“Young people today are desperately trying to vandalize the image of God that they carry about, despite themselves, in their bodies. God gave long hair to women as a glory and a covering — showing that the Lord is near — and yet bewildered, unprotected, and lost women now cut their hair with hedge clippers …
Sensation Baths Instead of Stories
“Movies are being made that tell us nothing about the struggle of the human soul. Sex, violence, bright colors, and lush sound take center stage, subordinating plot, character, and allegory to secondary roles” (Robert Knight, The Age of Consent, p. 18.).
No Being Uncool
“Left to themselves, the students will establish their own informal dress code. This is another inescapable concept. It is not whether there will be cultural enforcement of dress standards, but which standards will be applied and by whom” (The Case for Classical Christian Education, p. 188).
Our Cultural Mechanics
“Today’s relativists could not have gotten away with their double standards in a culture that prized truth. But a gradual, sustained assault on truth has been carried out through the soft underbelly of Western culture: the arts. In film, music, and television, the themes of sensual pleasure and individual choice have drowned out the tried-and-true …
Sartorial Teleology
“But the next issue is also important for a school to recognize. Some clothes are more suitable than others. Clothes are tailored for the occasion. There is no reason for a man to rent a tux in order to change the oil in his car. A tux is a better garment than a mechanic’s overalls, …
Art That Is Dangerous to Diabetics
“But among evangelicals, morality and spirituality are usually the primary determinants of the quality and acceptability of art, at the expense of aesthetic and cultural considerations. Pious themes, jejune lyrics, sweet-sounding music, didactic dialogue and Pollyannaish endings characterize much evangelical music, movies, fiction and television programming” (William Romanowski, Pop Culture Wars, p. 327. Amen. But …
Oh Great
“According to a recent report, overseas film earnings are growing at twice the annual rate of the domestic market; Hollywood accounts for about half the movie market in Japan and two-thirds of all movie tickets sold in Germany, France and Italy. Generally about 70 percent of films shown around the world are U.S. productions” (William …
Every Collar Obedient
“The Enlightenment tradition insists on the primacy of ‘timeless truths’ and says that as long as a student gets the answer right, nailing down that timeless truth, it does not matter if the answer came out of a disheveled, greasy head. It does not matter if the student mumbling the timeless truth is slouching around …
And Where Would We Be Without Music Videos?
“The ‘Fab Four’ first captured the serious attention of critics and intellectuals with their cinematic debut in A Hard Day’s Night (1964), considered a precursor of today’s music videos” (William Romanowski, Pop Culture Wars, p. 218).
What Do You Mean, “Others”?
“What might be called the ‘casual imperative’ has established itself in the American mind as the ultimate desideratum. Whatever else you do in the morning when you dress, make sure you make yourself comfortable. Of course, we should dress for comfort, but the biblical view is that we should also dress for the comfort of …