“The idea that, after an event such as the Great War, an artistic celebration of the world is no longer possible is nonsense, compounded of strangely twisted romanticism and inverted sentimentality . . . But this is simply a pose: supposing an Adorno-like figure had said, ‘After the war, sexual pleasure is no longer possible,’ …
How to Hinder
“When God would hinder the work of building Babel, He came down and confounded their tongues so that they could not join together in it. Thus, when the devil would hinder the work of Jerusalem, he knew no way more likely than by dividing the hearts of those who were employed, if he could, that …
Disposable Wives
“Divorce is accepted as a part of life in Islamic culture. A man could divorce his wife by saying three times, ‘I divorce you.’ But he can choose to marry her again. However, if he also says, ‘You are like my mother to me,’ then this is a permanent divorce and he cannot marry her …
Legions of Untalented Hacks
“The logic of an arms race came to rule in art: and legions of untalented hacks who came after Miro devoted themselves to thinking about what had never been done before rather than about what they wanted to express” (Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture, What’s Left of It, p. 121).
Women and the Prophet
“Even as a child growing up in Egypt, I chafed at the way Muslim society treated women. As I studied the Quran and Islamic history, I could see how the many restrictions placed upon women came directly from Muhammad himself. Again, this put me in a position of wondering whether the true God of heaven …
Hypocrisy of the Heart
“Such artists strained after emotions not that they felt, but that they felt they ought to feel. This, of course, is one of the sources of sentimentality; it is the tribute that vanity pays to compassion” (Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture, What’s Left of It, p. 119).
Sour Gifts
“Many men have excellent gifts, but they are in such sour, vinegary spirits that they are of little or no use in church and commonwealth” (Burroughs, Irenicum, p. 28).
Three Winter Quilts
Here is an inchoate thought or two related to at least one blessing that has come out of the emergent church movement. I don’t have anything really specific yet, but I think there really is something to this. Summarize it this way: conservatives have a talent for taking over edginess. I’ll talk about the emergent …
Love at the Center
“Jesus and Muhammad describe the nature of God in very different ways—for Jesus, God is a loving father; for Muhammad, Allah is a demanding master. This description sets the tone regarding love for all their other relationships” (Mark Gabriel, Jesus and Muhammad, p. 151).
Doublethink
“Doublethink—the ability to hold two contradictory ideas and assent to both—is with us too, and will remain so as long as we have large bureaucracies that claim to act for our own good while pursuing their own institutional interests” (Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture, What’s Left of It, p. 112).