Since I posted the cons and pros post below, I found out about the out-of-wedlock pregnancy of Sarah Palin’s teenaged daughter. Some of the things I wrote apply to this in principle (Con #1 and Pro #3), but please allow just a few quick takes on this new twist. Obviously, there will have to be …
Cons and Pros on Palin
I am continuing in the mode of thinking out loud about all of this. I have appreciated many of the comments, pro and con, for the most part, and so please continue the discussion. It would probably be good, though, to discontinue passing on the bat crap “research” that the desperate left is coming up …
Kinda Spooky When You Think About It
Sorry for the delay in getting to this issue. Yesterday was wall-to-wall with events, and since Palin was a surprise pick, I had to get up to speed. I want to divide my comments up into three categories — a statement of the problem as it was, some punditry, and some personal observations and reactions …
Pomosexuality
Boundaries are an essential element in any art, but it does not follow from this that if the boundaries are honored and respected, the great art will necessarily follow. A lot of pedestrian poetry has been written within the confines of the traditional forms. Sexual boundaries follow the same kind of pattern. The one true …
Homo Pomo in Slowmo
As I look at the state of public discourse today, and the Church’s contribution to it, I often feel like somebody stuffed me into a Walker Percy novel, and then somebody else screwed the lid on. It is as though everybody has agreed to do a cute little two step, closer and closer to the …
Sounds, Sights, and Usually Some Skin
“Images have a way of evoking an emotional response. Pictures have a way of pushing rational discourse—linear logic—into the background. The chief aim of television is to sell products and entertain audiences. Television seeks emotional gratification. As a visual medium, television programming is designed to be amusing. Substance gives way to sounds and sights. Hard …
Marshmallow Clouds, Puffy Rainbows, and Unicorns
Well, the Obaminator has chosen Joe Biden to be his running mate and, as I see it from here, the wheels continue to come off the Obama campaign. The once robust coalition of marshmallow clouds, puffy rainbows, and unicorns is starting wear a little thin. At least around here. I continue to believe that the …
Beware All Isms Except for Prisms
All strident advocacy of isms gives me the creeping fantods, and that would include capitalism. I don’t believe in “capitalism.” I believe in Jesus. But if someone were to describe my ideal society with regard to economics, there is no doubt that he would be describing a free market, capitalist society — a minarchy. Why …
Mystic Grace of a Saturday Morn
While preparing for a talk in NSA’s grad program, I had occasion to go back and reread Rowan Williams’ lecture entitled “The Body’s Grace.” Doing so I was reminded of the experience of some medieval mystics, and I myself had some small glad participation in the great cloud of unknowing.
Why Essentialism is Essential
“The first major point in our look at the roots of postmodernism is the rejection of essentialism, which takes several forms in different postmodern thinkers. In general, essentialism is the idea that things have real qualities, independent of our knowing them” (Millard Erickson, The Postmodern World, p. 36).