Nate’s Tilt-a-Whirl DVD is reviewed here by John Starke of The Gospel Coalition. It is a fun review, and I refer you to it.
But . . .
But I do want to lean the other way on one point. To say this production is an “excellent explanation” of the world in a form that is “good entertainment” misses (perhaps) a central feature of the DVD. The production values, the humor, the odd locations, are not “decorations.” All those things are far more than the foam on the beer. An aesthetic ethos, as we have been urging NSA students for years, is an essential part of the argument itself. Wit and style are not the gummy bears you put on top of the yogurt of substance. That entertaining je ne sais quoi thingy is what makes the argument work.
Chesterton remarks somewhere that a polemical writer’s wit shines and glitters the same way a swordsman’s sword does — not because he is putting on a show, but because he is fighting. The show comes with the battle, thrown in for free.
And hey, while I have you, For those of our friends in the Spokane area, Nate will be signing books at 1 pm at the Spokane CostCo (5601 East Sprague Ave).