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March 09, 2010
Theological Connections I: A Big Snow Storm
(Jimmy Akin)
Recently at my Friday night square dance club, a couple of the guys were talking about the huge amounts of snow that much of the country has been receiving, and I commented that I'd seen folks describing it online as "Snowmageddon" and "the Snowpocalypse."
That put me in mind of another year with an unusually high proportion of cold weather, and at the beginning of the next tip (i.e., pair of dances), I mentioned this year to the dancers.
It was 1816--the year after Mt. Tambora in Indonesia blew in a big way and caused the volcanic equivalent of a nuclear winter.
As a result, it rained, sleeted, and snowed much more than normal, and 1816 came to be referred to by a number of names--19th century equivalents of "Snowmageddon" and "Snowpocalypse."
These names included "The Year without a Summer," "Poverty Year," and my favorite . . .
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FROZE TO DEATH.
This year had a number of very interesting consequences. Among them:
- Westward migration in the early United States.
- Food riots in England and France.
- A typhus epidemic in Ireland.
- Brown and red snow falling in Europe.
- Famine in China.
- Later development of the bicycle.
- Joseph Smith's family moves, leading to the writing of the Book of Mormon and the creation of Mormonism.
- Lord Byron writes his poem Darkness.
- The creation of chemical fertilizers.
And others.
But what I mentioned to my Friday square dancers was the fact that the constant rain during 1816 led a group of upper-class English vacationers to take refuge indoors while they were at Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
While cooped up by the "beastly" weather (no doubt they described it that way), they entertained themselves by making up stories, some of which became famous.
Among the vacationers was John William Polidori, who wrote The Vampyre--the first vampire story in English.
But that is by no means the most famous monster story to come out of this ill-weathered setting.
That would be Mary Shelly's
FRANKENSTEIN: OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS.
Yes! That's right!
We owe Frankenstein to the creative juices that got flowing because of the Mt. Tambora explosion that caused Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death.
Afterward, I was thinking about how our own recent snow problem led me down the convoluted path to the door of Frankenstein.
That made me think of a program (or "programme," as the British say) that was on the air back in the late 1970s.
Do you remember the show Connections, hosted by British historian of science James Burke?
I do. I loved that show as a boy. And I recently got it on DVD.
It was a fascinating, and fast-moving, documentary series in which Burke (pictured) argued that scientific change is not a linear process, as it is commonly depicted.
The big developments in science don't tend to be a slow accumulation of small changes across a predictable spectrum of improvements and refinements. Instead, they are the product of unpredictable cross-pollinations between widely different fields.
A discovery in one area will lead to major changes in a totally different field.
For example, did you know that the fact the Normans wore stirrups on their horses at the Battle of Hastings helped lead to the development of deep space telecommunications?
That's episode 3: "Distant Voices."
The show is a lot like a real-world, science fact version of The Simpsons, where the place you start at the the episode is the beginning of a wild ride that has very little to do with where you end up.
So why am I extending this chain of reasoning even further, from my Friday square dance club, to this year's current snowstorm, to 1816, to Frankenstein, to James Burke and his TV show, to The Simpsons and how it's plotted?
Because with this post I'm starting to blog a series that will take us very far afield from where we are presently starting.
Get ready for logic, science, science fiction, and truly inter-cosmic journeys--all brought home to theology in a Lenten journey of "theological Connections."
NEXT: THE FOUNDATION STONE.
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Apologetics, Curios & Humor, Philosophy, Theology | Permalink
Comments
I _LOVED_ that show!!!
Posted by: Greg Williams | Mar 9, 2010 1:47:03 PM
Love this idea!
Posted by: Fr. Andrew | Mar 9, 2010 2:36:17 PM
Dude, Jimmy, this sounds awesome.
Posted by: Chris | Mar 9, 2010 2:41:55 PM
Burke also did something called The Day The Universe Changed that was on similar themes, about great leaps in science and culture being more driven by philosophical paradigm shifts than by patient research.
Posted by: Tim J. | Mar 9, 2010 4:16:15 PM
LOVED Connections (and Connections 2, and Connections 3, and...well, if it was by James Burke, I liked it).
I really like the idea for the series of posts - fantastic!
Posted by: Cheryl | Mar 9, 2010 4:53:10 PM
Connections the original was better than Connections 2, because it didn't merely use connections, it used causes.
Posted by: Mary | Mar 9, 2010 5:44:00 PM
This sounds awesome, Jimmy. And I just added "Connections" to my Netflix queue.
Have you heard of a British series called "Look Around You"? It is a very funny and weird satire of all those educational videos schoolchildren of the 70s and 80s experienced.
Posted by: Beadgirl | Mar 9, 2010 5:57:30 PM
You've got me excited!
Posted by: J. M. J. West | Mar 9, 2010 7:04:40 PM
Also, Connections can be found online:
http://www.videosift.com/video/James-Burke-Connections-episode-2
Posted by: J. M. J. West | Mar 9, 2010 7:05:55 PM
I remember watching Connections and the Day the Universe Changed on cable when I was in college, many years ago. I loved both of those shows! I look forward to this series, Jimmy!
Posted by: Laura | Mar 10, 2010 6:55:02 AM
Fascinating musings. Reminds of some of the ideas in Michael Flynn's "In the Country of the Blind."
Posted by: Tim Ball | Mar 10, 2010 7:42:09 AM
I would race home from high school to watch Connections in the afternoon on the local PBS station. I was glued to the TV! To this day I see things as Burke's series explained scientific advancements & try to look back in history & think about what could have led to some useful tool or modern convenience. Thanks, Mr Burke!
And when I read a book like Architects of the Culture of Death by Wiker & DeMarco, Burke's series is even more prescient. Sadly, many folks can't see such connections, or refuse to admit connections are there.
I can't wait for the next post in this series, Jimmy! Thanks!
Posted by: Gene Branaman | Mar 10, 2010 12:48:16 PM
I love the Connections show. You took me down memory lane, Jimmy!
Posted by: William | Mar 10, 2010 2:07:28 PM
'While cooped up by the "beastly" weather (no doubt they described it that way), they entertained themselves by making up stories, some of which became famous. . . We owe Frankenstein to the creative juices that got flowing because of the Mt. Tambora explosion that caused Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death.'
And to these events we also owe "The Stress of Her Regard" by Tim Powers, which includes Percy and Mary Shelley among its characters.
Posted by: Agellius | Mar 10, 2010 2:55:11 PM
This sounds wonderful, I'm really looking forward to it. One thing, though: I'd like to know if, temporarily for this series, the current strict policies on sticking to the topic in the combox will be relaxed. Such enforcements are sometimes necessary for quelling trolls, but it seems to me that a warning from Jimmy or SDG not to go off topic usually results in the entire discussion shutting down. For this series in particular, it seems it would be more in the spirit of Catholic theology, with its complexity, comprehensiveness, and unexpected connections, to let the conversation wander down unexpected by-ways. This doesn't refer to blatantly irrelevant comments like "Never mind Frankenstein, did you know that Vatican II is heretical?" but to unplanned deviations as discussion develops naturally.
Furthermore, staying on-topic, refraining from "thread hijacking", and so on are not listed in DA RULZ, but only taken for granted, which I think has led to confusion in the past. I hope I don't seem rancorous, but I think it might be helpful to have some clarification of blog policy on this issue from one of the moderators.
Posted by: The Pachyderminator | Mar 10, 2010 3:20:59 PM
Strapped in and ready, let the rollercoaster fly!
Posted by: dancingcrane | Mar 10, 2010 5:30:28 PM
Think Mary Wollenstonecraft's , the feminist who drives most conservatives crazy, daughter wrote Frankenstein.
Hm.
Posted by: ann | Mar 10, 2010 5:48:45 PM
Pachyderminator: As far as I'm concerned, "Stay on topic" is purely a troll-control device. As long as people are playing together happily, I don't mind conversations wandering to new topics.
(At least normally. If I went to the work of writing a post and then the very first comment takes it in some tangential direction and my post never gets discussed then I might apply "Please stick to the topic" or something like that in this kind of situation.)
Posted by: Jimmy Akin | Mar 10, 2010 5:54:38 PM
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