“Sir Henry Savile (one of the scholars who prepared the King James Version of the Bible) read the indictment, almost four centuries ago” ‘Vanity,’ he said, ‘is the sin, and affectation is the punishment: the first may be called the root of self-love, the other the fruit. Vanity is never at its full growth till …
So Much Genius, So Little Talent
“Reputations born of hyperbole must gather ever more hyperbolic hyperbole unto themselves, else they die (and take their fabricators with them). The problem, of course, is that there is a point above which a reputation cannot rise: once a writer has become the most important writer of the day, he or she has nowhere to …
Warrants and War
The debate over NSA wiretaps of Al Quaida operatives continues apace. Democrats are huffing and puffing over it, and the president continues to enjoy widespread support for his program as he sticks to his guns. And as these things go, the president will almost certainly win this debate on a practical level. But I want …
The All-Purpose Disinfectant
In talking about Christ and pop culture, we should always remember the basic options. Among them would be a basic distinction that appears to be beyond many afficianados of pop culture. It is this: you are either persuading or being persuaded. And watching evangelical Christians try to act like a “Christian worldview” is an all-purpose …
Everything Is Important Because Nothing Is
“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, …