Mary T. Lewis writes, “At its most profound, and especially in [German painter Caspar David] Friedrich’s work, the motif of a view through an open window celebrated the utter subjectivity of the painter’s vision at the very threshold that divided his world and the realm of art from nature.” There’s an exhibit of Friedrich and his contemporaries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The articles has some nice pictures for those of us who aren’t planning to make it over to New York this year.
Prester John, by John Buchan
I remember there was a copy of Prester John
John Buchan was one of the inventors of the modern thriller novel, elevating the genre from the level of earlier (and excellent in their own way) writers like H. Rider Haggard to new realism, seriousness, and economy of language. His most famous work is The 39 Steps, adapted out of all recognition by Alfred Hitchcock, but he wrote other excellent novels. I’m particularly fond of the Richard Hannay books.
Prester John is not part of that series. It will never be widely popular again because, fine as it is purely as a story, it strongly promotes attitudes toward race which are (rightly) offensive to the modern mind. Continue reading Prester John, by John Buchan
Library Boycott of HarperCollins
There’s a movement among librarians and what I believe are to be called library advocates to boycott HarperCollins e-books because the publisher has stated it plans to release new e-books that will have distribution limitations. For Overdrive and other library e-readers, HarperCollins intends to publish new works that will permit only 26 check outs before expiring. They haven’t done it yet, but they still intend to.
Publishers Macmillan and Simon & Schuster don’t publish ebooks for libraries at all, but no boycott has been organized for them that I know of.
One librarian said, “Consumer market eBook vendors like Barnes & Noble and Amazon don’t let publishers get away with the amount of nonsense that we get stuck with through library eBook vendors. I fault the publishers for not realizing what a huge mistake they are making by not realizing that new formats are opportunities…”
In other library news, at least six Alabama libraries were severely damaged in the tornado storm we had last week. Three of them may be completely destroyed. Several more libraries are in badly damaged areas of the state, but no word has come from them yet.
A local history library just south of where I live took a good bit of damage. “Our genealogy and local history material was boxed up and stored at the temporary location,” the Dade County librarian said. That location lost some of its roof. The materials inside were soaked.
Open Season, by C. J. Box
I picked up Open Season
Joe Pickett, the hero, is a game warden in Wyoming. It’s what he’s always dreamed of doing, but things aren’t going smoothly. The pay is low and he has a wife and two daughters to support (another child on the way). On top of that, he makes a couple “bonehead moves” early on, like ticketing the governor for fishing without a license and (this is how the story starts) allowing a poacher to take his revolver away from him.
Still, he believes he’s getting the hang of things when the same poacher who took his gun away shows up one morning, shot dead on Joe’s wood pile. The only clue to his murder is a cooler containing the scat of unknown animals. Then two other “outfitters” are found murdered in a mountain camp, and Joe and two other officers get into a gun fight with the presumed killer. Continue reading Open Season, by C. J. Box
Bin-Ladenfreud
I’m going to try to tone down the exultation. After all, a human being has died, one who was loved by God and might have found salvation. One who might have done much good if he’d turned his heart and considerable gifts to Jesus Christ, rather than to a doctrine of bloodthirsty deception.
Nope, can’t do it.
This was not some Pakistani peasant who’d never been out of the mountains. This was a sophisticated man, born to wealth, who’d spent time in the West and surely had the opportunity to hear the gospel. He was not interested in grace. He chose a form of Islam which hails the murder of innocents and considers women and children the perfect body armor (a woman was used as a human shield in the final firefight. I understand she was one of Bin Laden’s wives, but whether he or someone else tried to hide behind her I haven’t been able to determine). In his own words, he loved death better than life. He was a man without pity, who joyfully slaughtered thousands of my countrymen.
As a Christian, I’m gospel-centric and forgiveness-oriented. But I think we sometimes forget that justice is also a part of God’s nature. One of the chief consequences of the Fall (and a chief complaint of atheists and agnostics in their attacks on religion) is that the world is not just. God has postponed final judgment, leaving such justice as we can scrape together in this world in the hands of fallible human beings. In a situation like this, I think it’s permissible to rejoice a little bit when we see some partial justice done, especially when it’s visited on an individual who knowingly embraced evil.
There’s a troubling and intriguing passage in 1 John—Chapter 5:16:
If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying he should pray about that.
I don’t claim to understand what that verse means. But I think it provides adequate grounds for me to conclude (I could be wrong) that some people have gone so far in evil that the only thing that can be done with them is put them out of the world.
And if that putting out makes the world a safer place, and gives closure to the families and friends of victims, I feel good about that.
That’s my opinion. You may disagree.
Three Thoughts For Aspiring Writers Of Speculative Fiction
- “If there are more proper nouns in your back cover text blurb than non-proper ones, you’re probably doing something wrong.”
- “Unspeakable evil probably doesn’t live in your mom’s basement.”
- “If your star-spanning galactic empire doesn’t have working cell phone technology, you may want to rethink things a bit.”
Biblical Words This Week
Anu Garg, the wordsmith behind Word of the Day, is doing biblical names turned words this week in honor of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. Today’s word is Jonah. Other words will likely be Jezebel, Judas, and Jeremiah or Jeremiad.
For better or for worse, but my money's on #2
What do I think of the royal wedding?
I think it’s very sweet that a whole country would get together to pretend a) that they believe in traditional marriage, and b) that they believe in the Christian religion, all just to please one old lady.
Frankly, in spite of my own snark, I’m tired of all the snide commentary about the event. I approve of tradition, and I am not at all offended that large amounts of public money are spent for ceremonial purposes. It’s one of the least corrosive uses for government funds I can think of.
I just can’t work up any enthusiasm. I have this feeling that tradition is the only thing driving this business–that nobody involved actually cares much about the sacred union of a man and woman in the eyes of God. That orchestra you hear playing the “Lohengrin” march? Their last gig was on the Titanic.
Super Cool Photo, Interface of Library
“The largest indoor photo in the world as of March 2011” is of the Strahov Philosophical Library. This photo is allows you to pan 360 degrees and zoom in incredibly close. Note the “Show Details” link in the lower left corner. It will take you around the room a bit. It’s beautiful, and I’ve been looking at many very ugly photos lately, so this one is refreshing today.
A bad day in the south
Our prayers certainly go out to residents of the southeast as they dig out from storm and tornado damage suffered yesterday. Nice to see that Phil, whose area was badly affected, is still blogging (as you may see below).
That was far from the only tragedy to happen yesterday, though. Rev. David Wilkerson, founder of the Times Square Church and Teen Challenge, and author of The Cross and the Switchblade, was killed yesterday in an automobile accident in Texas. Reports say the 79-year-old pastor swerved into the path of a truck, for reasons still unexplained. His wife, also in the car, remains hospitalized.
My personal belief is that social historians have paid far too little attention to Pastor Wilkerson and the monumental effect The Cross and the Switchblade—the book even more than the Pat Boone movie—had in the ’60s and ’70s. It was my own first exposure to Pentecostalism, a movement in which I participated for a time. I remember that even pastors who loathed the Charismatic movement encouraged us kids to read it. I still know at least one strongly anti-charismatic pastor who has continued to be a devoted follower of Wilkerson’s writings.
The drama of his account of his call to the mean streets of New York City, his initial humiliation and ultimate vindication, along with the apparent miracles that followed, held powerful fascination for young Christians. The story opened up unimagined spiritual possibilities to us, and convinced us that Christian life could be a meaningful adventure. I think The Cross and the Switchblade, more than any other single factor, was responsible for the Jesus Movement—for good and ill.
I know of no scandal in Pastor Wilkerson’s life. I found much humility and wisdom in his writings. I’d forgotten till today, but I actually heard him preach once, at a conference in Minneapolis back in the ’70s.
Rest in peace.