On a visit to Colonial Williamsburg I crossed the recently completed Continue reading…
History
Continuing the brief history of the Slovak people from the narrative begun earlier, through the modern era, we see very clearly illustrated Continue reading…
This is the 65th anniversary of the Allied firebomb-murder of Continue reading…
This book (see biblio info at end) is a nice companion to the Wentorf biography of this dear German Reformed pastor who died Continue reading…
This movie is based on an actual incident in Matewan, West Virginia Continue reading…
This report is based on a “target of opportunity” — an old beat up book from a co-worker; though held together with masking tape and rubber bands, Continue reading…
This is an important documentary for two reasons: it is one of the first “holocaust” documentaries ever made (1955 or 1956), and several of the images (whether created by picture or word) have proven quite durable. It is also blessedly short, coming in at just over a half-hour. For these reasons, it should be seen by everyone. Continue reading…
An essay by Prof Mark A. Noll of Wheaton College in the collection Religion and the American Civil War (Oxford, 1998) outlines the place of the Bible in the American debate on slavery during the years leading up to the Civil War. Noll identifies the dominant view of the Bible on both side of the debate as “Reformed literalist.” Given that view of the Bible, the proslavery side seemed to have the upper hand. The Abolitionists were willing to move toward a “spirit not letter” type of interpretation, but all the orthodox saw this approach as a trajectory toward liberalism. Noll knows that “proslavery” — his term — is wrong, though a high view of the Bible is right; so he explores what might have gone wrong. He examines four alternative hermeneutical traditions that could have led to a different conclusion on slavery, while still holding to a high view of the Bible:(1) the “African American” way of reading the Bible; (2) the Roman Catholic; (3) High-church Lutheranism or Reformed; (4) the non-Southern Reformed, especially Charles Hodge. Only the last named of these had enough of a foothold in America to temper the discussion, but it fell short because of a root inconsistency in the American outlook which compromised the profession of sola scriptura and led to failure to draw a key distinction that would have unraveled the proslavery argument. Continue reading…
The best argument for a liturgical calendar is that having a ceremonial calendar seems to be an inescapable concept. I am not there yet, but I have to admit that our secular civic-religious state, built on the ruins of a calendarless Protestantism, proffers a calendar that veritably bristles with memorials. February, for example, is designated Black History Month. So, to honor it in my own way, I propose to quote Hegel on Black History. After listening to his discussion, it will be possible to state rather unhesitatingly what Hegel’s view of Black History Month would be. Continue reading…
Today, for the remembrance of the 63rd anniversary of the annihilation of Dresden, I review David Irving’s Destruction of Dresden (bibliog. info at end). Dresden, the capital of Saxony, an art city, “the Florence of the Elbe,” had almost no military importance, and was not fortified. Because it was believed that no civilized nation would attack it, it had also become a hospital town, and a destination for refugees. By February 1945, news of horrendous atrocities inflicted on German civilians in towns swept by the Red Army impelled a frightened wave of millions of refugees to flee westward, taking whatever item or two of their most precious possession they were able to carry, and leaving all else forever behind. The lucky ones were able to pack into the dwindling trains, but most went on foot. When the bombers came to Dresden, schools had been suspended in order to convert the buildings into hospitals and so that the children and young people could serve to assist the refugees arriving hourly in trains and by foot in flight from the Red Terror which was now only 80 miles to the east of the city (83). “The city which in peacetime had a population of 630,000 citizens was by the eve of the air attacks so crowded with Silesians, East Prussians and Pomeranians from the Eastern front, with Berliners and Rhinelanders from the West, with Allied and Russian prisoners of war, with evacuated children’s settlements, with forced laborers of many nationalities, that the increased population was now between 1,200,000 and 1,400,000 citizens, of whom, not surprisingly, several hundred thousand had no proper home and of whom none could seek the protection of an air-raid shelter.” (98) Continue reading…
And now comes Rev Michael Eric Dyson to defend Martin Luther King’s plagiarism.
The facts can be summarized rather succinctly. Continue reading…
In a discussion with a co-worker last week, I discovered with shock that some people are still not aware of M. L. King’s chronic cheating: plagiarism in his literary production, and serial adultery and worse in his personal life. The burden of this post will be to examine the discussion of this facet of King’s life given by Rev. Michael Eric Dyson in a book summarized elsewhere. Page numbers in parentheses refer to that work. Continue reading…
In his book, I May Not Get There With You (full bibliog. info at bottom), Rev. Michael Dyson discussed a variety of contemporary topics in racial politics using the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. (hereafter: MLK) as springboard. He is clearly upset that conservatives of many stripes and variations have appropriated the MLK mythos, and wants to set MLK’s iconic status back in service to radical politics. Actually, blacks, whites, liberals, and conservatives have all wandered from the right track due to having come under one or another forms of “amnesia” (290-4) which Dyson details. Continue reading…
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Two Hundred Years Together: Russo-Jewish History, vol. 1 (1795-1916)
Chapter 1, To End of 18th Century, fifth installment (see contents).
[G45] Since the start of the reign of Paul I there was a great famine in White Russia, especially in the province of Minsk. The poet Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin, then serving as Senator, was commissioned to go there and determine its cause and seek a solution — for which task he received no money to buy grain, but instead had the right to confiscate possessions of negligent landowners, sell their stockpile and distribute them. Continue reading…
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Two Hundred Years Together: Russo-Jewish History, vol. 1 (1795-1916) Continue reading…
