“By the 1700s, moreover, ‘art’ and ‘artist’ had subtly acquired new meanings. The good or great artist was now understood to possess more than high technical competence, and he had gradually come to feel a special kind of self-regard. The graphic artists particularly demanded freedom of action; when commissioned they would no longer tolerate being …
Another Thing Science Can’t Do
“The reconstruction of the autographic text is a task outside the competence of science, and any attempt to submit the task to scientific canons will only result in increasing confusion. A process of scholarly reconstruction here makes sense only when undergirded with faith in the living God who controls the flow of all historical events. …
Provided He Goes Along
“The unanimous community considers that it can judge without proof or trial: its own bloody turmoil is seen as a divine inspiration. As we have observed, no one is excluded from that communion — not even the victim, provided he justifies the violence and is not a spoilsport” (Girard, Job, p. 139).
No Mas
As some may know, I have had a link to the Little Geneva website under the Moonbats category, and which I had labeled as “Clever Zionist Tricks.” I am now removing that link because it appears as though the website has folded. Whatever the reason, I am grateful that the number of attack web sites …
Pursuing What You Love
“This active use of time is of course for pleasure; its impulse is love. Everybody used to know this when the words amateur and dilettante were taken in their original meanings of ‘lover’ and ‘seeker of delight.’ We have turned them into terms of contempt to denote bunglers and triflers” (Jacques Barzun, The Culture We …
Unbendable
“Despite the lapses I have mentioned, Job never gives in on the question of his innocence. His lapse does not last, and to the very end he will refuse to admit to any guilt” (Girard, Job, p. 133).
Soi-Disant Postmodernism
In my various posts on the subject of postmodernism, I have in time past advanced an argument that I believe to be a real pippin. But thus far, I have not really seen anyone attempt to engage with it. This is either because the argument is beneath contempt, and it would sully the minds of …
The Troubling Role of Artistic Theory
“In the arts, theory comes after the fact of original creation and, far from improving future work, usually spoils it by making the artist a self-conscious intellectual, crippled or mislead by ‘ideas.’ Not everything that is good can be engineered into existence” (Jacques Barzun, The Culture We Deserve, p. 19).
His Real Sin
“In Job’s case, the definition of ‘wickedness’ is his refusal to give in, his independence of judgement, his determination not to yield to the terrifying mimesis of the herd” (Girard, Job, p. 119).
No Metaphor Mechanics
“The other use, direction, or bent, Pascal called the esprit de finesse—we might call it ‘intuitive understanding.’ . . . It does not analyze, does not break things down into parts, but seizes upon the character of the whole altogether, by inspection. Since in this kind of survey they are no definable parts, there is …