Spring Newsletter – Reflections on Sophocles’ Antigone & Changes Ahead…
We are celebrating this Easter season of Resurrection by offering to all who stop by our dusty corner of the internet the complimentary downloadable MP3 audio file of Gil Bailie’s Reflections on Sophocles’ Antigone. Follow the link below to download a complimentary copy of Part One. In this first part of the series Gil shows how Sophocles expands the horizon of the play from what appears to be a conflict between duty to the state and duty to god to include the vast scope of human endeavor whose only limit is our mortality. Sophocles is asking his 5th century BC audience what it means to be human.
There exists a gospel/musical rendition of Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus featuring Morgan Freeman and the Blind Boys of Alabama. The original play was written at the end of Sophocles’ life and only performed after his death. The musical is a late 20th century AD update on the story that I believe those interested in our work will enjoy. A video recording of the entire performance is posted on YouTube. The player below starts at the point in the play where the specific choral ode from Sophocles’ Antigone which Gil highlights in his talk has been incorporated into the later work. I’ve also linked to an online English translation of the Greek text. It would be best to listen to Gil’s unpacking of the main elements in this story first. Enjoy!
As an added perspective on humanity’s mortality, our 21st century technological world manifests still more wonders than Sophocles could ever have imagined, even challenging our mortal limit by proposing a vision of a deathless disembodied existence in some metaverse – while, at the same time, scenes from the war in Ukraine, along with drug overdose deaths of despair, and shootings in our cities (not to mention the continuing COVID plague) underscore death’s continuing limit to human endeavor, presumption and pride. God help us!
Changes coming down the road…
I have been making noises about finding younger and more competent hands to guide this work for a few years. Now into my seventh decade it is time to welcome new talent and energy even as I remain enthusiastic about the work Gil Bailie has done and continues to do. These days I am less able to keep up with the rapid changes in our primary means of disseminating that work via the internet. Over the course of this year, I will be working with our board to bring into our small enterprise new hands to keep the plates spinning. At the same time, we will also be giving our website a complete overhaul. It has been seven years since our current website was published, and while it still functions, it has become less friendly for sharing our work on social media sites.
Additionally, we are coming to the end of the project begun in 2009 to bring all of Gil Bailie’s audio materials into the digital age. With the completion of Reflections on Sophocles’ Antigone and Reflections on Homer’s Iliad later this year we hope to focus on providing Gil Bailie’s audio presentations as free podcasts and downloadable audio files rather than items on our store. We will still retain the opportunity for those who find our work of value to support us through donations, but we will no longer be selling items on our store. This will also greatly simplify work required in the business office. This also means that we will not be selling CD versions of Gil’s presentations. However, once I have mailed out the last CD copies of the Sophocles’ Antigone and Homer’s Iliad series later this year, we will continue to offer CD versions from Gil’s audio catalog to all who materially support our efforts.
Our hope is that with a redesigned website and fresh hands on the tiller the work of launching and promoting Gil’s new book, to be published by Angelico Press early next year, will be facilitated. If possible, as a bonus, we will attempt to have audio book versions of the new book as well as God’s Gamble available by the release date. This is very ambitious, I know! But with God’s help and yours we will try our best to make it happen.
