“However, we find in drama today, and for my purpose specifically in film, two significant changes that were somewhat rare in our culture fifty years ago. First, the ethics of the hero’s action is now morally relativistic. And second, spectacle, or what Aristotle called ‘scenic effects,’ has upstaged all other dramatic elements” (Arthur Hunt, The …
Chased into a Minefield
You have asked me how it is possible to have a rebellious and out-of-control son when you have not ever thought of yourself as an indulgent father. You are right to see that radical indulgence on the part of a father is a disaster for sons — boys need direction, counsel, admonition, and correction. Of …
More on Moody Radio
Yesterday’s discussion on Moody radio can be found here. Monday’s discussion was on the blessing that Christianity has been for the realm of politics. Tuesday’s discussion was on the blessing that Christianity has been to the Academy. The discussion starts around minute 47.
The Great Eye Machines
“The visual element of romanticism is highly significant because it would later find its way into the great eye machines of the twentieth century—cinema and television. It would also lay the foundation for existentialism, the forerunner of postmodernism” (Arthur Hunt, The Vanishing Word, p. 120).
The Ironic Fairy of History
Oliver O’Donovan has just released a book that provides a classic illustration of why the moderate and progressive segments of the Anglican communion in the UK, Canada, and the US are all sick unto death. At the same time, he has done good work before this — in The Desire of Nations, for example. And …
Late to the Party, As Usual
The Church of England, as usual, is late to the party. In a masterpiece of bad timing, when the intellectual establishment has finally been rocked back on its heels by serious questions about the viability of Darwinism, questions that won’t go away, and die-hard adherents of the Darwinian old-timey religion have had to resort to …
The Politics of Blood
From the interview with Charles Gibson, it appears that Sarah Palin is entirely on board with John McCain’s foreign policy — a foreign policy that I am not on board with. I am not a neocon, and I have no sympathy with the broader neocon objectives, which can be described as a democratic and secular …
Barak Was a Great Warrior
One of the things revealed in many of the comments for these posts on Sarah Palin is that certain subtexts of what “every Christian knows” are quite prevalent, and they do a fine job in controlling the narratives that we try to tell or try to read. One of these is the shared assumption that …
Red State Readers
This is really cool. Amazon has a map up that shows America in its familiar red state/blue state guise, only this time the calculations are based, not on votes, but on book purchases. That map can be found here. The results are pretty surprising.
The Creation Order and Sarah
Earlier today I had a conversation with a good friend about an underlying principle in all this talk about Sarah Palin, women in politics, Deborah as judge, and so on, and we agreed on an important principle. This is the kind of thing that should go without saying, but in these deranged times, almost nothing …