“Our current cultural mania for certification and accreditation, embossed and signed by all the appropriate authorities, cannot be explained apart from our obvious discontent with the praise of God.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 91
Bad Things, That’s What
“The principle here is that you cannot export what you don’t have, and if you try, you will only wind up exporting what you ‘do’ have. Whenever Pharisees go on a mission, the result is Pharisaism overseas. When scriptural ignorance goes on a crusade, the result is crusading ignorance. The applications to our situation should be obvious. The evangelical world in North America is doctrinally confused, morally compromised, liturgically anemic, and culturally superficial. So what happens when we take the show on the road?”
The Cultural Mind, p. 88
Not Just the True and the Good
“An apologist, rightly understood, is a missionary of the lovely.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 86
A New Category of Suberroneous
“If there is no absolute standard of morality, then anything goes, including the worst forms of absolutism. If biblical absolutes are figments of our own minds then the first thing we could do, if we wanted to be consistent, would be to hang all the relativists and burn all their houses. Of course, trying to be consistent like this is inconsistent, which, in an odd sort of way, makes it consistent again. It is kind of like looking at that endless series of the back of your head in the opposing mirrors at the barber shop. Ethical relativism is not just wrong; it is incoherent.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 85
The Authority of Baptism
“A baptized individual has the obligation to have his life point the same direction his baptism does—to Christ and to His righteousness. Many refuse to do so, but this does not alter their obligation in the slightest.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 80
Not the Epitome of Gladness
“When we look at the secularists who are the supposed experts in celebration, all we can see is that glazed-eye druggie look, clothes that hang on the body, and hair every which way. Everybody looks like they are just back from an unsuccessful exorcism.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 78
No Kidding
“A walk through our art galleries reveals our cultural bankruptcy as few other activities can.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 77
When Diversity Vaporizes
“Trinitarian culture is attacked from one side for its diversity, and from the other for its monolithic unity. Currently, the most immediate assault is being made under the banner of diversity and randomness.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 73
Which Explains Our Current Plight
“No society can survive if none of her wise men can give one good reason why she should. No civilization can last if her philosophers thinks she shouldn’t.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 70
Power Softens
“The ‘orthodoxy’ of today is epitomized by evolutionary relativistic sixties radicals who are now university presidents with cushy salaries. It must be said that at least some Christians outside now have an increasingly lean and hungry look. What happened to us a century ago is happening to them now.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 68