Matt
Apocalypse Then: Armageddon Fever in the 1980’s
Set the dial on the wayback machine to the 1980’s: Reagan was president, Russia was still “the Soviet Union” (which Reagan called “the Evil Empire”), and people lived daily with the fear that the arms race between the U.S. and the Soviets, along with the public-policy known as “M.A.D.” (mutually assured destruction) might one day [...]
Manunkind on “Cyber Monday”
This Monday morning, I spent about 50 minutes trying to convince a group of 12 students, 18-20 year olds, that they should share the moral philosopher Philip Hallie’s outrage about Nazis torturing Jewish and Gypsy children… almost 70 years ago… and that they should enter into his professional concern — his puzzlement — over the [...]
A Note on the “Banality of Evil”
Hannah Arendt’s essay Eichmann in Jerusalem, about the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, famously coined the phrase “Banality of Evil,” a controversial term which she defends (on pages 287–288 in the Penguin Classics edition) by explaining that she used it merely because it fits the man. His responsibility for evil acts is [...]
Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick (1965)
Philip K. Dick’s amazing novel Dr. Bloodmoney rewards the reader with a new share in Dick’s visionary insanity.
Mysterium by Robert Charles Wilson (1994)
I was disappointed by Mysterium. How can an author mess up a stew of gnosticism, quantum cosmology, political and religious satire, and good old fashioned nuclear annihilation? By substituting an empty placeholder (“mystery”) for a substantive insight or theoria, that’s how.
Knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures
The inclusion of the Hebrew Scriptures in the Christian canon implies what is certain: Christians claim inheritance in the story of Israel. What is shameful, however, is how poorly Christians know the greater arc of the narrative. Yes, they know the smaller stories well — tales of heroes, scoundrels and prophets or of [...]
After Life in Roman Paganism (Cumont, 1922)
A few days ago I finished reading After Life in Roman Paganism by legendary French historian of religion Franz Cumont. The book publishes lectures originally delivered in English at Yale University in 1921.
My copy, a Dover Publications paperback edition from 1959, originally cost $1.35, was designed to last for a long time in a [...]
Defying Gravity
Saw the pilot and first episode (both aired Aug. 2nd in a two hour opening special) of the new ABC show Defying Gravity (I watched it for free on-line). I think it’s pretty interesting. I’ll report back later with some thoughts on it.
A Free Iran
Our brothers and sisters in Iran should be free. By “free,” I mean in particular that they should throw off the yoke of coercive religion. In a free society, agents of religious authority are never given coercive (i.e. political) power. The people may listen to the leaders of their various faiths. [...]