I read a bunch of reviews of Chris Arnade’s recent book Dignity before picking it up myself and they often remark upon the objective and nonjudgmental approach Arnade takes. He’s purposely encountering people we might think of as down and out, to try to understand them. One of his conclusions is that a major […]
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The Materialist Epoch
The Pagan and Christian Epochs The predominant worldview in the west before Christianity was paganism, which assumed the existence of something beyond the here-and-now of matter in space and time; gods who must be honored in their prescribed ways and seasons, for orderly human life. We discussed this in The Pagan Epoch. That “something beyond” […]
Read more...“The river’s just a river”
In the musical version of Les Miserables, Eponine sings “On My Own,” a poignant expression of her disappointment that Marius does not requite her love. Imagining that he is with her, she describes the enchantment of her surroundings: In the rain the pavement shines like silver All the lights are misty in the river In the […]
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