Brian Hamilton-Vise

I know that what I am asking is impossible. But in our time, as in every time, the impossible is the least that one can demand. —James Baldwin

Sunrise

You can die for it— an idea, or the world. People

have done so, brilliantly, letting their small bodies be bound

to the stake, creating an unforgettable fury of light. But

thus morning, climbing the familiar hills in the familiar fabric of dawn, I thought

of China and India and Europe, and I thought how the sun

blazes for everyone just so joyfully as it rises

under the lashes of my own eyes, and I thought I am so many! What is my name?

What is the name of the deep breath I would take over and over for all of us? Call it

whatever you want, it is happiness, it is another one of the ways to enter fire.

—Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems, v. 1 (p. 126)

16 January 2007 | Comments (2)
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» On 25 January 2007, Lars said: 
<p>Beautiful. The color of strong faith and sunrise is vivid. I&#8217;ll have to read more of Mary Oliver. </p>

<p>Brian &#8211; I appreciate the thoughts you share here. Your thoughtful reflections on the many aspects of the ministry of reconciliation to which we are called are both thought provoking and (similarly) exciting for me to read. Thanks.</p>
» On 25 January 2007, Brian Hamilton said: 
<p>Lars! Good to hear from you here. I&#8217;m glad you can recognize some hint of the call to reconciliation even through all the scholarly apparatus that too often dominates these reflections. I look forward to hearing your feedback on other ideas as well.</p>

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Brian Hamilton-Vise is a Ph.D. student in moral theology at the University of Notre Dame, where his research is in the history of Christian political and economic thought. His side interests are in the development of negative theology and in recent political theory. Email him at bdhamilton@gmail.com.

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