A Fourth Decade of Psalms/Psalm 38

Introduction: This is a striking psalm, and is listed among the penitential psalms. It begins with virtually the same words as Psalm 6, the first of the penitential psalms. But the repentance shown by David here is quite distinct from what many Christians call repentance, and this is something we really need to deal with. …

Like Toothpaste

” . . . in the aftermath of a controversy over The Birth of a Nation in 1915, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the cinema a ‘business pure and simple’ and not an art form to be protected by the First Amendment. The movies, then, could be regulated as a consumer product” (William Romanowski, Pop …

Give It A Rest

Editor, I have a proposal for your newspaper, and for Mr. Ralph Nielsen. In his most recent screed, Ralph said that he declined a public debate with me because he is not a trained speaker, and he prefers the written word. Good enough. This, therefore, is my proposal. The Argonaut should publish 500 words from …

A Substitute Aristocracy in a Democracy

“American popular culture is as old as the colonies, but the appearance of high and popular culture as distinctive categories in American life occurred around the turn of this century [1900] . . . a cultural hierarchy emerged that divided American life into ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture as a primary means of social, intellectual and …