Earlier this month, *Comment* published my review of James K. A. Smith and David I. Smith’s recent book, Teaching and Christian Practices.
Category Archives: Culture, Society, and Politics
David Brooks: How to fight the man
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Most professors would like their students to be more rebellious and argumentative. But rebellion without a rigorous alternative vision is just a feeble spasm.
David Brooks, “How to Fight the Man.”
Can Religion Be Reproduced?
I saw this quote from famed magician/atheist/television personality Penn Jillette‘s new book on kottke.org:
There is no god and that’s the simple truth. If every trace of any single religion died out and nothing were passed on, it would never be created exactly that way again. There might be some other nonsense in its place, but not that exact nonsense. If all of science were wiped out, it would still be true and someone would find a way to figure it all out again.
Now, this might be true or it might not be true – it’s a thought experiment with no way of verification. It’s an assertion, not an argument. Thus, from the very beginning, the appeal to empiricism is weakened.
But this claim – “it would never be created exactly that way again” – is true of anything rooted in the passage of time: history, art, literature, even the progress of science itself. Continue reading
How to Ban Someone from Your Facebook Page
This morning, I discovered that a rather inappropriate Facebook Page had “Liked” the Emerging Scholars Network Facebook Page and was starting to “Like” posts. I figure it was only a matter of time before they started making comments or adding Wall comments to draw attention to themselves. I was able to ban them permanently from our Page, but it wasn’t an obvious process, so I thought it might be helpful to others to post instructions. Step-by-step instruction (with pictures!) follow below. Continue reading
True Images of Kentucky?
I have very mixed feelings about this [beautiful photo gallery](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/13/opinion/sunday/20111113_Opinion_Exposures.html) by [Shelby Lee Adams](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_Lee_Adams) in today’s NY Times Sunday Review. The photos, without question, show true aspects of Kentucky life: Appalachian Gothic, shirtless men and boys, hunting trophies, haphazard piles of junk, families who seem at once welcoming and off-putting. Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner come to mind, even though they were writers of the [Deep South](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_South), which should never be confused with the [Upland South](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upland_South). The photos are both beautiful and disturbing.
However, since this photo gallery appears in the **New York** Times, will the primary audience see anything *besides* rednecks and hillbillies? Won’t this gallery simply reinforce existing stereotypes of Kentucky among the East Coast elites? Will they have any insight at all as to how to interpret this quote from Adams that accompanies the gallery?
> When I was young, I couldn’t wait to leave Kentucky. Now, as I get older, I value every day when I return.
Many people know about Kentucky author and farmer **Wendell Berry**, but I wish more people knew about [Harlan Hubbard](http://www.harlanhubbard.com/), classically trained painter and musician, an essayist who inspired Berry and who, like Berry, chose to live off the land in rural Kentucky rather than among the cultural elite. Hubbard is someone who gets you a bit closer to the paradoxical land that is Kentucky.
MikeHickerson.com 