Welcome to my weekly digest for February 17, 2023. For new subscribers, this contains a roundup of my recent writings and podcasts, as well as links to the best articles from around the web this week. You can control what emails you get from me by
Off-topic: Would be very interested in comment on Matt Walsh's video criticizing Dylan Mulvaney. It seems like a perfect Rorschach test / scissor statement (*) dividing the 'two modes' of public discourse. (**) For those holding to traditional masculine conceptions of public discourse, Walsh's criticism is admirably frank and long overdue. 'Sometimes, the truth hurts.' A concern for the truth is more valuable than protecting feelings. On the other hand, for those holding to a progressive conception of discourse, Walsh's criticism seems unbearably mean, unkind, and even for those reasons un-Christian. It seems to me yet another example of how those holding to the 'first mode' of discourse (truth above all) have yet to discover how to defeat the deployment of feelings and victimhood as a defeater in argument, i.e., once again, "women's tears win in the marketplace of ideas." (***)
Great review of Keller. At the end of the day, what I appreciate about Keller c. 2002 is apologetics: He could articulate the gospel to a white-collar Manhattan professional in a way that would at least make them say, "Hmm, at least I should think about this a little bit, maybe there's something there." I really wonder who is doing that these days.
From 2009: " When longtime friend and founding member Dee Pifer invited colleagues from her Manhattan law firm, she would say, "I want you to hear a really good litigator.""
Off-topic: Would be very interested in comment on Matt Walsh's video criticizing Dylan Mulvaney. It seems like a perfect Rorschach test / scissor statement (*) dividing the 'two modes' of public discourse. (**) For those holding to traditional masculine conceptions of public discourse, Walsh's criticism is admirably frank and long overdue. 'Sometimes, the truth hurts.' A concern for the truth is more valuable than protecting feelings. On the other hand, for those holding to a progressive conception of discourse, Walsh's criticism seems unbearably mean, unkind, and even for those reasons un-Christian. It seems to me yet another example of how those holding to the 'first mode' of discourse (truth above all) have yet to discover how to defeat the deployment of feelings and victimhood as a defeater in argument, i.e., once again, "women's tears win in the marketplace of ideas." (***)
* https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/opinion/covington-catholic-march-for-life.html
** https://alastairadversaria.com/2012/08/07/of-triggering-and-the-triggered-part-4/
*** https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/womens-tears-win-in-the-marketplace
Great review of Keller. At the end of the day, what I appreciate about Keller c. 2002 is apologetics: He could articulate the gospel to a white-collar Manhattan professional in a way that would at least make them say, "Hmm, at least I should think about this a little bit, maybe there's something there." I really wonder who is doing that these days.
From 2009: " When longtime friend and founding member Dee Pifer invited colleagues from her Manhattan law firm, she would say, "I want you to hear a really good litigator.""
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/june/15.20.html
Enjoyed the digest, in light of Tim Keller “aging out” who do you think are some key Gen x/millennial leaders in the evangelical world?