Author: Jonathan Dodson

Transforming Culture: John Wilson on the Church and Cultural Ideas

Posted on April 1, 2008

I have been at the Transforming Culture conference all day, one of the best conferences Ive been to in a while. Interestingly, its a mix of creativity, academics, community, & campiness, yes it’s a bit campy in a wonderfully, playful way. Something really right about that campiness.

John Wilson (of Books & Culture fame) just finished his breakout session on “The Church and Cultural Ideas.” Stimulating. Here is the take-away quote:

If I had influence on seminary education, I would like to see a course where students read some first-rate theology of creation-along with Attenborough and Eisner and Nasrecki, and maybe E. O. Wilson on ants thrown in for good measure. Too much talk about Creation is divorced from the messy particulars. Too much talk about insects is divorced entirely form their Creator. It would be good to bring them together.

transforming culture

Breaking Up Over Books!

Posted on April 1, 2008

Would you break up with someone over books? What about a failed literary reference? Some would. In “It’s Not You, It’s Your Books” Rachael Donadio of the NY Times traces book snobbery to its real world zenith, for advocates, and for the detractors, its social nadir. Marco Roth’s comment brings balance to the article:

Marco Roth, an editor at the magazine n+1, said: “I think sometimes it’s better if books are just books. It’s part of the romantic tragedy of our age that our partners must be seen as compatible on every level.” Besides, he added, “sometimes people can end up liking the same things for vastly different reasons, and they build up these whole private fantasy lives around the meaning of these supposedly shared books, only to discover, too late, that the other person had a different fantasy completely.” After all, a couple may love “The Portrait of a Lady,” but if one half identifies with Gilbert Osmond and the other with Isabel Archer, they may have radically different ideas about the relationship.

Solomon Among the Postmoderns

Posted on March 31, 2008

Okay. I was skeptical about reading another book about Postmodernism. After all, transmodernism is well underway. However, Caleb convinced me to read Solomon Among the Postmoderns. It has been an enjoyable read.

Those familiar with Leithart will immediately recognize that he is from the Reformed tradition. However, he does not allow that tradition to “take over” a reasoned, culturally savvy reading of Postmodernism. Of particular interest was his grasp of the Renaissance and its contribution to pomo thought. In a remarkable claim, he points out that Francis Bacon actually had theological roots for his science, roots that extended into Christian charity, not theology proper.

Liethart offers a cultural-historical reading of pomo that fits nicely along side Smith’s Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?. I found his conclusion, the Solomonic alternative to Pomo, intriguing but disappointingly shallow in its development. Hopefully, he will take it further.