I have finished Rodney Clapp’s book, and enjoyed it a good deal. This post will be on his penultimate chapter — on violence and peace, and my last post, following shortly thereafter, will be on the central contradiction that has plagued Clapp’s attempt to work through these issues. This post will be fairly short because …
Scram, Padre
I am genuinely enjoying Johnny Cash and the Great American Contradiction. As I have mentioned before, Rodney Clapp is an astute social critic, and many of his insights are really valuable. But there are times, and this chapter is one of them, when the underlying incoherence of his political theology catches up with him, tackles …
High Praise from Publishers Who Passed
I recently announced that Evangellyfish was coming soon. Also coming soon will be an explanation of exactly how and in what form it will be coming soon. In short, prior to publication (which will be soon) there will be more teasers, explanations, and glimpses of the characters. Do books have trailers? If so, there will …
God’s Garage: Some Visual Evidence
A week or so ago, I wrote about God’s Garage. Here is a picture of what I believe was known to the natives of that time as a “rap session.” Sorry about the size of the picture.
Our Intellectual Cheetos
In the introductory material, Clapp has noted many of the American characteristics that are in tension. In Chapter 2, he starts to get into the particulars, in this case the tension between lonesomeness and community. If there is anything that country singers are good at, it is “high lonesome.” And if there is anything else …
Hardscrabble Celts
The first full chapter of Clapp’s book is entitled “America’s Southern Accent” and shows, quite effectively, that when we talk about American culture generally we are largely talking about Southern culture — “but now southern identity, like the Mississippi in flood, has surged well beyond the banks of the South as a region. In so …
Momma Tried
I recently started reading Rodney Clapp’s latest book, Johnny Cash and the Great American Contradiction. It promises to be, in turns, exilarating and exasperating. Clapp is pointing out the contradictions of the whole American set-up, as embodied in Johnny Cash himself, and so I think I will begin by noting the contradiction that is going …
Twenty Days to a Smoke Free Tomorrow
I have been asked what I think of An Evangelical Manifesto, and so I read through it this evening. A short twenty pages, it was mostly magnificent. I read into it for sixteen pages without reading anything I differed with, and I was reading much that was weighty, solid, good, and desperately needed. But if …
Getting Poetry Back to the People
Yesterday New St. Andrews had the great privilege of hosting Chris Wiman, editor of Poetry magazine, as he addressed us all at our weekly Disputatio. His talk and answers during the Q&A were really informative, and the reading he did of some of his poems was just fabulous. Our Aaron Rench has an interview with …
And Why Mystify the Author’s Father?
Here is some fun news. Nate’s book 100 Cupboards is doing quite well by various indicators. One of the more striking indicators is the matter of foreign rights. Thus far, foreign rights have been picked up for thirteen countries, with others in the works. Translated (heh), that means 100 Cupboards is now slated to show …