Old Sesame Street Episodes Labeled "Adults Only"

It strains credulity, but it's true. Apparently, "today's preschool child" will be adversely affected by the unhygienic Oscar the Grouch, the overeating Cookie Monster, and the delusional Big Bird, who talks to an imaginary Mr. Snuffleupagus.

Thank heavens there are good-hearted people out there protecting The Children from these horrors!!

Modern-Day Emperor Worship

And I bet you thought this sort of thing went out with the Romans . . .

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=YO3UR4VQ05ZZJQFIQMGCFGGAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2007/02/19/wphilip19.xml

Sad, isn't it?

Herodotus Vindicated?

For hundreds of years, archeologists and historians have been speculating about the origins of the Etruscans, the civilization that dominated central Italy before Rome's rise to power. They should have just trusted Herodotus:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11174-on-the-origin-of-the-etruscan-civilisation.html

Yet another example of the trustworthiness of ancient sources in the face of modern skepticism.

The Bible and English Literature

My wife and I read to each other in the evenings, and recently we've been going through a volume of Rudyard Kipling's short stories. I have been struck by the extent to which Kipling's style was influenced by the Authorized Version (or King James Version, if you prefer) of the Bible.

For example, in the story "Three and--an Extra," we find the following statement concerning Mrs. Hauksbee, a lady given to dallying with married men: "You had only to mention her name at afternoon teas for every woman in the room to rise up and call her not blessed." This, of course, is a clever twist on the description of the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31:28 : "Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her." Kipling knew the Scripture and was confident his readers did as well.

The ironic part about all this is that Kipling was no Christian. In fact, a thinly-veiled hostility to the Church is evident in much of his writing. Yet he still worked within the idiom of the Bible. The same could be said of many other 18th- and 19th-century English and American authors.

Isn't it sad that these unbelievers' writing styles were more influenced by the Bible than the style of professing Christian writers today?

A Faith-Producing Culture?

Those of you new to Faulkner and my rambling diatribes will soon become accustomed to my references to Chronicles magazine and its various contributors. Chronicles is a monthly publication that deals with the American (non-)culture from a "paleoconservative" perspective. There is a pronounced Roman Catholic tinge to much of what appears there, but other voices are also present. It is the one magazine to which I would never dream of canceling my subscription.

The most recent issue has education as its theme, and the article "Educated at Home" by Hugh Barbour contains a stimulating passage I wanted to share with everyone:

"The most serious and dangerous challenge for Christians today is not precisely the loss of faith and religious practice among the fallen away, but a more material, basic human threat--namely, the lack among believers of a human cultural foundation capable of disposing them and their offspring to persevere in the Faith. I mean here not a lack of cultural Hochformen, but a lack of culture in its everyday, domestic, and social sense. This deficit produces among devout Christians a "mere" religiosity, a reduction of Christian life to explicit devotion and moral uprightness, and the sense that things suffice, and that culture is at best an accidental thing, harmful if secular and amoral, helpful to the extent that it is or can be made explicitly religious.
"In this case, religious practice either takes the place of culture or is indifferent to it so long as it is not clearly contrary to faith and good--especially sexual--morals."

Before I comment on the passage, I'd like to know what some other folks think about it. Do you think Barbour is on target, or is he overrating the importance of culture?

I'd especially like to know whether Dr. Woods considers American Idol an "accidental thing."

Clowns in the Pulpit

After we mentioned this at our gathering Saturday evening, I couldn't resist posting it here for the students to see. I wonder how soon we'll see this in Montgomery.

Some of my favorite user comments:

"At least they admit they are led by clowns. I can think of a few churches that are still in denial."

"….can’t sleep…clown will eat me…can’t sleep…clown will eat me "

"Notice how Racism is the chief evil nailed to the cross. I’m sure erosion is on there too (perhaps out of view.)"

"One minute later the congregation was shocked when the secret member of the Clue Clucks Clowns set the cross on fire."

The Hiatus Has Ended . . .

Now that the school year is about to begin, it's time for the posting drought on this site to end. The MLA faculty are ready to begin posting again, and we have a bright new crop of students to keep the conversations invigorating.

So look for a lot more action here in the near future . . .

Recapturing Relevance in the Church

How?

By playing rock music during communion, of course!

Introducing the U2 Eucharist.

What will they think of next?

The Other Shoe Drops

Remember Eugene Robinson, the first openly homosexual bishop in the Episcopal Church-USA? It turns out that he is also an alcoholic.

Not to worry, though. Condemnation of drunkenness is so first-century, just like condemnation of homosexual offenses. God is more enlightened now, apparently. According to Robinson, "We worship a living God, not one locked up in the Scripture of 2,000 years ago."

Translation: The "Scripture of 2,000 years ago" is no longer the Scripture of today. It speaks volumes about the ECUSA that it would make a man with such a view of Holy Writ one of its bishops.

Last weekend I met a member of the University of the South's board of trustees. (The University of the South is affiliated with the ECUSA.) He told me that the ECUSA is set to be ejected from the worldwide Anglican communion within the next year or so over this bishop. That should be interesting to see.

The Forgotten Byzantine Era

Here is a brief but largely accurate article about how most Westerners are ignorant of the Christian civilization that flourished in the East during the European "Middle Ages." The Byzantine Empire had its problems and its heretical ideas (caesaro-papism comes to mind), but we can still learn from it in some areas. I just wish we had time to cover it more in the Western Heritage series.

It Had to Happen . . .

You may have suspected that I wouldn't be able to resist making a post about Brokeback Mountain. No, I have not seen it and have no intention of doing so; one doesn't have to enter the sewer to know that it stinks. However, I did want to pass along some perceptive comments made by Chris Ortiz over at the Chalcedon Foundation's blog:

"Brokeback Mountain

The world is swimming in hogwash over the release of Brokeback Mountain. Critics are falling over themselves to laud compounded praise over this story of two ranch handlers who can't keep their hands off each other. What is disturbing -- beyond the celebration of sodomy -- is the idea that "love" redefines all God-created categories of the Biblical social order. God created man and woman and ordained their consecrated union as the covenantal unit upon which civilization find its fulcrum. Yet, Joe Bob and Jethro can two-step over divine order "cuz they love each other."

It's Romeo and Juliet from the pit of Gomorrah -- forbidden love that leads to self-destruction. And, again, it is the oppressive authority of Christian culture and the Christian family that forbids "lovers" from fulfilling their persecuted desire and drives them to self-destruction. The victim is now the sinner, and God and His order are the tyrannical perpetrators.

Is Brokeback Mountain a great movie? I'll never know. Is it superbly acted? Who cares? It's celebrated for it's "bold statement" more so than it's creative content. Much the same as Scorcese's Last Temptation of Christ was held up as creative genius. Yea, right. What men love is not art, they treasure war against God. Producing such movies is their way of thumbing their noses at the pious ethic of Christianity. Their target is the Church and it's 2,000-year reign of puritanical morality. Perverted man seeks freedom to sin but obtaining a gay marriage license will never quiet his God-given conscience. Removing the Church will never stifle the Spirit that strives with man (Gen. 6:3)."

The entire post can be found at http://www.chalcedon.edu/blog/2006_02_01_archive.php#113968791200630743

Oh . . . my . . . goodness

I'm having trouble believing that it's not some kind of joke. The title of this article makes it clear (unwittingly, no doubt) that this upcoming movie about "Jesus" preaches exactly the opposite of what Jesus himself taught.

The Further Decline of Civilization . . .

as seen in the vanishing of movie manners. (I was prompted to post this article after hearing Dr. Woods complain about this very thing a few days ago.)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0113/p20s01-almo.html

Final Exams and the Playoffs

An idea struck me as the MLA faculty discussed various end-of-semester events over lunch this week. We noted that some students begin the semester in a lackadaisical fashion (failing to turn in assignments, skipping class, and performing poorly on exams), and then try to turn things around late in the semester by studying intensely, asking for extra credit work, etc. The funny thing is that many of these students are confident that they can get their desired grade by this last-minute outburst of energy, as though what happened earlier in the term is irrelevant to the final outcome.

I wonder if these expectations stem in part from our sports-saturated culture. In the age of the soundbite and diminished attention spans, some sports leagues at the college and professional levels have responded by instituting end-of-season playoffs or tournaments to determine the league champion. What is so silly about the process is that often the standards for admission to these events are laughably low. For example, wildcard teams in the NFL sometimes get into the post-season with an 8-8 record. NBA teams with .500 records can get into the playoffs as well.

What this does is to make the regular season in these sports almost meaningless. Every mediocre team conceivably has a shot of making it into the post-season, and a hot streak at that time could give that team the league championship.

Is this the mentality that university students bring into the last couple of weeks of the semester, that any grade is possible no matter what has transpired over the first fifteen weeks of the term? Many of my students over the years have been sadly disabused of this notion. When the final exam is 30% of the course grade, even a 100% on that exam will not bring a student up to a B average if he has been performing at a D level the whole semester. Competent work over the entire semester is necessary to achieve good grades.

Another Blow to Modernism?

The growing field of geomythology.

"'If you had asked me 10 years ago if there was value in local myths I would have said "not a lot",' added Nunn. 'Since then I have had a Pauline conversion.'"

Christianity and Architecture

As a contrast to the earlier post regarding the architecture of the mega-church, here's a review of a book describing the subtleties used by Huguenot architects who had been employed by Catholic nobility and royalty to build churches. In protest against the persecution of Huguenots, they inserted Calvinist stuff into the structures. For example: "Scripture verses would often be included on the interior of a building. Calvinists did not expect Catholics to complain about the verses because it would be a complaint against the Bible itself. However, Calvinists were careful to use verses that reflected their perspective. Fellow Calvinists walking into the building would recognize that a Huguenot had built that structure."

Structural modifications were made as well to put forward the Huguenot point of view. Art means something!

Debunking the Pilgrims

Some malcontent has decided to rain on everyone's Thanksgiving parade by exposing THE TRUTH about the Pilgrims. Among the horrors that are revealed are that the Pilgrims believed the Indian depopulation of the area preceding their arrival was providential and that the Pilgrims insisted on church membership as a prerequisite for a seat on the General Court that governed the colony.

The scales have fallen from my eyes! I repent of ever having had the slightest shred of respect for these people. From now on, I will condemn anyone having the nerve to celebrate Thanksgiving who has not first ritually secularized the holiday and denounced the Pilgrims as evil, genocidal maniacs. Singing a hymn to nature on behalf of the Indian victims could even make the celebration a virtuous act.

Oh, and apparently the transatlantic crossing took eighteen years, since we're told that the Pilgrims boarded the Mayflower in 1602 and arrived in America in 1620. That's some voyage!

Yankee Secessionists

The decentralist paradigm has spread beyond the old Confederacy, it seems. Here's an article about the Second Vermont Republic, an organization trying to get Vermont to secede from the United States. God bless 'em; at least they can't be smeared as being simply apologists for slavery and/or racial segregation. The article cites Don Livingston of Emory at length. Livingston argues for "the politics of the human scale," a localism derived primarily from Aristotle and classical republican theory.

Ethics and Natural Law

"I conclude that . . . the answer to our question is no; ethics cannot be derived from nature." So says an ethics professor at George Washington University. He's thrown down the gauntlet; are you Aristotelians up to the challenge?

Lisbon and Voltaire

Today is the 250th anniversary of the famous Lisbon earthquake, which is thought to have killed tens of thousands of people and left many thousands more homeless. Coming as it did in the context of rising skepticism among the "Enlightened" elites of Europe, the earthquake became a rhetorical weapon in the arsenal of deists, agnostics, and atheists.

Voltaire made use of the earthquake in Candide and also referred to it in several of his letters. Here's one from just a few weeks after the quake.

It's interesting, although not surprising, to see the unbelievers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina trot out the same arguments as Voltaire and the other philosophes: "If there is a God, how could he allow such a catastrophe to take place?" It's just another example of how the study of the past sheds more light on the present.