“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 …
All You Need Is Love
“Love that refuses to defend that which is loved is not biblical love at all. Such a sentiment is actually self-absorbtion. Love that shuns a fight is an oxymoron, and so I turn the charge around. The modern evangelical world says peace, peace, but there is no peace. Neither is there love. I love the …
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 …
One, Two, Three, Now!
“The blessing has been so significant that we have continued our satiric tact with an additional objective in mind — keeping the suits and haircuts away. Whenever a promising movement of the Holy Spirit begins nowadays, one of the first things that happens is that the agents, businessmen, and other assorted handlers move in so …
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 …
Who Cares?
“But the problem is that we are regularly told to care about all the wrong things. ‘If we continue to maintain that God created the world in six days, we will not be granted academic respectability.’ To which we must reply, well, who cares? Why should we care that the guardians of the academy believe …
Entertainment Inside the Bubble
“The deeper problem with our culture is this: the most hip, the most clever, and the most humorous films and television series are laced with references to pop culture itself, as if there were no world beyond that culture.” [Thomas Hibbs, Shows About Nothing, (Dallas, Tx: Spence Publishing Company, 1999), p. 183.]
Blink and Giggle
“Seinfeld’s world is populated by Nietzsche’s last men, who, when faced with the great questions and ultimate issues of life, blink and giggle.” [Thomas Hibbs, Shows About Nothing, (Dallas, Tx: Spence Publishing Company, 1999), p. 162.]
Don’t Try This At Home
“Of course, in saying all this, there are a few caveats of the ‘don’t try this at home’ variety. I believe that true biblical balance in such things is the fruit of wisdom, and that such balance is not usually found in hot-headed young men who do not know what spirit they are of (Luke …