After Postmodernism in the Arts
Mon 13 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
Daniel Henninger’s February 18, 2005 “Wonderland” column from OpinionJournal.com was recently brought to my attention. It definitely is worth a read.
“21st Century Art Makes Its Escape From the Toilet: We don’t need Modernism and Post-Modernism anymore.” Artists and art patrons of the world: please lend this man your ears for a few minutes.
What we need is an art, a culture, an aesthetic appropriate to the age in which we live—the 21st century, the Age of the Digital and the Age of September 11. Modern art isn’t it.
Modernism was a reaction to the industrial age or the machine age. It produced Cubism, Stravinsky’s music and James Joyce’s Ulysses (also voted the 20th century’s most important novel by a panel of the Modern Library). Its most important cultural values included discordance, challenge, collision, violation, confusion. This is wholly out of sync with what people want or need in the current age.
He has a suggestion for a positive way forward, and a recognition of and appreciation for the iPod.
Edgar on the Blues
Wed 08 Jun 2005 by TTF Staff
Senior Fellow William Edgar has an article in the January/February 2005 issue of Modern Reformation on blues music.
The article is titled “Aint It Hard: Suffering & Hope in the Blues.” A quote:
It would be easy to conclude that this type of music is without hope or redemption. But this is far from the case. The realism of the blues does not stand opposed to hopefulness, but to sentimentality. So often the music of white people responds to troubled times with escapism. The blues is stark and realistic, but not hopeless. The blues tells us how to live on earth in order to prepare for heaven. Living down here makes no sense unless there is a heaven to give it meaning.
Refreshing Candor
Mon 06 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
Perhaps we are getting to the point where we can actually get back to arguing again. A couple of recent articles indicate a larger trend I think I’m seeing: people are increasingly willing again to go against political and secularist correctness in public. It indicates that the tide may be turning against those who would exclude opposing opinions from the public square by fiat.
First is Terry Teachout’s insightful piece on art and persuasion from In Character, reprinted in the Wall Street Journal, “When Drama Becomes Propaganda: Why is so much political art so awful?” (6 June 2005).
It isn’t just that they feel no responsibility to make arguments that might prove persuasive to those who disagree with them, or at least haven’t yet made up their minds. They no longer acknowledge any responsibility to their audiences. They appear to believe instead that so long as an artist thinks all the right things, he need not go to the trouble to be amusing, subtle or even interesting. All he need do is make his characters say the right things, and he’s entitled to the approval of his enlightened brethren. No one else matters.
Guinness Review in Wilson Quarterly
Mon 06 Jun 2005 by TTF Staff
Trinity Forum founder and Moderator Os Guinness has published a review of a new book on religion and politics worldwide in the Spring 2005 issue of The Wilson Quarterly.
Discussing Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide by Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart. Dr. Guinness welcomes their contribution to the research and understanding of religion in public life but suggests that their approach contains a fundamental weakness. Two clips follow.
Wolf’s Misconceptions
Fri 03 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
The dehumanizing effects of current technology—technopoly—are rarely so hidden in plain view as in the current medicalized process of birth.
Naomi Wolf’s book Misconceptions: Truth, Lies, and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood (Doubleday 2001) is well worth reading, despite some overwrought prose. Her experience and research completely reinforces the discussion that Postman makes in chapter 6 of Technopoly on the ideology of machines in medicine. The result is a focus on the diagnostic machines and artificial timelines rather than on the physical and mental health of the mother. The technical birthing process is essentially counterproductive.
My wife and I had personal confirmation of her thesis with the delivery of our son in January. Wolf’s concept of the “inescapable standard of care” was certainly present in our case despite our strenuous efforts. Time pressure and repeated medical intervention from our obstetrician led directly to what was likely an unnecessary cesarean section. Granted, we survived and everyone has recovered well enough. But we are switching obstetricians. I never want to endure anything like that again.
The quote below discusses the over-routine use of epidurals to stop pain during labor and delivery and its unintended consequences.
Interview with David Cook
Thu 02 Jun 2005 by TTF Staff
The Christian Post has an interview with Senior Fellow E. David Cook.
The interview, posted on May 9, 2005, covers Dr. Cook’s work in ethics and bioethics, his forthcoming book, his role at Wheaton, and includes his advice to U.S. and British leaders, including this response to a question on his advice for Tony Blair:
Guptara on the Gods of Business
Wed 01 Jun 2005 by TTF Staff
Senior Fellow Prabhu Guptara was featured on American Public Media’s Speaking of Faith program in late January 2005.
In addition to the radio program itself, the program site includes PDF and Web versions of his presentation slides, a transcript of a related speech, and several other interesting items.
Professor Guptara takes a fascinating cross-cultural view of contemporary business, discussing the major world religions (secularism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Islam, Judaism, and the Christian Faith) and their ethical implications in the age of Enron. He suggests that from an ethical point of view the world now exists in a multiple tension between traditional Judeo-Christian values; thorough pragmatism/ unethical materialism; and reviving fundamentalist values among Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and other communities belonging to New and Fringe Religions.
European, Not Christian
Wed 01 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
Jay Tolson at U.S. News & World Report has written an article on the spiritual climate of Europe.
“European, Not Christian: An aggressive secularism sweeps the Continent” (30 May 2005). It looks generally well balanced, including discussion of causes and consequences and alternative spiritualities that are arising in the wake of the decline of organized religion. Jumping off from the Buttiglione debacle and a similar case experienced in Britain by Ruth Kelly, the article’s thesis is expressed here:
While Kelly survived the mini-tempest, her experience captures what many say is the prevailing attitude of European elites toward religion, particularly traditional religion and particularly in the public sphere. From the ban on the wearing of visible religious symbols in French public schools to the refusal of the EU to include specific mention of Christianity’s influence on Europe’s distinctive civilization in its first constitution, a mountain of anecdotal evidence suggests that an aggressive form of secularism—what the British religion writer Karen Armstrong calls “secular fundamentalism”—is afoot in Europe.
“Secular fundamentalism”? I’m a harsh critic of the misuse and recent overuse of the term “fundamentalist,” but Armstrong’s term seems fitting. Perhaps the rejection of the EU constitution by France and the Netherlands will be an opportunity to revisit the issue of the historic contributions of the Christian faith to Europe and moderate some unfortunate excesses.
U.S. Supreme Court Unanimous on Religious Liberty
Wed 01 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
I’m very pleased to see news of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Cutter v. Wilkinson, upholding a section of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”) that protects the religious exercise of prisoners.
There is commentary and further information at The Becket Fund.
The Becket Fund drafted and filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in Cutter on behalf of over fifty religious and civil rights organizations, ranging from People for the American Way to the American Center for Law and Justice. Denominational groups on the brief included Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Native Americans, Sikhs, and others.
Useful commentary also from Notre Dame professor Richard Garnett on National Review Online, including a commendation of Justice Thomas’s concurring opinion.
Cromartie Edits New Book on Religion and Politics in America
Tue 31 May 2005 by TTF Staff
Senior Fellow Michael Cromartie has edited a new book of essays on religion and politics in the U.S., with particular focus on the role of journalists.
The book is titled, appropriately enough, Religion and Politics in America: A Conversation.
The current national discourse has brought faith and its relationship to public policy to the forefront of our daily news. Since 1999, the Ethics and Public Center, through the generosity of the Pew Charitable Trusts, has hosted six conferences for national journalists to help raise the level of their reporting by increasing their understanding of religion, religious communities, and the religious convictions that inform the political activity of devout believers. This book contains the presentations and conversations that grew out of those conferences.
Cromartie’s introduction is available here. We hope this contributes to better understanding of this critical issue.
