Pondering World Vision’s recent decision and reversal. It will be interesting to see how they continue to navigate this issue. The waters of the culture are getting pretty choppy. Courage, grace under pressure, and discernment required…for all of us!
I am reading several books on culture to expand and refine some teaching notes. One book I’ve had, but never read is All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes by Kenneth Myers. It was written in 1989 so does not have anything to say about the Internet, but wisely addresses our American love affair with media and entertainment.
Myers cites Roger Shattuck’s work (The Banquet Years: The Origins of the Avant-Garde in France, 1885 to World War I) to describe the four major features of the era we dub “The Sixties.”
They are: “the cult of childhood, which attacked education and society at large for introducing concern about self-control; the delight in humor, especially in the absurd; the confusion between reality and fantasy; and a preference for ambiguity over clarity.” (All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes, p. 109).
Anthony Daniels who uses the pen name Theodore Dalrymple is a psychiatrist, conservative, skeptic, and understands the human predicament better than many Christians. He is a gifted and insightful essayist. Here is an example of his brilliance on display:
http://incharacter.org/features/theodore-dalrymple-on-self-esteem-vs-self-respect/
