How to See Reality

Joffre the Giant: How To Make Date Rape Obsolete

I think this is a pretty brilliant post. I’m not going to spoil his argument. Just go read it. I will pull out my favorite paragraph from the conclusion, though.

The word theonomy can be a very distracting one. But don’t let it be. I don’t even call myself a theonomist. I don’t want you even thinking about theonomy. I want you to think about this: o Christian, does it not seem right to you that the Law as given to Israel of old should at least teach the Israel of today (i.e. we Christians) how to see reality?

Theonomy is distracting. To me. I’m not sure what to do with it. I have some objections to it, but even its definition is kind of slippery. But what Joffre does in his post is help us conform our minds to Scripture, all policy questions aside. The Bible teaches us how to see reality.

Oh how I love your law!
It is my meditation all the day.

Magenta

I have sometimes been accused of being a political centrist. I have some problems with this label, but before today it was the most accurate approximation of my views that I have come across. Today I read this piece by Elizabeth Bruenig with introduced me to the term “magenta” for people who cannot place themselves comfortably on either the Left or the Right.

This is to say, there are two ways to make magenta: you can arrange blue and red on a spectrum and ping the middle, or you can have a pot of red and a pot of blue and scoop out what you want from each and mix them. This will give you really different political results.

Of course I like the sound of the second option better. However, as someone who doesn’t go in much for political theory (I’m sure “magenta” has been a thing for much longer than a day!) I don’t really love the red / blue matrix at all. My interest in politics is really a side project to my interest in Christian ethics. So any label or position I might take in reference to contemporary political realities is a profoundly contingent, provisional declaration.

(I tend to get sucked into the whole thing when self-described Christians espouse political views that seem to me to directly contradict Christian ethics. For me this happens mostly on the Right, because it is closer to home. Also I tend to just disregard theological liberals, which perhaps limits the number of people I would describe as genuine Christians who lean too far Left.)

But provisional as it is, magenta feels a bit more comfortable to me than centrist. Perhaps it will be a useful term.

Review: REAMDE

I enjoyed this quite a lot. This is the second Stephenson book I've read, the first being Cryptonomicon. On the whole I think I liked this one better. It's more of a pop thriller. The ideas are maybe not as far-reaching, but it was more fun, and I cared more about the characters. It's nearly as long as Cryptonomicon (1000 pages), but follows a single linear timeline, which made it easier for me to keep momentum. I find Stephenson's style growing on me a lot, and I think this book has convinced me to go back and read the rest of his novels. As nerdy as his stories are, there's something surprisingly old fashioned about his storytelling sensibilities—the preposterous coincidences, the indulgent discursions, the sometimes hilariously absurd characterizations. I wasn't quite acclimated to all of this when I read Cryptonomicon, but now that I'm used to it, it's really a lot of fun.

Review: The Devil in Pew Number Seven

So this was a bit of a risk, but I did enjoy it. The writing is pretty bad, and it is stuffed with sentimentality from start to finish. The first third or so is by far the worst of it. It gets better once the story gets going.

It seems to have been pretty well researched, for which I was grateful. The events of the story are remarkable in themselves, which mostly redeems the bad writing in my opinion. It is a true story told by the woman who lived it. The fact that she doesn't do a great job of telling her story doesn't diminish the value of the story itself.

The fundamental difficulty is that she was a child when the events took place. If one of the adults in the story had written this instead, I think we may have gotten a tighter account. As it is, a childish perspective pervades the whole telling.

So I guess this is sort of a tepid recommendation. If you are intrigued by the idea of a church-related pseudo-true crime story that happened in NC, you might enjoy this book. I'd just say don't make the mistake another reviewer did by getting the audiobook!

Review: The Way of Kings

Overrated. I hadn't read Sanderson before, but given the number of books he has to his name, I expected much better writing. A lot of the dialog is bad. His attempts at humor are mostly annoying. He jumps from character to character, and is constantly inside the current character's head. There are ample doses of inner monologue.

It's not all bad, though. I respect his ambitious attempt at world building. I think this would redeem the book entirely except that I don't think he quite sold it. There are too many little notes of discord for the world to really hold together and feel like a real place. The dialog was a major barrier here.

I did find his treatment of religion interesting, although it falls short of any real poignancy mainly because it has no continuity with our world. Should my sympathies lie with Vorinism or with Jasnah's atheism? I don't know. (I also couldn't stop thinking of Gene Wolfe's Vironism in The Book of the Long Sun, a comparison that is not favorable to Sanderson.)

I did find the characters mostly likable, despite being constantly in their heads. And the last 100 pages or so really kicks it up a notch. The book is very slow-paced, which would be fine if it were better written. But once things start happening quickly, I found it easier to overlook the flaws. I'm on the fence about whether to continue the series.

Review: Neuromancer

I loved this. Gibson's classic succeeds both as science fiction and as noir. His dense, inventive style is a delight to read. I do wish he had had a more realistic view of computers, although his conception of cyberspace has admittedly been very influential. (I was surprised by how much Christopher Nolan's Inception seems to borrow from this book.)

Review: Paradise Lost

I picked this up again after leaving it unfinished for about 6 years.

Milton's English is sublime. His theological imagination is compelling. His influence over English literature and usage is profound. This is by every measure a classic work of literature.