Wyatt Graham

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Culture

Does My Gender Define Me?

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In the mid-nineteenth century, European legislators invented a taxonomy of gender to identify various sexual disorders (Blank 2012: 15–21). In this way, legal scholars created the idea of orientation, and new words like heterosexual and homosexual came into use.

As Michael Hannon explains, “Heterosexuals, like typewriters and urinals (also, obviously, for gentlemen), were an invention of the 1860s.” And according to Hanne Blank, “It has, in point of actual fact, only been possible to be a heterosexual since 1869” (2012: xiv). It would take about 60 years until these theories made their way into North America.

The straight truth is: heterosexuality is an invention of European legal philosophy. It is neither good nor bad for this reason. And yet we seriously need to question the validity of such gendered-identities. Especially now, since gendered categories have made their way into popular social paradigms.

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Is Great Commission Christianity Opposed to Cosmic Redemption Christianity?

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Anthony Bradley recently lamented the influence of what he calls Great Commission Christianity (GCC)  because it only represents a partial understanding of the Gospel (he calls it “accidentally deficient”). What GCC misses, argues Bradley, is a right focus on the Gospel’s effect of restoring the creation. Pointedly, for Bradley, this means that GCC Christians do not prioritize social issues and so social justice.

His alternative, Cosmic Redemption Christianity (CRC), affirms what GCC does but also includes cosmic restoration. Put simply, it includes evangelism and the drive “to liberate creation from the power of the devil until Christ returns.”

Is he right? Is GCC an accidentally deficient version of Christianity? As is often the case, things are not so simple. Here’s a short review of the two sides which will hopefully clarify the current debate.

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Review of Provocations by Camille Paglia

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I first heard Camille Paglia in a conversation between her and Jordan Peterson. At first, I did not register too much interest. She seemed intelligent and engaging. Later, I saw that historian Carl Trueman interviewed Paglia. This caught my attention. I respect Trueman. So if he found it worthwhile to interview Paglia, I should at least take a deeper look.

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Why Marie Kondo and Minimalism Are So Popular

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Marie Kondo sparks joy in millions who have decluttered and organized their homes. In her recent Netflix series, Kondo teaches her clients how to let go of possessions they do not need and to keep items that spark their joy. Kondo’s appeal goes far beyond the minimalist movement that seems more suited to spartan men than the average person.

Instead of only getting rid of items, Kondo teaches people to manage possessions. She shows them how to order their clothing, dishes, and sentimentals. In short, she mixes minimalism with organization.

And the effect seems to be pervasive. San Francisco thrift stores have had to limit donations largely due to people minimizing their households. Netflix hosts not only a documentary on minimalism but also a whole season of Marie Kondo doing what she does best.  

So why are Marie Kondo and minimalism so popular? Why do so many people feel oppressed by their households and need the freedom that comes by tidying up?

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What Will Threaten the Church in 2019?

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What will threaten the health of the church in 2019? While many threats may exist, one particularly comes to mind: a lack of love. Lovelessness deforms truth. It embraces evangelical jargon to puff up its ego. Yet this embrace represents an artifice of truth and not the real thing. To speak truly, we must speak the truth in love. That’s the realist truth. Truth devoid of love is a styrofoam staircase. It looks like the real thing but falls to pieces when anyone steps on it.

Today’s tribalistic culture deforms truth by making it a weapon of warfare. Political discourse thrives on discrediting the other side. It uses truth rather than honouring it. Winning is all that matters. Love-lacking speakers defile any truth in their words. For their true words become a “ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.” But truth without love is a halfway house that requires rehabilitation. This is because the realist truth analogically participates in God who is true, holy, just, and love. 

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Language works at (at least) four levels: grammar, syntax, speech-acts, and rhetoric.

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Language is an objective reality that people have described through abstracting general use. One of the earliest theorists of language Dionysius Thrax (2nd ce. BC) sketched out a theory of grammar and syntax on the basis of assumed and stated rules of language. Like Isaac Newton’s discovery of the law of gravity became an assumed and unquestioned reality, so also laws of language have come to be understood—at least when it comes to grammar and syntax. Most will also affirm the reality of rhetoric—that the shape and form of speech matters for communication and that patterns of speech exists across cultures and can be discerned.

Yet fewer people are aware of speech-acts since the language to describe speech-acts is relatively new.  [Read more…] about Language works at (at least) four levels: grammar, syntax, speech-acts, and rhetoric.