Powerfully Compact Quote from James Davison Hunter
This is one from UVA prof James Davison Hunter is worth chewing on, as is the book: Christians recognize that all social organizations exist as parodies of eschatological hope. And so it is that the city is a poor imitation of heavenly community;13 the modern state, a deformed version of the ecclesia;14 the market, a distortion of consummation; modern entertainment, a caricature of joy; schooling, a misrepresentation of true formation; liberalism, a crass simulacrum of freedom; and the...
Scrivener’s Bible Typography Manifesto, 1873
Scrivener beat me to it: The help afforded to an attentive reader of Holy Scripture by the simple plan of arranging its unbroken text in paragraphs accommodated to the sense, is by this time too well appreciated to require, for adopting that method, either apology or enlarged explanation. By discarding the over-numerous and sometimes arbitrary breaks at the end of each verse in our ordinary Bibles; by banishing the numerals which indicate the chapters and verses into the margin, where they may...
Usage Determines Meaning for the Middle-Aged
Usage Determines Meaning, and I'm going to illustrate it by putting myself down a little bit. A close friend of mine heard me refer to someone else as "middle-aged" in such a way as to distinguish myself from that age group. I, I implied, was "young," not "middle-aged." He replied, "No, you count as middle-aged, don't you?" I'm newly 34. Arguably still in my "early" 30s. Decidedly not middle-aged. "Shut up!," I informed him. (I didn't actually say that; clever retorts only occur to middle-aged...
Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation
Ammon Shea’s Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation is a collection of tiny essays on dozens and dozens of supposed grammar and usage errors in English. In every case, Shea finds a writer who decries the usage (like "hopefully" to mean "I hope that") then asks a simple question: why is this wrong? He then generally goes on to show that the rule against the given usage is baseless, silly, or both. Shea is witty and entertaining, and he gets language. But I found the book...
Salvation Testimony You Should Read
This is one of the most precious saints in our church. He's a faithful servant in every way, and an encouragement to me every time I speak to him. I encourage you to read his testimony.