Addenda No. 7, September 2004

Addenda

A monthly e-mail newsletter from MARS HILL AUDIO

September 15, 2004 v Number 7

"The refinement or crudity of theological and philosophical thinking is itself, of

course, one of the measures of the state of our culture; and the tendency in

some quarters to reduce theology to such principles as a child can understand

or a Socinian accept, is itself indicative of cultural debility."

 --T. S. Eliot, "Notes toward the Definition of Culture"

New on our desks

Heresies: Against Progress and Other Illusions

Professor and writer John Gray spoke on Volume 40 of the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal about his 1998 book False Dawn, which delivered a "soberly realistic assessment of the state of international economics" (in novelist John Banville's words). Gray's most recent work, Heresies: Against Progress and Other Illusions, debunks the Enlightenment faith in progress that has shaped the modern era. [Read more]

The Apocalypse: "It's a-comin', and it's gonna be big"

"Moreover, it could be argued that not only the thriller but even the novel itself is fundamentally inappropriate as a vehicle for conveying this eschatological vision -- that, as I said at the beginning, the Apocalypse cannot be narrated. The novel is above all a realistic medium, devoted to representing as faithfully and even minutely as possible the textures and themes of everyday life; yet what [John Henry] Newman counsels, and [Michael] O'Brien's Elijah [character] exemplifies, is a loss of interest in those very everyday textures and themes, a dimming of the physical eye so that the inner eye can grow sharper, more discerning of spiritual truth." [Read more]

Postmodern Gnostics

"To speak of the rebirth of gnosticism in contemporary culture is one way of coming to theological terms with the moral and intellectual world of modernity and postmodernity." Professor Roger Lundin (a guest on multiple volumes of the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal) explores the manifestations of gnostic assumptions throughout history while developing a theological understanding of modernity and postmodernity in a chapter from his book The Culture of Interpretation: Christian Faith and the Postmodern World. In the chapter, titled "Postmodern Gnostics," he defines gnosticism as it was first known, traces its survival in various zeitgeists throughout the ages, and explains how the peculiar contemporary concerns for the autonomy of the self and the deification of language are part of this age's flirtation with the ancient philosophy. [Read more]

PBS: The Question of God: Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis

In a 1995 interview with Ken Myers, Armand Nicholi discussed his undergraduate seminar course at Harvard University in which he paired Sigmund Freud's writings with C. S. Lewis's in an attempt to have both men's assumptions about reality shed light on questions about human and divine existence. In 2002 Nicholi published a book on the same subject titled The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life. Now a two-part program based on the book -- its scholarship and themes -- has been produced by PBS. Part One of The Question of God aired on September 15 and Part Two will air on September 22 from 9 to 11 p.m. EDT. For more information about the show, and for a discussion guide, see www.pbs.org/questionofgod.

Ken Myers in Jacksonville

A reminder to our listeners in or around Jacksonville, Florida: Ken Myers will be speaking at the 2nd Annual St. Mark's Episcopal Church Teaching Series on September 17, 18, and 19. Ken will be giving talks on Friday night and Saturday morning, and will preach at the 8:45am and 11:00am worship services on Sunday. There is a registration fee for the Friday and Saturday seminars. For more information, call the church at (904) 388-2681.

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MARS HILL AUDIO

P.O. Box 7826

Charlottesville, Virginia 22906

Call 1.800.331.6407

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