Flaunting the Body She Thought She Had

“I enter the [pub]. Everyone is shouting, but still no one can make himself heard (which perhaps is just as well). Twenty televisions blare: eight each playing two different songs (one rock and one reggae), and four relaying a wrestling match. Ten seconds of this and one feels one has a food mixer inside one’s …

He Will Stand Before Kings

Chapter seven, “The Tie That Divides,” was informative and quite good. In it Darryl traces the rise of the Protestant ecumenical movement in the mainline denominations, along with the evangelical attempts to counter it, whether by competition or by withdrawal. There is not very much to differ with here, so I won’t try to gin …

Unsuccessful Bracketing

Throughout the course of this book Darryl says many good things, and makes many fine observations. Unfortunately, they are set in the context of this dualistic background of his, which make the result resemble a collection of diamonds, rubies, and sapphires set in a fitting of tarnished and battered sheet metal. Chapter six on “impersonal …

Not From the Theory Down

“As a doctor working in a slum area with many immigrant residents, I see multiculturalism from the ground up rather than from the theory down. And it is clear from what I see almost every day that not all cultural values are compatible or can be reconciled by the enunciation of platitudes. The idea that …

Demented and Twaddlesome

In his statement endorsing Rudy Giuliani, Pat Robertson said this: “To me, the overriding issue before the American people is the defense of our population from the blood lust of Islamic terrorists.” This evil blood lust of theirs must be distinguished from the domestic and homegrown blood lust of ours, which is constitutionally protected, and …