“The Let’s Pretend We’re Living In A Golden Age game was not a new one. For decades the entire cultural establishment had been putting itself to sleep at night by telling itself over and over again that it was a truly stupendous little cultural establishment, probably the most important little cultural establishment that had ever …
The Pomo Wrecking Ball
I just finished reading a review of D.A. Carson’s Staley Lectures. The review was by David Mills (no, not the David Mills of Touchstone), and can be found here. The lectures were apparently the basis for Carson’s subsequent book Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church, which is also worth reading. David Mills shares some of …
Gotta Serve Somebody
David Wells marks a difference between postmodernism and postmodernity. “As we try to understand our contemporary world, it is necessary, I believe, to distinguish between postmodernism and postmodernity. The former is the intellectual formulation of postmodern ideas on the high end of culture. It is their expression in architecture, in literary theory, philosophy, and so …
Pursuit Up the Chesapeake
Capt. Monroe stood near the bow of the Susquehanna, and looked anxiously northwards. The winds were contrary, and he was not making the headway that he needed. They were now near the mouth of the Chesapeake, but he wanted to make it as far up the bay as they could before he sent a messenger …
Yesterday’s Avant-Garde
“It was a sign of the times that nobody bothered to correct him, simply because it didn’t seem to matter anymore: an era was dying with bewildering speed, and not all the righteous incantations in the English-speaking world could restore the patient to health. By 1980, even the most persistent apologists for the old regime-the …
My Favorite Papist
A friend took the trouble to write me privately with some encouraging quotes from Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. One of the most exasperating things about McLaren’s book was his attempt to appropriate Chesterton for himself, and so I thought I would just pass those citations on to you. I believe they are all from from chapter 3, …
Humility and Heresy
There are many destructive things to be found in Brian McLaren’s “generous orthodoxy,” but as I bring this review to a close, I want to summarize some of the clearest problems here. I then want to offer a few thoughts on the subject of humility and heresy. McLaren does not show us a way to …
Entertainment Inside the Bubble
“The deeper problem with our culture is this: the most hip, the most clever, and the most humorous films and television series are laced with references to pop culture itself, as if there were no world beyond that culture.” [Thomas Hibbs, Shows About Nothing, (Dallas, Tx: Spence Publishing Company, 1999), p. 183.]
Blink and Giggle
“Seinfeld’s world is populated by Nietzsche’s last men, who, when faced with the great questions and ultimate issues of life, blink and giggle.” [Thomas Hibbs, Shows About Nothing, (Dallas, Tx: Spence Publishing Company, 1999), p. 162.]
Don’t Try This At Home
“Of course, in saying all this, there are a few caveats of the ‘don’t try this at home’ variety. I believe that true biblical balance in such things is the fruit of wisdom, and that such balance is not usually found in hot-headed young men who do not know what spirit they are of (Luke …