sam Altmans OpenAI. These legendary publishers accuse OpenAI of stealing nearly 100000 copyrighted articles and dictionary entries to train ChatGPT. The AI now copies their content freely while crushing their website traffic and revenue that built centuries of real knowledge. This is not innovation or progress. This is blatant industrial scale theft from the guardians of human knowledge. Sam Altman preaches ethics and safety while building his empire on plagiarism and lies. The lawsuits are only getting started.

@TallisWaller @J_Bloodworth @BylineTimes All important points.

@J_Bloodworth @simonbarrow @BylineTimes P.Marshall, it seems to me we may well have a case of a Dunning Kruger ‘frustrated triumphalist’ (v.dangerous) who has refused the challenge of letting his faith be ‘chastened by atheism’ (a phrase from Rowan W., I think…). Ok - & that’s more than enough from me…. Apologies.

Ok, so 2 final, final thoughts @J_Bloodworth @simonbarrow @BylineTimes 1. there’s been a problem in understanding & responding to this iteration of the far-right, in that the secular press often don’t really get the religious elements of it, while journalists covering…(contd.)/

The NUJ has condemned Israeli airstrikes that have killed and injured journalists in Lebanon. The NUJ parliamentary group has tabled a motion, urging accountability for the persistent targeting of journalists and a UN convention to protect journalists. nuj.org.uk/resource/nuj-c…

Jesus deconstructs the gods of war, absorbing and triumphing over the imperial violence and murder of crucifixion. His vindication is by way of the gift of new life, not death-dealing. This is the gospel. Wilson’s religion, by contrast, is that of the crucifiers: an abomination.

What’s the best word to describe the behaviour of The Guardian who, opposed by 93% The Observer and Guardian journalists, dismissed better rival bids and sold the paper to a website? (Utterly predictably, a year later, it’s a disaster.) Torn between “squalid” and “disgusting”.

@Kulambq This is what good criticism is for: to open new, unexplored rooms in familiar old houses.

Over 100 Israelis in Tel Aviv holding photos of children killed in Israel, Palestine, Iran, and Lebanon during the ongoing war with Iran.

“Tonight A friendly breeze Will agitate roots of meanings. Wonder will flap its wings." - Sohrab Sepehri

“I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little further down our particular path than we have yet gone ourselves.” ―E.M. Forster

@MiscreaRichard @nofearinlove77 Very true…

@nofearinlove77 You don't realize how short until you start getting old.

"Our life is a short opportunity to say 'yes' to God's love." — The Road to Daybreak

Imagine being so soulless you end up rooting for a future like this

“Of course we use figurative language everywhere, but in poetry what seems to be dominant in importance is not so much the relation of signifiers to signifieds as the resonance among the signifiers.” —Northrop Frye, “The Expanding World of Metaphor”

@Joseph_Fasano_ Take care…

Friends, if you're familiar with my work, you know what I try to do every day in these spaces. My doctors tell me I'm on the edge of mental and physical exhaustion, so I have to rest. I have my son, my faith, my poetry, and my belief in you. I'll return soon. xo

“Netanyahu says” and “Trump says” is not journalism, ⁦@BBCNews⁩ ⁦@BBCWorld⁩ ⁦@BBCNewsPR⁩

Full support for my NUJ colleagues at STV.

"Things aren't all so tangible and sayable as people would usually have us believe; most experiences are unsayable: they happen in a space that no word has ever entered." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

The Christian humanism of Bishop Erik Varden crosses borders of language and culture. Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt: 'Dust Called to Glory' commonwealmagazine.org/erik-varden-ba…