Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Material Mysticism #10

The necromancy continues in the latest column. If you're pressed for time, Thomas Merton’s critique of Henri De Lubac’s overly rosy summation of Teilhard, whose baffling naïveté included seeing the H-bomb as “dawn of Christic neo-energy,” and Mao’s armies as a vanguard of a new humanity, is a convenient summation:

De Lubac has many reservations about Teilhard's religious teaching style and its perspectives. But he accepts the Teilhardian wager as a legitimate extrapolation of Chrsitian revelation in a modern context. Teilhard, in his estimation, has made an inspired guess and has built upon it a mystique of hope, which many well be of vital importance in our time. But Du Lubac also admits that the enthusiasm of Teilhardians — and their overanxiety to be supermodern — has blinded them to two facts. Teilhard is not really as revolutionary as he himself thought, and one of the defects of Teilhardism is precisely its tendency to black-and-white schematization, a naïve polarization of "yesterday" and "tomorrow." The only harsh word De Lubac has for Teilhard is that he was too complacent about his own originality that he neglected to learn from predecessors he would have agreed with, had he but known them: "His knowledge of Christian though throughout the centuries was never more than elementary" (191).

Indeed. But he (Teilhard) knows better now, and still has a lot to offer anyone trying to make sense of geology and paleontology. 

Wednesday, October 09, 2024

Descent of the Dove

Here's a podcast conversation (available on youtube or apple podcasts) with friends at the Wade Center about the estimable inkling, Charles Williams. We do get into the weird stuff (which we don't at all recommend). Apologies, by the way, for accidentally confusing the names of his wife Florence (who he called Michal) and Phyllis at one point or another in this conversation. As if his wife didn't suffer enough!

Tuesday, October 01, 2024

Material Mysticism #9

The September column is here, and please subscribe here (totally free).


Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Material Mysticism #7

Tired of the high-stakes doom circus of American politics? Try art criticism! Here's my late-breaking review of the 2024 Whitney Biennial, which doubles as a "review" of New York, and of reality itself. It’s rare that one can trust blistering reviews that show no sympathy, or celebratory puff-pieces that can’t see what’s wrong – this review tries to do both, offering an attempt at devastating critique followed by near delirious adulation.


Monday, July 15, 2024

American Gothic as Holy Icon

We rabid icon specialists are now absorbing ALL ART into our domain (just as modernists once absorbed icons). The takeover begins in ONE WEEK at (where else?), The Wheaton Public Library. Join in person or by Zoom for this free public lecture. Please register here

 
Update: And here's a video of the talk itself

Friday, July 12, 2024

Nein!

 Being my answer to CT's question about whether or not I endorse "hot AI Jesus."

Friday, May 24, 2024

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Material Mysticism #4

I did my utmost to marry generative AI with the best of ancient Christian scholarship to resurrect a lost African saint while avoiding the Google Gemini fiasco…. and I’m not sure it worked.


Tuesday, April 02, 2024

Two Talks

If you're roundabout Princeton please come by for a public lecture on global Virgin Marys (Thurs. 4/4, 4:30pm Robertson Hall 002, register here) and/or a talk on Dionysius the Areopagite's impact on art history (Fri. 4/5 7pm Religion Dept. Lounge).


Monday, March 18, 2024

Gone Medieval and The Visual Museum

Here's a podcast conversation at Gone Medieval. It's the Colbert of medieval history podcasts. And here is one with The Visual Museum.



Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Material Mysticism #2

An interview with Addison Hodges Hart covering prayer, universalism, actually going to church, avoiding stupidity, etc.