Comments on: In Praise of Bees

By: Nickp

Nickp — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 20:57:45 +0000

Matthew,
Better, but its still a tortured analogy, IMO. The analogy might work with honey, which bees do produce by directly processing a floral product, so there’s a direct link between nectar and honey. But unlike honey, beeswax isn’t a modified form of something that flowers produce, so it isn’t anything that can be received from flowers in the way that Christ’s flesh is received from Mary’s body.

Bees don’t produce beeswax from flowers except in a very indirect way. The bees eat pollen and nectar, so beeswax ultimately comes from flowers after the pollen has been thoroughly digested (so do bee wings, bee venom, and bee poop). But that’s like saying that cows milk comes from grass or that Christ’s flesh came from the food Mary ate. If beeswax represents Christ’s body, then Mary is the bee, not the flower.

OK, maybe that’s getting a bit to pedantic. I guess it’s one of those analogies that only work if you don’t focus on the details (kind of like modern praise songs with dodgy theology and odd allusions).

By: peg

peg — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 20:36:51 +0000

Beeswax candles burn slowly and cleanly—they don’t smoke like tallow candles (all that sooty art in churches!). They are less apt to quickly drip all over and make a mess like paraffin candles. Plus they have an appealing fragrance. However, they are more expensive than the inferior types. At least that was true in the Middle Ages, and my knowledge of the relative merits of beeswax and tallow candles comes from study of that era. I think paraffin candles are inferior and cheaper, too.

By: Matthew Schmitz

Matthew Schmitz — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 17:21:31 +0000

NickP: Good point about extraction, which I’ll change.

By: Ray Ingles

Ray Ingles — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:29:38 +0000

An apposite opposite: “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” -Robert A. Heinlein

By: Nickp

Nickp — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 13:06:59 +0000

(Sorry, should have included these further thoughts in my original response)…

More generally, I find myself disturbed when clumsy attempts are made to analogize between nature and religious truths, particularly when the description of nature is blatantly wrong. If a listener knows the natural claim is wrong, it makes him or her wonder whether the regious one is bunkum, too.

Clergy (popes apparently not excepted, judging by that bit about bees and butterflies) are unfortunately prone to this behavior.

By: Nickp

Nickp — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:42:20 +0000

Bees don’t “extract” beeswax from flowers. It’s a mixture of hydrocarbons and fatty acids synthesized by glands in the bee’s abdomen. I’m not sure I want to think about what that makes Mary in your analogy.