I’m still trying to understand God’s word to the woman in Genesis 3:16, connecting the difficulties of childbirth, the woman’s desire for her man, and her man ruling over her. In the narrative context of Genesis, this connection clearly looks forward to the patriarchal households of Genesis, . . . . Continue Reading »
Back to where our world begins, the 1960s. The English word “love” can refer to a number of different sorts of love that other languages, classical Greek particularly, kept more distinct in their vocabulary. The distinctions between agape, philos, and eros, for example, are fairly . . . . Continue Reading »
Having written one , two , three , four ALMOST FAMOUS-driven posts and now this one, I obviously do think it is an excellent film. Its one weakness is a certain complacency, underlined by its ending. I don’t have a problem with happy endings per se, but the one it provides really is too easy. . . . . Continue Reading »
This is the conclusion of the long series of Songbook posts kicked off by my simple observation that many bands championed as representative of new music , such as Crystal Castles, really aren’t . While many themes have been touched upon, overall, Songbook posts #36-51 have been about 1) . . . . Continue Reading »
It didn’t become a hit, but this version does contain one of the band’s better guitar solos, and what matters more for our purposes, anti-oligarchic lyrics. (Read my long post below to see what I mean by oligarchic.) Here’s how it starts: You keep sayin’ no to her, Ever since . . . . Continue Reading »
Peter was fishing for my responses on Christianity and its relation to modernity’s three stages in America AND on whether or not America is more oligarchic than democratic according to Plato’s sense of the terms. Well, that first topic is huge, but even as I focus upon the second one . . . . Continue Reading »
Here’s what Plato wrote about democracy almost 2350 years ago: “ . . . do you notice how tender they make the citizen’s soul, so that if someone proposes anything that smacks in any way of slavery, they are irritated and can’t stand it? And they end up, as you well know, by . . . . Continue Reading »
No, I do not take Zombies with my Jane Austen, so you know I’m talking about the musical group of the 60s! Well, they’ve reunified for some new songs and gigs, and the fab Dawn Eden reports on their recent DC-area concert over at the Weekly Standard. For those who didn’t see the . . . . Continue Reading »
For never are the ways of music moved without the greatest political laws being moved. Plato, The Republic, 242c And so they say, this the golden age . . . U2, “New Year’s Day” At this point one might well wonder why I am bothering with rock, having abundant reasons to dislike the . . . . Continue Reading »
The Poetic Wisdom Paradox, which I abbreviate as the PWP, works as follows. A wise poet, let us say Homer, wants to convey wisdom in his poetic creation. Unlike the bohemian model of the underground poet satisfied with a tiny audience, we assume he begins with the poet’s traditional desire to . . . . Continue Reading »
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