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Committed identity: a616363661447bd25f0dfda8e323e1b974b4f2a792c9f6091bc411ecc206a54631f088d8137a47c3641bb8094f4b7102812b88da49ce706e5b8a60ac965ea634 is a SHA-512commitment to this user's real-life identity.
This user believes in St Anselm's satisfaction theory of the atonement, believing only it can account properly for the Real Presence of our Lord under the forms of the Eucharist.
The motto of the AIW is conservata veritate, which translates to "with the preserved truth".
This motto reflects the inclusionist desire to change Wikipedia only when no knowledge would be lost as a result.
I'm Chrysostom. Or at least that's my handle. I'm a twenty-something American citizen. One thing's certain: I'm no Ernest Hemingway. I've often mused: what's the difference between extreme intelligence and genius or excellence? Creativity. Isaac Newton was creative. Einstein was creative. I may be a genious [sic: as a creationist, I'm surely not a genus!] but I lack the spark of creativity: the best I can ever do is to stand on the shoulders of giants :-)
I study philosophy, theology, religion, and Greek and Romanclassicalhistory, and many other things, from languages to advanced mathematics (I love field theories, gauge theories, topology, knot theory, and even game theory and combinatorics). I am trained as an electronics engineer, but credentials don't matter. I never finished high school, and I'm proud of it (and I'm an elitist at the same time: go figure. I may have earned scores of 1600 and 34 on the SAT and ACT respectively, and have pursued higher education: I may have not.
I feel attracted to the Jesuits and Dominicans, of which I've yet to decide: once I was certain I was headed for the Society of Jesus, but I've begun to suspect it's too liberal for me to work smoothly in, as the upper and lower mandible instead of two lower mandibles (Meditations 2:1). The more I discern, the more I identify with the mendicant orders, as I have little desire for worldly possessions that can not be used to autodidactic ends. I may even be called to the pastoral priesthood (viz. Priestly Fraternity of St Peter) on some level, albeit not (yet) equivalent to my calling to the scholarly religious life.
I am a strong believer in Neutral Point of View. Whatever my personal feelings on a subject, I do not let it interfere with my professional detachment towards edits made to Wikipedia (unless I fall prey to megalomaniacal point of view: in any case, I at least think I'm neutral). However, all bets are off on my user and talk pages, where neutral writing will be terminated with extreme prejudice.
For this same reason - that of historical research in to the Scriptures - I have an low-intermediate (likely 1.5) proficiency in Biblical Hebrew, so that I might read the Masoretic text of the Old Testament, even though the Masoretic text dates to a later period, and preserves a less ancient recension of a different textual tradition than the LXX, which often agrees with the Dead Sea Scrolls over against the MT. I can read the script of Aramaic (and Syriac), but insofar as understanding goes, it's limited to cognates in Hebrew and Arabic and similarities in grammar: I am unable to read the Aramaic sections of the Bible, such as much of The Book of Daniel the Prophet or targumim or the ancient Syriac translation, the Peshitta, with any proficiency.
For many reasons, one similar, I embarked on the study of Latin: both because it is the liturgical language of my own church, the Roman Catholic, and out of a great love and respect for the civilisation and institutions of Ancient Rome and its people (albeit viewed through rose-colored spectacles, as there was probably just as much sexual promiscuity, immorality, and corruption in all levels of society then as there is today) and all of the developments it either developed directly or helped to incubate, including the beautiful Christian religion that bloomed within its borders even under oppressive persecution (not the best chapter of Rome's history). I'm still not sure whether I love Catholicism because it is Roman, or whether I love Rome because it gave its namesake to Catholicism, or a co-mingling - literally, a con-fusion, in the original sense of the term - of both.
To my regret, I placed little importance on non-English languages for much of my early life for myriad reasons, and even became actively hostile to them at one point to better "fit in" to American culture. Due to this, my linguistic abilities have undergone attrition, and I can not speak nor write them nearly as well as I might have been able to: also, I could be over-reacting by comparing my abilities in other languages to those I have with English, in which case they must by necessity seem to me to be inferior, even if they are not in fact.
I hope you like it and be inspired to contribute more. So that people like me can be enlightened. Keep up the good work. :) Brendon ishere 19:46, 1 April 2012 (UTC)
Astrum horrei - The Original Gratuitous Barnstar of RM Consensus
Everybody pat their own back. Nicely conducted everyone - I take back my grumpiness at Jeffro. [Awarded multiply on the Twenty-ninth of March in the Year of our Lord two thousand and twelve, for unanimous consensus finally reached after 4 contentious RMs] In ictu oculi (talk) 14:00, 29 March 2012 (UTC)
The Teamwork Barnstar
For your diligent attempts to collaborate on Genesis creation narrative. Your willingness to work in good faith with other editors is really appreciated! — Jess· Δ♥ 02:25, 5 March 2012 (UTC)
The Christianity Barnstar
Thanks for all your contributions to WikiProject:Christianity related articles! Keep up the good work! With regards, AnupamTalk 02:40, 18 January 2012 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
This barnstar is awarded to everyone who did not - whatever their opinion - contribute to the discussion about Wikipedia and SOPA. Thank you for not being a part of the discussion. Awarded by JohnChrysostom, since everyone else has one. JohnChrysostom (talk) 17:40, 23 January 2012 (UTC)
Dear JohnChrysostom, thank you for your kind comments about me recently. I appreciate your efforts in demonstrating to the community the positive things that I've added to Wikipedia and my intention to make this encyclopedia a better place. It means more to me than words can describe. Your friend, AnupamTalk 17:52, 9 May 2012 (UTC)