“As the gospel makes its way through a treacherous world, we have seen the righteous fall many times, and before the Lord comes again, we will see them fall again. But whenever the righteous fall, those who lament must be sons of Abraham. They must serve the God who calls those things that do not …
Root and Fruit
“Our problems are spiritual, and the solutions are the Word and sacraments. The charge was not “go ye, and elect right-of-center congresspersons.” Now certainly the gospel has an effect on all of culture, as it should. But results are not causes; apples are not roots” (Angels in the Architecture, p. 203).
Words and Decimal Places
“But words do not have decimal places. Neither do flowers and volcanoes. The eye can see but cannot do logarithms. A toddler can catch a ball but cannot do the math necessary to enable him to do so. Symbols or numbers in a mathematical formula have a denotation but no connotation to speak of. The …
All Epistemologists Used to be Toddlers
“When we have come of age, we should look back on the process and see that where we came from does not define who God is. God reveals Himself to the mature mind as ultimate and transcendant. Our experience does not contain Him or define Him. But His sovereign majesty does contain our experience. In …
She Blinded Me With Science
“Another problem coming from the heart of man is our desire to blindly bestow robes of authority, which, in our modern world, we have done to the scientists. The mystique of Science has bestowed on a certain class within our society the stature of priests. Only a madman would try to market headache medicine today …
Architectural Progress
“Look at the arrogance of technopoly–the skyscraper, the outside covered with reptilian mirror-like scales. Look at the impressive design of the thing–a box set on its end. Now look at a medieval cathedral and explain to us all why you still believe in progress. The flying buttress was a technological marvel, but it was built …
Ambition and the Dance
“But the medievalist would define legitimate ambition as the desire to identify one’s station and attempt to get there, regardless of the dignity of that station. The medievalist thinks of our entire existence as a dance, in which some bow and some curtsey, some play the music and some dance, some laugh in gladness and …
Democratic Human Sacrifce
“Modernity only believes in the language of equality — we do not mind tyrannies as long as they are draped in the name of the people, all of whom must be formally acknowledged to be equal. The tyrant may actually be engaged in trying to murder all the people, but as long as he bows …
Hearth and Home
“Modernity has abandoned the household gods, not because we have rejected the idolatry as all Christians must, but because we have rejected the very idea of the household. We no longer worship Vesta, but have only turned away from her because our homes no longer have any hearths” (Angels in the Architecture, p. 117).
Conservative?
“To say that someone is a conservative does not tell us what he is interested in conserving. Within our lifetimes, we have seen hard line communists trying to conserve the Soviet Union, fanatical Muslims trying to conserve ancient Islamic traditions, and American right-wingers trying to conserve the rich heritage of “Ozzie and Harriet.” The word …