Memory and The Ister

From time to time I will watch (usually in segments) the 2004 film The Ister, which is a three-hour fascinating re-telling and interpretation of Heidegger's talks on the Hölderlin (1770-1843) poem which was written sometime in the early 19th century.

What is Good Art? Dominionist Aesthetics versus the Detachment-Discernment Ethos of New Testament Pilgrim Christianity (II)

Rather than reduce art to the Hellenistic categories of the good, true, and beautiful our understanding needs to be both wide and nuanced.

What is Good Art? Dominionist Aesthetics versus the Detachment-Discernment Ethos of New Testament Pilgrim Christianity (I)

https://g3min.org/art-that-accords-with-sound-doctrine/

This G3 article represents yet another attempt to formulate a Christian theology of art. It's clear enough that since the Scriptures don't speak to this - and verses have to be grasped at, the exercise is not one of doctrinal elaboration but philosophy cast in theological terms.

The Architect of Modern Evangelicalism (II)

In many cases his interpretation of culture, politics, and geo-politics will leave the American reader confused. Profoundly conservative, his views on economics are not at all in line with the American Right - and certainly not its waxing Libertarian wing. He condemns laissez-faire policies and the utilitarian arguments that capitalism so often resorts to. He understands that 'money creates power' and warns against it - but then still spends the whole of his life chasing after power and relying on alliances with those who possess wealth. I find it remarkable that he clearly understood and accepted the notion that a Christian political order without a regenerate populace would necessarily result in an oppressive system. It's something American Evangelicals largely do not grasp and of course they don't want to hear it as it flies in the face of the narratives about freedom and liberty. Americans can still dream and fantasize in a way never afforded to the claustrophobic ordering of nations in Europe.

Postscript: An Aesthetic both Transient and Transcendent

Recovering the First Reformation - Toward a Proto-Protestant Narrative of Church History (XXII/Final)

We ought to understand that technology and art are not easily separated and both are to some extent inseparable from questions of epistemology and morality. Additionally, if we grasp that socially conservative attitudes toward the arts and culture (while inconsistent) cannot be divorced from their larger cultural narratives surrounding epistemology and previous generational progress and values, it behooves us (lest we be swept away by these powerful cultural forces and heavily promoted arguments) to apply the otherworldly and non-conformist ethos of the First Reformation to the present day. Our culture is in crisis and thus to many, the arguments made by conservatives seem very persuasive and grounding but from a New Testament perspective they are flawed at almost every level.

An otherworldly and non-conformist ethos leads us to a cultural posture and interaction that embraces neither the Classic nor the Enlightened. In fact in many ways we are better able to resonate with the postmodern critique and even the cynical. We benefit from critiques that expose the world system's inherent flaws and contradictions, that reveal it to be an idolatrous fraud and resting on transient and degenerating foundations – as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 7.29-31 and Romans 8.19-23. This should not upset us but rather drives us all the more toward the inescapable choice between dependence upon revelation and the hope it grants or a collapse into nihilism.

Postscript: Magisterial Protestantism's Cultural Legacy and Aesthetic Schizophrenia

Recovering the First Reformation - Toward a Proto-Protestant Narrative of Church History (XXI)

This topic may seem off-base or represent a strange sidetrack and it must be admitted not all will be interested in this discussion or even be able to follow it. Nevertheless these are issues of practical importance, all the more given the way in which such questions (presented within the framework of a holistic system) permeate Evangelical discussions and dominate airwaves, pulpits, and an endless stream of books and cultural commentaries.

A Concise Apologia for Syllabic Prose as a legitimate form of Poetic Verse

Syllabic verse continues to generate controversy even though it has been an accepted form of poetry for more than a century. While some may dispute the nature and extent of its acceptance, the fact that a British poet laureate championed the style suggests it cannot be dismissed as mere doggerel.