LUTHER THEN AND NOW

Today's paper

A Washington Post article by Jonathan Kay, “Nobody Listened to Luther at first. That’s why he succeeded”, published in the Kalamazoo Gazette October 29, 2017, deserves reading to see an example of how momentous ideas develop.  Some similar circumstances surrounded Darwin’s ideas about natural selection.

Non-conformists may face problems

Today such factors as rapid communication and professional networks can, Kay writes, “make us more cautious, since we know that any new idea can expose us to instant censure from complete strangers in other parts of the world………. – This phenomenon goes by different names – group think, political correctness, herd mentality.  But in every form, it serves the interest of the orthodox and frustrates the heretic.” 

I sometimes feel like I am a group of one in terms of my findings.  I don’t expect to be in a group with Luther or Darwin, but I am not aware of much acceptance of what I thought were my best ideas about evolution.  I do appreciate the fact that my post about the coelom has received so many views.

An early post of mine-  http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2014/02/creativity-brainstorming.html  has had zero page views. The post makes suggestions for solitary brainstorming that can substitute to some degree for the benefits of group brainstorming.

Nematodes

I have begun a draft of a post on nematodes.  It is hoped to be helpful in understanding the antiquity of their origin, far before the time the erroneous Ecdysozoa implies.  I was reviewing some of Libbie Hyman’s invertebrate volumes and will leave most related comments to the forthcoming post.  But the last two paragraphs of the post http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2015/03/abandoned-theories-and-libbie-hyman.html  said some of the things I might have repeated.

Christian Unity

Today, about the 500^th anniversary of the event most associate with Luther’s long campaign, there is a mood that seems to have developed in recent years, of Protestants recognizing that Catholics have gotten past such blemishes as selling indulgences and killing heretics, and of Catholics thinking that Protestants have selectively departed from teachings of Jesus.  There is recognition of a common bond for many on both sides of the former divide; and if it has not been there before, that all humans are created by, and loved by, God.

Joseph Engemann      Kalamazoo, Michigan   October 29, 2017