Aesthetics

Style Is Vital

Style is the intellect in flight: A thought can only really travel when it has the equilibrium, speed, and structure to get off the ground. Continue Reading »

28 Jun 2022

When I first read Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind more than thirty years ago, amid the relentless polemic I was struck by one passage: his attack on Louis Armstrong’s version of “Mack the Knife,” a song I knew and enjoyed, albeit in the far superior version by Bobby . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Nov 2020

Art Rethought

by John Wilson

Nicholas Wolterstorff and Paul Willis both subvert the institution of high art. Continue Reading »

31 Aug 2018

My Protestant Oscar Predictions

by Carl R. Trueman

This year's Oscars will again display that identification of aesthetics with ethics which is now the default position of Western society.
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27 Feb 2018

Shock of the Real

by David Bentley Hart

Journey to the Land of the Real: A Translation of Equipée by victor segalen translated by natasha lehrer atlas, 136 pages, $17.20 The death of Victor Segalen (January 14, 1878–May 21, 1919) was perhaps an enviable one. This is not to say that it was not also tragic: He was still quite . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Nov 2017

We Need to Win the Aesthetic, Not the Argument

by Carl R. Trueman

Pro-life success is a cause for rejoicing, but it may not offer a paradigm of hope for opponents of the current sexual revolution. Continue Reading »

12 Oct 2016

Word Perfect

by Gabriel Said Reynolds

God is Beautiful: The Aesthetic Experience of the Quranby navid kermaniwiley, 400 pages, $45According to the Islamic doctrine of iʿjāz, the Qur’an is an inimitable book, a miracle. Western scholars, pointing out grammatical errors and other infelicities in the text, have long criticized this . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2016

The Moral Universe of Hannibal

by Alexi Sargeant

A woman lovingly plucks a dead pheasant. A man places a human arm on a cutting board with care, readying his chef’s knife. A woman sinks into a bathtub, seemingly dropping into an abyss. A corpse is lifted on high, framed by wings made of broken glass.All these images (horrific, gorgeous, . . . . Continue Reading »

7 Oct 2015

God’s Spy: Malcolm Muggeridge, 1903–1990

by M. D. Aeschliman

In the course of a very long life, Malcolm Muggeridge made many enemies, but he surely made more friends, among whom it is one of the great pleasures of my life to have been included. His enemies could be found both to the left and to the right. Those on the left are easy to account for: by . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 1991