The very witty and insightful introduction to the arthouse movie:
an arthouse film has an intrusive, overbearing soundtrack that won’t give the audience a chance to relax for one second. Often these films are scored by the remorseless minimalist Philip Glass, whose music is at least as annoying as anything that takes place on screen. Integral components of a good arthouse film are a song or two by Leonard Cohen, Björk, tango master Astor Piazzolla and perhaps something introspective by Bach, though Albinoni will do in a pinch. You will rarely hear Slade or the Four Seasons or Wham! in an arthouse film. You are unlikely to hear Mariah Carey. And if you do, the director is being malevolently ironic.
Daniel Libeskind builds his first house.
I love the animated gif renaissance.
Finally, two Hauerwasian delights. The first is him owning people on BBC Radio 4, “God judges us and that’s a very good thing”. Fascinating if only in this, Hauerwas, the only Christian, is the only one on the panel who is against religion. And the second is his open letter to students who are starting college this year:
But you are a Christian. This means you cannot go to college just to get a better job. These days, people talk about college as an investment because they think of education as a bank account: You deposit the knowledge and expertise you’ve earned, and when it comes time to get a job, you make a withdrawal, putting all that stuff on a résumé and making money off the investment of your four years. Christians need jobs just like anybody else, but the years you spend as an undergraduate are like everything else in your life. They’re not yours to do with as you please. They’re Christ’s.
Your Correspondent, Liked sex before it was even popular
A 1000 thank yous for the gif link.
Kevin, i’m not sure what this feeling is but I think it might be underwhelment! The Hauerwas article was ok, he really just said read some books. With the exception of the quote you used there is none of his usual wit and energy.
And he said that he wasn’t a big fan of schaeffer!
The world makes no sense anymore!
Schaeffer sucks. We all know it.
Not as much as Berry, in quantity or quality, but his hatchet job on Barth is a reason enough for God to invent purgatory and put him in it. I found it profoundly thought provoking Mark- as did the two students I sent it to first and the two people I went running with yesterday and annoyed them with it. In fact, its been the non stop topic of my conversation. I loved that he attacked intellectualism in an article where he was calling us to intellectual formation. It is the nuanced, non-dichotomised (even if he polarises things for rhetorical purposes) viewpoint that he brings which is so valuable.
Ah that’s bullshit actually. He’s so valuable because he tells the truth. The truth is just often nuanced and outside the spectra we like to set up.
I also loved how he emphasised that we’re not english students or economics students but Christian students. Good stuff. Lots in it!
I like the Hauerwas article a lot. Actually, I loved it. But it’s pitched well over the heads of most young people I know heading to uni. They would find it baffling. So maybe the real crisis/problem is with the teenage, high school years?
I’ve definitely gone cold on Schaeffer. Does anyone want to buy a set of his Complete Works in pristine condition???
I’ll take the Schaeffer off your hands JM. I was just talking to a church buddy about him and Van Til yesterday.
I think it is over the heads of young people only in that young people trick themselves and us into thinking them dumb…?
Yes – but they’ve tricked themselves very successfully. How to break the spell? Just giving them Hauerwas’s article may not do it…
You can have Schaeffer next time I see you. It’s a bit bulky to post. When are you next up north?
I passed Hauerwas to MCC-ers who loved it…