Category Archives: The Long Story

Pilgrim Days: A Hospitable World

Before he gets into a discussion of the ways contemporary culture has re-defined the identity of the pilgrim, Bauman casts one last picture of the kind of world necessary for a “classical” pilgrimage to take place.  “Both life and and … Continue reading →

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Pilgrim Days: The Desert and the Real

In “From Pilgrim to Tourist,” Zygmut Bauman traces a line from the Christian concept of the pilgrim to the contemporary scheme of self-definition.  That line gets traced (metaphorically and historically) right through the desert. ‘We are pilgrims through time’ was, … Continue reading →

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Pilgrim Days: Changes in Identification

A few weeks ago, Rod Dreher spent a post reflecting on “From Pilgrim to Tourist- or a Short History of Identity” by Zygmunt Bauman as part of his continuing articulation of “the Benedict Option.”  A made a copy of the … Continue reading →

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A Kind of Comfortably Numb

Tomorrowland was one of the more maligned and ignored “blockbusters” from the summer of 2015, which is ironic when considering the movie’s attempt at being a “canary in the coal mine concerning contemporary society.  The idea behind telling stories about … Continue reading →

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Renorming (and who benefits)

I believe it was marketing guru Seth Godin who introduced me to the idea that history may not repeat, but it definitely rhymes.  That’s the sense you get when reading Yuval Levin’s The Fractured Republic.  Sometimes patterns and trends really … Continue reading →

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Epistemological Humility

Throughout his lecture on life in light of affection, Berry attempts to remind us of the significance of the local and the personal.  Certain kinds of knowledge, certain kinds of ways of life, are ultimately antithetical to “the good life.” … Continue reading →

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Two Kinds of Knowledge

Abstraction is a powerful thing.  It works in favor of whoever can wield it, really.  Wendell Berry knows this, particularly when it comes to how we see the places around us (just as much as the people, really).  In his … Continue reading →

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The Root and Fruit of Affection

Yesterday I wrote a bit about Wendell Berry’s “rescue” of imagination as preparation for understanding the importance of affection (which I will take as at least a form of what others might call love).  Both terms are used by Berry … Continue reading →

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Affection is Rooted in Imagination

What’s been interesting to me over the last few years of thinking through things like James K. Smith’s cultural liturgies concept (teased out well in You Are What You Love) is how the idea of what you love and how … Continue reading →

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The Novel-ty of Andrew Osenga

I remember well when I bought my first album from The Normals.  I remember reading about Coming to Life in CCM Magazine.  I remember making the connection in my head to the song “Everything (Apron Full of Stains)” from an … Continue reading →

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