Sophocles Ajax

After a week or so of wasting my time blogging about the problems in a local church, a topic I am sick to death of, I am now back to work on language which is what I do. So far today I have spent five hours working in Ajax one of the less popular works of Sophocles. What I have always liked about Greek Tragedy is the lack of sweet, sticky, sentimentalism. There is a harsh barrenness in Sophocles, like a desert landscape. The depiction of Ajax, driven insane by Athena, slaughtering livestock, the spoils of war and then sitting down in his hut, confused and disoriented, while Ahtena and Odysseus talk it over.

Working in ancient texts has a way of focusing the mind, tuning out all the superfluous noise like the blog wars between Tim Challies and the "discernment ministries." One quote from Challies I intend to keep: "there is really no value in watching the worst pastors in America preach to the worst churches in America." I certainly don't know who are the worst pastors in America. I rarely listen to any of them.

Give me that old time religion, Zeus, Athena, Apollo, ...

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