Why NPR Listeners Think They Are Aristocrats

“For more than a century, the elite in the United States has distinguished themselves from consumers of commercial culture, or mass culture. Highbrow/lowbrow was the language by which culture was translated into status—the pivot on which distinctions of taste became distinctions of caste. The words highbrow and lowbrow are American inventions, devised for a specifically …

And Not Just Billy Idol Either

“My answer to the question about Christian involvement with popular culture is essentially the same. You can enjoy popular culture without compromising Biblical principles as long as you are not dominated by the sensibility of popular culture, as long as you are not captivated by its idols.” [Kenneth Myers, All God’s Children and Blue Suede …

Great Books Aimlessness

“Those who have participated in ‘great books’ conversations inspired by this approach to modern classicism know that few things can wreck the intellectual party more quickly than a claim of absolute truth, goodness, or beauty. The student is equipped for anything the great conversation might bring to him, except for one thing — answers. To …

Folk Culture and Popular Culture

“Folk culture has the values and aspirations of a community. Popular culture, on the other hand, presupposes the absence of a community of belief or conviction. It is for many a means of escape from such a community” [Kenneth Myers, All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1989), p. 61].