“Thus we have a curious dichotomy in the modern literary scene. Whereas the popular culture gives us books that offer entertainment but no ideas, the ‘high culture’ gives us books that offer ideas but no entertainment. There are many books—in my opinion the best books—which manage to do both” (Gene Edward Veith, Reading Between the …
A Brief Foray into Canada
For those in the area who might be interested, I will be doing a conference next month (April 28) for Christ Covenant Church in Langley, British Columbia. The conference will be on The Church and Culture, and talks will include, “The Church as Shaper of Culture,” “Devil in a Blue Dress,” “Culture and Tradition,” and …
Imitation on the Sly
“In their effort to build a way of life based purely on the Shar’i laws, Islamists strain to reject all aspects of Western influence—customs, philosophy, political institutions and values. Despite these efforts, they absorb vast amounts from the West . . . Even Ayatollah Khomeini, who was more traditional than most Islamists, failed in his …
Just Plain Bad
“Some of the most popular books are starkly bad — bad in their content, bad in their effect, and, in a related way, bad aesthetically” (Gene Edward Veith, Reading Between the Lines, p. 27).
Putting On Airs
“So there is much vanity in bringing forth old truths in novel and affected phrases, as if men desired to be thought to have found out some new thing that yet has not been or is very little known in the world, when indeed upon examination, when it is unclothed of its new expressions, it …
Globaloney Warming
Here is a nicely done bit on the global warming hoohah. HT: Joe Crawford
The Crawl Space Under the Neutral Zone
The next chapter of Dawkins’ book concerns the arguments for God’s existence. He addresses, in turn, the traditional Thomist arguments, the ontological argument, the aesthetic argument, the argument from personal experience, the argument from Scripture, the argument from admired religious scientists, Pascal’s wager, and a Bayesian argument involving probability calculations. Not surprisingly, since Dawkins is …
A Second Battle of Tours 6
Introduction: We have already considered one aspect of this issue, which is the question of law. The claim of the law reveals the god of the system, and reveals the nature of the god. If the god is an idol, then the law will be idolatrous. If the God is the triune God of Scripture, …
Secularism, Reformism, Fundamentalism
“Searching for answers to escape from this dilemma, Muslims have developed three major responses: secularism, reformism, and fundamentalism. Secularism holds that Muslims can only advance by emulating the West . . . Reformism, which offers a murky middle, is very popular. Whereas secularism forthrightly calls for learning from the West, reformism sneakily appropriates from it …
Who Knew?
“Reading promotes continuity, the gradual accumulation of knowledge, and sustained exploration of ideas. Television, on the other hand, fosters fragmentation, anti-intellectualism, and immediate gratification” (Gene Edward Veith, Reading Between the Lines, p. 21).