“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 98 “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver” (Prov. 16:16). This is another interesting comparison in Proverbs. If you have to choose, choose this over that. If …
Gotta Be Authentic
“With the emergence of high and low cultural categories around the turn of the century, distinctions were created between ‘commercial’ art, or entertainment, and nineteenth century ‘high’ art, that which was considered creative and authentic” (William Romanowski, Pop Culture Wars, p. 76).
Too Far Into It To See It
“In the temporal plan of the system there is not a moment when those involved in the action do not see themselves separated from their rivals by formidable differences. When one of the ‘brothers’ assumes the role of father and king, the other cannot but feel himself to be the disinherited son. That explains why …
Postmodernism Is Triumphalism
James K.A. Smith recently made a good start in reviewing Greg Boyd’s book on Christians in politics. Justin Taylor had linked to it, and here it is. The book reviewed was The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church. The review seemed promising, and Smith scored some good …
Three Cheers
I recently saw part of a commercial for the “Girls Gone Wild” videos, in which some nubile young idiots were enticed — by the presence of cameras (the device that may not be denied), and by the beckoning promise of fleeting immortality — to flash everybody. These poor souls did not know that they had …
Just So Many Millions of Ghosts
First, a recap of a basic argument against postmodernity. For all the talk about being in a postmodern era, the basic infrastructure of modernity (liberal democracy with its neutral public square) is retained. In the seminar room called modernity, some who call themselves postmodernists have come to believe that they can change the room they …
High Zwinglianism
In his chapter “Against Sacraments,” Peter Leithart quotes Mike Featherstone, who pointed out that postmodernism “moved beyond individualism with a communal feeling being generated,” which is good, but did so in a way in which people “come together in temporary emotional communities” (AC, p. 74), which is entirely inadequate. To this Leithart observes, “The postmodern …
Don’t You Love Science?
“The association of eugenics with race, social class and the emerging ideas about ‘highbrow’ and ‘lowbrow’ cultures was unmistakable. The terms themselves were first used around the turn of the century to describe people of intellectual or aesthetic superiority (highbrow) or inferiority (lowbrow). They were derived from phrenology, a nineteenth-century practice widely used in determining …
Wanting What He Wants
“Rivalry does not arise because the fortuitous convergence of two desires on a single object; rather, the subject desires the object because the rival desires it. In desiring an object the rival alerts the subject to the desirability of the object. The rival, then, serves as a model for the subject, not only in regard …
What Is A Highbrow?
“Harper’s Magazine examined the three categories at mid-century. ‘What is a highbrow?’ the writer asked, followed by three replies. ‘A highbrow is a man who has found something more interesting than women,’ Edgar Wallace, a writer of crime novels and thrillers once said. Harper’s writer thought that too vague, but that Columbia professor and author …