The Disreputable Bede

https://mementomori.social/@badbede

The Venerable Bede was probably the most learned person in England while alive ... I'm not him. ;-)

I serve as a volunteer pastor in a non-denominational, charismatic church in Bellevue, Washington. I'm very much boringly orthodox in my theology; small-c catholic. Trying to keep it real.

I love church history, Corrie Ten Boom, 90s Hillsongs, Acts is probably my favorite book of the Bible, and I think 5-point Calvinism is super weird.

I'm married with three kids and raise a flock of chickens.

The "Cyber" Account: Tyson, Chicken Rancher 🐓 (npub1dr3…mqw6)

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badbede_at_mementomori.social@momostr.pink

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Last Notes

2026-10-10 16:52:35 UTC

I had been thinking about Tolkien's response to the Nazi government asking for proof of his Aryan ancestry when publishing the German version of The Hobbit in 1938. His response is below.
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Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject - which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.
Your enquiry is doubtless made in order to comply with the laws of your own country, but that this should be held to apply to the subjects of another state would be improper, even if it had (as it has not) any bearing whatsoever on the merits of my work or its sustainability for publication, of which you appear to have satisfied yourselves without reference to my Abstammung.