Archive for May, 2015

Author World View (cont.)

Thursday, May 28th, 2015

Ben Franklin is an enigma.  While there is clear evidence that Franklin grew up in a Calvinist home, and perhaps made an early commitment to Christ, his Autobiography degenerates into a luke-warm Christian theism at best, or a cold deism at worst. The truth is, the intelligent and capable the genius Benjamin Franklin was a giant in the intellectual world but in the world view universe, Franklin was confused and conflicted. 

Author World View (cont.)

Tuesday, May 26th, 2015

One can imagine the surprise when monotone Calvinist preacher Jonathan Edwards delivered his “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and evoked a revivalistic fervor of unprecedented proportions.  Yet, it is perhaps not so strange, this great man of God who loved his God first and then his family. The American world was transformed by this shy, spider-loving husband/father/pastor.

Author World View

Friday, May 22nd, 2015

William Bradford was a strong, born again Christian, whose orthodox faith, Christian theism, was only rivaled by his extensive knowledge of Greek history and philosophy. Bradford, Cotton Mather, Anne Bradstreet built this great nation and we all owe them a debt of gratitude. The Native Americans whom they encountered were stanch polytheists, but soon many responded to the Gospel and American literature began.     

Mathew Crawford’s WORLD BEYOND YOUR HEAD

Tuesday, May 5th, 2015

Normally I read fiction for rest and relaxation–writing nonfiction all the time makes me somewhat myopic in my writing picture and fiction expands my horizons, so to speaks.  However, I occasionally pick up a nonfiction piece that turns my head. Such is the case with Mathew Crawford’s WORLD BEYOND YOUR HEAD.  Crawford cautions us that we have lost, in this Post-Modern world, our privacy.  There is no, what Thomas Merton called, an “interior life.”  Or as my father-in-law describes one of his sons, “he has no unspoken thoughts.” It is true! We tweet, text, robo call ourselves until we have no privacy. We have no unspoken thoughts. He hold nothing back and we expect ourselves to tell everything. Social media takes no enemies.  On Facebook one of my friends is discussing the Gross National Product and another one is telling me his hemmoroids are acting up. Yikes! We are afflicted, Mr. Crawford argues, by a crisis of attention saturation. So Facebook friends, next time you want to tell me that your terrier vomited on the living room carpet? Spare me ( : . http://www.amazon.com/The-World-Beyond-Your-Head/dp/0374292981Normally I read fiction for rest and relaxation–writing nonfiction all the time makes me somewhat myopic in my writing picture and fiction expands my horizons, so to speaks.  However, I occasionally pick up a nonfiction piece that turns my head. Such is the case with Mathew Crawford’s WORLD BEYOND YOUR HEAD.  Crawford cautions us that we have lost, in this Post-Modern world, our privacy.  There is no, what Thomas Merton called, an “interior life.”  Or as my father-in-law describes one of his sons, “he has no unspoken thoughts.” It is true! We tweet, text, robo call ourselves until we have no privacy. We have no unspoken thoughts. He hold nothing back and we expect ourselves to tell everything. Social media takes no enemies.  On Facebook one of my friends is discussing the Gross National Product and another one is telling me his hemmoroids are acting up. Yikes! We are afflicted, Mr. Crawford argues, by a crisis of attention saturation. So Facebook friends, next time you want to tell me that your terrier vomited on the living room carpet? Spare me ( : . http://www.amazon.com/The-World-Beyond-Your-Head/dp/0374292981