Addenda No. 6, August 2004

Addenda

A monthly e-mail newsletter from MARS HILL AUDIO

August 15, 2004 v Number 6

"When the Christian faith is not only felt, but thought, it has practical results which may be inconvenient."

-- T. S. Eliot, "The Idea of a Christian Society"

New on our desks: Art and the Loss of Transcendence

"In refusing to acknowledge the reality of any experience that is not scientifically provable, the scientific world view has condemned much that is vital to culture and creative growth. To see things in this alienating way may be the particular compulsion of the modern Western mentality, but it does not necessarily reflect the way things really are. Although we may value technological power more than sacred wisdom, scientific rationalism has so far failed to prove itself as a successful integrating mythology for industrial society; it offers no inner archetypal mediators of divine power, no cosmic connectedness, no sense of belonging to a larger pattern. Science, in the twentieth century, has had little to say about spiritual values, nor, it would seem, has art." [Read more]

Introductory Essay to Volume 68

Occasionally the introductions to interviews on the Journal are long and detailed, intended to build a framework for the interview to come. Such was the case with the first interview on MHAJ Volume 68 with the sociologist Murray Milner, in which Ken Myers explained in general terms how he often chooses subjects to consider and guests to interview. A number of our listeners have asked whether this for a printed version of these comments, which amounts to an essay on the significance of the complex relationship between what we believe (substance) and the way we live (form). These comments are now available in either PDF or HTML format. For other print articles from MARS HILL AUDIO, see our printable documents page (www.marshillaudio.org/pdf).

More on Moore

"Michael Moore is the mind and the grin behind TV Nation, a weekly show in which he applies the satirical techniques he developed in his award-winning documentary, Roger and Me, to all manner of stories, from pets on PROZAC, to Avon ladies in the Amazon, to consumer culture in Kuwait.

"Some of it is illuminating, and some of it funny, but there's an uneasy edge to the laughter, or ought to be. Where Letterman makes fun of people to get a laugh, Michael Moore tries to get laughs in order to make fun of people, especially rich and conservative people. He has confessed that he has a deliberate, populist left-wing agenda. Like Rush Limbaugh, he is an entertainer with a purpose, and he uses the visual medium as well as Limbaugh uses his. 'I want people to be angry; I want them to get up and do something.' Exactly what he would like them to do remains unclear. That's always the liability of sheer satire: it tends toward nihilism if there's no constructive vision guiding it."

The preceding is part of a commentary on Michael Moore by Ken Myers from Volume 11 (Sept/Oct 1994) of the MARS HILL Tapes. In the intervening years (and especially in the past few months) popularity (or perhaps notoriety) of the filmmaker from Flint has only increased. For insight into why and how Michael Moore has succeeded in capturing the imagination of a significant portion of the populace, we recommend a couple of insightful items we've recently posted to our Online Resources: A review of Fahrenheit 9/11 by journalist Christopher Hitchens and an article by Sandy Starr called "Cinema of Cynicism."

Coming Up on the Journal

The issue of the Journal we have recently finished producing is Volume 69 (July/August 2004). We'd also like you to know about some of the guests our subscribers can expect to hear on the Journal later this year:

R. Larry Todd, praised by the New York Times as "the dean of Mendelssohn scholars in the United States," has written a major new biography of Felix Mendelssohn. The shifting perceptions about Mendelssohn's importance as a composer offer an interesting glimpse into cultural fashions of the last two centuries. Also of interest are Mendelssohn's experience as a Jewish convert to Christianity and as the man who reintroduced Bach to a world that would not again forget him.

W. Wesley MacDonald's Russell Kirk and Age of Ideology (University of Missouri Press) is a profile of a man who, in the mid-twentieth century, wanted to remind conservatives of the importance of a traditional community grounded in a renewed appreciation of man's social and spiritual nature. In the tradition of Edmund Burke and T. S. Eliot (two of his favorite subjects), Russell Kirk was eager to preserve "the permanent things."

Richard Weikart teaches modern European history at California State University. The subject of his new book, From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenic, and Racism in Germany, is a helpful addition to a discussion we began in the interview on Volume 61 with Ian Dowbiggin, author of A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America.

Carl Elliott's Better Than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream looks at various trends in medical practice (psychopharmacology, Botox, Ritalin, Viagra, etc.) in light of the American obsession with self-improvement techniques.

Dana Gioia, now the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, will return to our microphones to talk about the recent NEA survey on reading habits among Americans. (Conclusion: they don't read as much fiction or poetry as they did 20 years ago, and the decline is accelerating.)

MHAJ Discussion Groups

Many of you have inquired about local MARS HILL AUDIO Journal discussion groups, and in a few cities they have actually begun to flourish. The ones we know about are Washington, D.C., Pasadena, Ca., and Houston, Tex., and if you are interested in joining, you can get more information on our discussion group page. If anyone has additions or updates to what is listed there, please let us know. And if you are interested in beginning a discussion group in your area and would like a little assistance from the home office, please contact Jim Heetderks via e-mail or by calling 434.990.9000.

Reader and Listener Mail

View new postings to our Listener Mail page. We encourage you to send your submission to addenda@marshillaudio.org. If you would prefer to send a letter, please see our mailing address at the end of this newsletter. If we decide to print your letter we will include your name unless you request to remain anonymous.

Various Details, Disclaimers, Etc.

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MARS HILL AUDIO

P.O. Box 7826

Charlottesville, Virginia 22906

Call 1.800.331.6407

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