http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Tue, 27 Jan 2004 01:40:37 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/27/014037.php Zebulin Culver Certain types of works are exceedingly difficult to review. They offer neither stories, as do most works of fiction, nor do they offer arguments, like most works of non-fiction. Instead, they offer only themselves. They cannot be judged fairly by standards created to judge and evaluate a work as easily as the previously mentioned types of works can. They are neither here nor there, as someone unafraid of cliches might say. Nonetheless, these works deserve to be read, and one way of assuring continued readership is to attempt to construct a review, however difficult it may be, of a work of this type. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg's The Waste Books is such a work. This work is a collection of aphorisms, observations, quotes, and various other miscellanea that Lichtenberg thought worth writing down in his "waste books" during his lifetime. Nothing in The Waste Books was intended for publication: they are merely ideas that fermented in Lichtenberg's mind and which he thought worth writing down for his own benefit. And what are the various natures of these ideas? Lichtenberg was a scientist by trade, though as translator R. J. Hollingdale states "He was a mathematician, physicist and astronomer by profession, and a satirist in his spare time: but the work he published would not have served to keep his name and presence alive beyond his own era." So it is not due to this that he has his (limited) fame. Rather, he is known for the profound aphorisms and observations that he wrote down in his journals, which cover such subjects as art, philosophy, theology, history, and even an entry or two on the current social scandal of the day. Perhaps a few quotes to illustrate the style and range of his ideas: The grocer who weighs something is as much engaged in putting the unknown quantity on the one side and the known on the other as is the algebraist. He is already in his forties and is still wearing red linings and bright colors. Thus he will never get into the lexicon of history, either as a genius or a rascal. What is called acute knowledge of human nature is mostly nothing but the observer's own weakness reflected back from others.These examples scarcely do justice to Lichtenberg's writings, but they do demonstrate both the tone of his aphorisms and the breadth of subjects which fascinated him. What would a reader gain from spending the time to read Lichtenberg's The Waste Books? Certainly not an all-encompassing philosophy. Although this work reads very much like a work of Nietzche, who was influenced by Lichtenberg, there is no philosophical idea driving the thoughts and observations. Rather, they are just personal thoughts formulated in a witty way. And in this is perhaps the greatest value of Lichtenberg's work. In in reading it one may be inspired to collect their own thoughts in this manner, and possibly even pass them along for others to read. Books12070@blogcritics.org Tue, 27 Jan 2004 01:40:37 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/04/180219.php Zebulin CulverThe historical presentation of any subject is a difficult task. The subject in question can be presented in one of three ways. The first is simplified; the subject is presented as a collection of facts, with little or no connection between them. The second is more complex; the subject is explored, eviscerated, and placed within a larger context, from which the reader can gain a firmer grasp of the subject. The third, and most useful, is a synthesis of the previous two. All of the relevant facts are preserved and are then placed within a larger critical historical evaluation. If the above is true of any historical phenomenon, it is true of Christianity as well. A reader can be told any number of facts concerning the foundation, development, and current manifestation of historical Christianity. But this presentation would be bereft of any explanation as to why these events were necessary. Or a reader could be presented with an abstruse historical critique which attempts to demonstrate why these events were necessary and how they are related both to one another and to other historical events and movements. The danger of this approach is that the singular event is lost in the grand sweep of historical movements, and the reader may emerge knowing less about his subject and more about historical evaluation. In "A History of Christian Thought" Paul Tillich attempts to present this subject with the third method, that of factual-critical synthesis. Tillich hopes to describe the important events in the history of Christian thought as well as the underlaying philosophical, cultural, and theological currents which gave birth to these events. Originally developed and delivered as two sets of lectures, A History of Christian Thought begins by describing the Kairos, or roughly, "correct historical time", into which Christianity was born and ends by speculation about the "new ways of mediation" in our modern time. This work is divided into two sections, each representing a different series of lectures. The first section, originally delivered as "A History of Christian Thought" at Union Theological Seminary in New York, begins with the historical preparation for Christianity. This includes the scope of the Roman Empire, the attitudes of Hellenistic Philosophy, and the inter-testament period in Judaic culture. This section ends with an exploration of the thought of the Protestant Reformers, including Luther and Calvin, and the consequences of their thought for what would become Protestant Orthodoxy. The second section, originally delivered as "Perspectives on Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Protestant Theology" at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago, covers the modern period, from the Enlightenment challenge to Orthodoxy to the rise of existential theology in our own time. The two sections of this work are presented in two distinct styles. The first section, dealing with the foundation of the Christian Church, is more didactic than the the latter section. This is necessarily so, as readers are likely to be less familiar with the period of Church history directly after Biblical accounts as they are with the modern period. Tillich describes the challenge that gnosticism presented to the early Church Fathers and the response of the Fathers to that challenge. This response was the first apologetics, or "defense" of the Christian doctrines. Tillich then goes on to explain how these defenses of Christianity were themselves subject to correction and revision by subsequent Christian Theologians, from Origen to Augustine to Aquinas. This process, together with a rising, and eventually unequivocal, acceptance of Christian theology helped to transform the Church from a disjointed group of believers into the dominant cultural power of the Western World. Tillich then explores the results of this cultural dominance by the Church, including its effect on culture, philosophy, and the identity of the individual. Of course, this dominance was not to last. It fell, not to outside influence, but rather by the insights of the pre-reformers and the power of those who would become known as the Protestant Reformers. Tillich details Luther's theology, and why it proved ultimately incompatible with the dominant Catholic theology. In closing the first section, Tillich explains how the theologies of men like Luther and Calvin became the "dominant orthodoxy", and what was both gained and lost in this most important religious transformation. If the first section is more didactic because of its distance from modern times, then the second section is more dialectic because of its closeness to our own age. The second section begins with the challenges that the Enlightenment, specifically the rise of rationality, presented to the Protestant Orthodoxy, and the response of the Orthodox to this challenge. This dialectic, orthodoxy-challenge to orthodoxy-reformed or corrected orthodoxy, is of utmost importance to Tillich. It is this process which injects the Christian Tradition with life and meaning; a failure to adapt or consider one's own position because of dogmatic fear is to submit the Church to a certain death. It is only by taking philosophical or cultural challenges seriously that the Church can remain relevant and continue to share its central message-the Gospel. It is in diagnosing and explaining this process that Tillich demonstrates his philosophical and theological acumen, as well as his deep concern for the issues that this process brings. The Church has never, and can never, exist as an entity entirely separated from the world in which it is placed. The Church, and its thought, must engage the ideas of the world, not only as enemies, but as Tillich demonstrates in the second section of this work, also as fellow truth-seekers. Of course, to some believers, this position will appear almost heretical. It gives credit where credit is due, whether it be in the sciences or in philosophy or even in the theologies of other traditions. This is opposite approach from that which many theological systems take, that of a "closed dogma". This work is not without its weaknesses. The style is rather rough, and the reading is anything but smooth. This is probably due in large part to the method that it was delivered through (lectures) as well as the inherent difficulty of the subject. Those with no prior philosophical or theological experience will find the going slow and will probably have to re-read several sections to understand the point that Tillich is making. However, the strengths of this work make it worth the effort. Tillich has given readers a history of Christian thought which delivers traditional historical information as well as a larger historical meaning. And he has given it in a refreshingly non-dogmatic form. Anyone who wishes to understand the present state of the Church (even the American Church) and how it came to be how it is would do well to give Tillich's "A History of Christian Thought" a full read. Books11437@blogcritics.org Sun, 4 Jan 2004 18:02:19 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/12/22/021618.php Zebulin Culver Few philosophers have had such a profound and varied influence as Friedrich Nietzsche. From artists and musicians to psychologist and statesmen, Nietzsche's thought has, for better or worse, left a definite and lasting impression on the last one hundred years. Nietzsche was born in Prussia in 1844 and died after a long period of unproductive insanity in Weimar, Germany, in 1900. Nietzsche's life and thought serve as both a model and a warning for those who would hope to free themselves from the traditional and cultural values which they have inherited merely by being born into them. Nietzsche's Europe was on the edge of a cultural anomy. The traditonal social and religious values were still being proclaimed by the mouth, but were not being followed by the body. Nietzsche saw this situation with an unmatched clarity and, instead of trying to rescue Europe, hoped to speed its decline by powerfully and passionately pointing out the hypocracies of the times. In turn, this might hasten the ascention of a new type of man-the "Free-Spirits", those who had the strength and courage to "become what they are". Thus, Nietzsche's task was to expose the cultural inheritance of Europe as something that has limited and denaturalized humanity, instead of elevating it to all that it could become. During what would prove to be the last years of his sanity, Niezsche proposed for himself a new program for his task, the "Revaluation of all Values", or as it is sometimes known "The Will to Power". It is from this period that the "Writings from the Late Notebooks" are taken. The first thing that must be noted is that these writings were not intended for publication, and therefore it cannot be safely assumed that everything he has to say in these notebooks would have survived his own critical editorial process and entered into a published work. However, it is safe (I believe) to assume that the themes that Nietzsche wrote about and worked through in these notebooks would, some of them, find their way into a finished work. As anyone who has read Nietzsche will agree, both his style and his content are very original. Instead of long, obscure treatise, Nietzsche wrote in short, aphoristic paragraphs. What he wrote in his notebooks is in this regard no different from what was published during his lifetime. Although there are a few outline-style entries in these notebooks, most are written in the same aphoristic style that Nietzsche elevated to a perfected art form in his published works. The strength of the aphorism is that it immediately produces an effect; the reader cannot help but to be struck by the genius of the observation. The weakness is that the aphorism does not present an argument, rather, it makes an assertion that is to be belived because of its directness and its initial effect. This style fits quite well with Nietzsche, who mistrusted systematic constructions of "truth", and was poetically sensitive enough to know how to deeply and immediately affect his readers. Perhaps the first thing that the reader will notice about "Writings from the Late Notebooks" is that they lack a consistant theme. Of course, this is to be expected and cannot be a valid criticism of the author. Here Nietzsche writes of philosophy proper, here he writes of the origin and subsequent decline of morality, and again here he writes about the task of the "Free-Spirit". This makes the reading slightly more difficult than his published works, for there is no thematic unity to carry the reader through those passages that he or she finds difficult, and no hope that a later passage will shed interprative light upon a former passage. As piecemeal as these entries may be, they still offer valuable insight into those subjects that Nietzsche thought and wrote about. Perhaps the greatest advantage that a reader could gain from this book is a more complex understanding of the tensions and struggles not only in Nietzsche's thought, but thought in general. What a writer thinks and what a writer publishes are two different things, and although the latter include the former, the reverse does not hold true. Of course, this is how it should be. Thinking and writing are both messy enterprises, and for everything valuable that is produced, much more will enter the mind as genius only to be later discarded as trash. These notebooks show that, as brilliant and original as Nietzsche was (and remains), his thought and his writings had to suffer the most painful criticism of all-those of the self. Of all the great philosophers, Nietzsche is perhaps one of the most ill-read. By this of course I do not mean that Nietzsche could have had a few more books in his library. Rather, I mean that Nietzsche's works are subject to haphazard quoting by almost everyone (for it is fashionable to quote philosophers), and this work offers more that could be tossed out at almost any occasion. To treat Nietzsche's philosophy as an idealogical buffet that one may pick and chose from is to betray this geat thinker, for he demands all from those who would be his readers. Therefore, I would not recommend "The Writings from the Late Notebooks" to those who have no previous exposure to the writings of this German malcontent. They would not get the strongest style and originality committed to published works, nor would they get the scope and scale of his overall cultural evaluation. To those who are familiar with Nietzsche's thought, however, this book will serve to demonstrate the depth and variety of topics that Nietzsche the thinker considered, and will highlight the profound effort required to produce such polished and powerful works as Nietzsche has. Books11153@blogcritics.org Mon, 22 Dec 2003 02:16:18 EST