Word: altars
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...garage where, he believed, God whispered to him every night, Hampton slowly constructed the setting for the end of history, a suite of winged celestial furniture, complete with lecterns, pulpits, vases, an altar and crowns-180 objects in all. Only some of these are actually on exhibit; the throne itself is not, because it is too difficult to move. The entire construction is made out of junk, covered with layers of metal foil and kraft paper. The effect, twinkling and blazing under the museum lights, is of quite breathtaking intensity: the gold and silver may be only foil, but they...
...picturesque Japanese island of Ikitsuki, where the ways of farmers and fishermen die hard, two old men squat before a home altar and chant prayers carefully entrusted to them by their ancestors. The ritual is intense and moving. But something is askew. The rite is partly Buddhist, partly Christian. The language sounds odd, a sort of pidgin Latin. And what do the ancient prayers mean? One of the worshipers admits, "I don't understand a word of this...
...islands, who were among the first to suffer, early on developed a way to preserve elements of their faith. Adopting a complex sham, they worshiped publicly at Buddhist temples, then slipped away at night to hold secret Christian prayer meetings. At home, they prayed overtly before Buddhist and Shinto altars, but their real altar became the nan do garni (closet god), innocuous-looking bundles of cloth in which revered Christian statues and medallions were hidden. For 2½ centuries, their fierce faith endured, but it inevitably also turned inward. Because their prayers and rituals had to be transmitted secretly among...
...Posner begins by discrediting the legacy of classical utilitarianism has bequethed philosophers. Posner believes that Bentham's call for the greatest happiness for the greatest number, a fashionably modern concept, actually opens the way for "moral monstrousness." Citing "the utilitarian's readiness to sacrifice the innocent individual on the altar of social need," Posner presents examples to illustrate the deficiency of any conception of happiness as the ultimate measure of right. Instead, the author suggests economic efficiency, pure and simple, the pursuit of wealth...
...spirit sank like the altar fire when the fuel was low. 'Shall we see it? Will a new Xerxes come?' The Chaldean shook his head. 'A dying, not a killing. Another city will rise and ours will wane. It is un der the sign of the King.' 'Will he live, then, after all?' 'He is dying, as I told you. But his sign is walking along the constellations, further than we can reckon in years. You will not see it setting in your...