“The dishonor was not the in the confusion, but in the ritualistic character of that confusion; not in the appalling cultural, scientific, and historical ignorance, but in the refusal to mend that ignorance; not in the incompetence, but in the exaltation of that incompetence; not in the mediocrity of execution, but in the meanness of …
The Chattering Classes
[Speaking of Carlyle] “The danger, as he saw it, was in the distraction: ordinary men and women turned to ‘art,’ and the worship of art, only when they had nothing more important to do or to think about. And idle humans – bored humans – were not whole humans. They were shells, chattering away to …
Argument Weak, Shout Here
“They [literary critics] had become an interest group battling for a share of influence, seeking to preserve their sense of self-importance by bullying an increasingly disgusted public into extending their mandate for another decade or two. The more they were called to account, the louder did they howl; the more they were asked to explain …
Blowing Bubbles At the Moon
The thoughts of man are vain. The thoughts of man are carried around in a bone case, five or six feet above a couple of ground pounders (with ten pink toes splayed on the ends of them) that pack those thoughts around from place to place. In order to keep those thoughts going, a man …
Entertained By Decadence
“After that all was chaos, and it was no longer possible to discover just which critics were making the most definitive statements about which Voluptuous Grotesqueries. The incessant gibberish had become one long rumble in the night, and Major Critics bobbed like corks in a sea of splendid horror.” [Bryan F. Griffin, Panic Among the …
Reform and Abramoff
Just a quick thought on the aftermath of the Abramoff scandal. The scandal has, of course, the squeaky clean types bellowing for Reform. And they have the moral high ground currently, and all the sound bytes. But almost no one points out that our current woes are caused by the last round of Reform. When …
The Table and the Ball
Once there was a table, and on the surface of the table there was a ball. For a long time they both just sat there, but one day the ball—who had been taking some philosophy classes at the local community college—spoke to the table. “I don’t know why you think you’re so important,” said the …
Pomo and Puddleglum
One of my daughters just pointed out a helpful illustration from Narnia on the postmodernism business. A reasonable question that many might ask about the postmodernism jag that I am currently on is, “Why all the fuss?” Okay, already. We agree, for the most part. Why can’t we just keep our distinctives and have a …
Why the Silence?
I didn’t have a chance to post anything today because Nancy and I were en route to the Auburn Avenue Pastors’ Conference. Tonight we heard D.G Hart on the spirituality of the Church, and Rich Lusk on the cultural identity of the Church. Lots of good stuff. And the singing here, as usual, is fantastic. …
Brian McLaren and Chuck Colson
This evening I read Brian McLaren’s open letter to Chuck Colson. Colson had apparently done a radio spot on his view that postmodernism is on its last legs, and that now would not be a good time for Christians to clamber on board. This is a reasonable point, in my mind, but the radio spot …