Musings of a Christian Humanist

Let's begin with the film's single greatest obstacle: the culture Philip Rieff described as "the death culture" is not likely to assemble en masse to pay for viewing a morality tale. A central message in this film is that we have become "shadows." Indeed, those immersed in our death culture do not likely have ears to hear and eyes to see the hollow selves we currently are. In a time such as ours, where very little if anything signifies, it is not probable this movie will be understood. At one key moment The Giver declares, "we are living a life of shadows, of echoes." This sentence captures the essence of the death culture. Add to that the following minor problem of our nearly national obsession with spectacle, as evidenced in news shows and recent popular YA movies such as The Hunger Games and Divergent . It is clear our current death culture is taken with the dystopian novel and dystopian movie version of said novel as long as it provides ...

      Ok , I begin with a disclaimer. This is not an actual interview in the technical sense. Since William James passed from this world in 1910, many decades before I was even born, it is not possible that I interviewed him. However, here is what really did happen. After spending the last few months pouring over key books by Professor James, it caught up with my unconscious mind and I did indeed dream that I met him and we talked. The following is an imagined conversation based on significant engagement with some of his writings and an unusual dream.  Robert Woods: This is a most unexpected honor to meet you Dr. James and be able to ask you some questions about some things you have written. William James: My pleasure. I am glad to discover that some are still reading my writings. Woods: I think what most impresses me about your education is that you are a philosopher and psychologist, but were trained as a physician which gives you an extraordinary ...

    Of The Box of Delights , C.S. Lewis said, that it is a unique work and will often be re-read…the beauties, all the 'delights' that keep on emerging from the box—are so exquisite, and quite unlike anything I have seen elsewhere.  Those of us who re-read the writings of Lewis would recognize some clear references and allusions to The Box of Delights , especially in Lewis's own The Magician's Nephew .       The Box of Delights  was first published in 1935, and was acclaimed and embraced on a popular level. Some place it on the same level of excellence and as perfect for the Christmas season as Charles Dicken's  A Christmas Carol . The plot is simple in that it focuses on the adventures of Kay Harker and a gentleman Cole Hawlings who has a magical box that is most desired by a group of criminals.  As you assemble your Christmas season reading list, or gifts for children who are burned out on the most recent dys...

      My wife is a librarian and daily interacts with children and books. If I were not a Professor, I cannot think of a more appealing calling. We talk daily about the little ones in her school, books, and the relationship between bookish children and their overall demeanor. A picture book that we recently became aware of is The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore .       For all bibliovores, regardless of age, this book is for you. It is beautiful in form and content, it is good in form and content, and it is true in form and content. Rarely does one find a children's picture book that so throughly celebrates a bookish life, but also deals with some grand humane themes. In addition to this unique book, there is an app (sorry Luddites) that is interactive with the book.  For the critics of such apps, one can make the case that this app encourages greater interaction with the book and other books.  For short film lovers, t...

     While I have joked about this for years, it is time to be as serious as one can be about such things. While nihilism or your garden variety atheism (not the fundamentalist version of recent years) are options, the reason they do not make sense to me is because nihilism sees only abyss where there are mountains. I do understand on one level how people opt for atheism, but there are too many signals both around me and within me for me to embrace unbelief. Hobbits clearly love life.

     Henry Petroski's,  The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance , is among the most important books I've ever read. It perfectly illustrates the insight of Neil Postman that everything can be studied, and should be, in terms of history and philosophy.       Leonard's Read's charming and insightful essay, I, Pencil has been turned into a wonderful little  movie that can supplement Petroski's rich book and Read's marvelous essay about one of mankind's most brilliant inventions.       In truth, if you have grown up writing with a pencil, there is certainly a pleasure in thoughtfully using one. While I do put things on Evernote and increasingly use Google Docs, I still often find myself reaching for a pencil to scribble down notes and there are times, when I need to carefully and in a most leisurely mode compose, in those special moments, nothing is better than the pencil.

     It has long been a conviction of mine that too many believers are too much of the world and they know not. Human cultures have a way of so becoming the atmosphere we take into our lungs that we lose sight of the truth that sometimes the air is poison. For some it is a slow death by breathing.      Os Guinness, Peter Berger, Max Weber, and Jacques Ellul have assisted me in checking the toxicity levels, and now I need to add another--Philip Rieff. Truthfully, he is the most challenging in both the way he writes and at times what he says. Sometimes what he says is difficult to mentally grasp and other times I fear I understand him all too clearly.       Rieff is best known for his superlative scholarship on the life, writings, and influence (helpful and destructive) of Sigmund Freud. Rieff is one of those rare contemporary authors who is conversant with ideas and authors well beyond...