Why Higher Education Should Have a Leftist Bias by Donald Lazere 235 pp. Palgrave Macmillan. $95.00 Political labels can be funny things. I know I’m an odd bird in this respect, but I actually welcome people’s labelling me politically, largely so that I can figure out myself where my place is in various political ecosystems. …
Tag: rhetoric
What if Teaching Is a Science? A Bit of Conceptual Fiddling
I see the formulation all the time, but I rarely give it much thought. “Teaching isn’t a science. It’s an art.” “Teaching isn’t a science. It’s a craft.” “Teaching isn’t a science. It’s a calling.” I’m sure there are other variations on the second half of the couplet, but the first half almost always denies…
Purgatory 2013: To the Gates of Purgatory (Cantos 5-9)
One reason that I can teach Purgatorio without the other two is because of its slow start. Since the poem is a third done when the Pilgrim finally gets into Purgatory proper, that allows me some class time to set up the big-picture stuff that one needs to make sense of the poem as a…
Teaching Plato: Still the Best Gig I've Had
As with most things I’ve taught, I had no business teaching Greek philosophy when first I gave it a run. Sure, I had been a double-major in English and humanities as an undergrad, and the humanities major consisted mainly in philosophy and theology classes. But as I wrap up my sixth attempt to teach Plato’s Republic,…
Link You Like a Hurricane
JAC (a journal of rhetoric, culture, and politics) goes online Some sensible suggestions for revising seminary education In honor of Reformation Day, 15 Theses for the Charismatic movement Socratic teaching, customer satisfaction student evaluations, and academic work Gilmour has no idea who this guy is, but apparently he’s an apt metaphor for people Gilmou’s and…
So I finally read Francis Schaeffer…
I don’t keep count of how many times people recommend books to me (I never have the presence of mind to start the count on the first instance, and three or four in, I figure I won’t be able to keep an accurate number), but in the case of Francis Schaeffer’s How Shall We then…
The Rhetoric of Repentance: A Review of Telling God's Story
Telling God’s Story: Narrative Preaching for Christian Formation by John W. Wright 164 pp. $19.00 IVP Academic I actually became aware of this book while reading Stan Hauerwas’s Working with Words (which I reviewed here) earlier this summer. Hauerwas, in an essay on preaching, suggested that the rhetorical character of preaching, its spoken-to-you-right-here character, was…
Little Shop of Linkers
Let’s get this straight: Public sector employees are not overpaid. More to ponder on inflammatory public rhetoric and risks of violence I’ll take an order of Skinner with some Darwin on the side, please. Yuck. Thomas Young proposes another way to think about the worship wars. Social Media as vox populi? Patrick Deneen don’t play…
Deconstructing "The Real World"
No, I have no plans to write anything at all about any MTV shows that may or may not still be on that network. (Having been without cable for nearly five years now, it’s amazing how little I miss it.) Instead, this little musing comes out of an encounter with a class that I’m teaching…
Eat, Link, and Be Merry
Gene Fant talks University Statements of Faith. Why Sherlock Holmes matters. Are non-overlapping magisteria a myth? Fred Sanders counsels writers on learning the craft. Aikido and the Art of the Question and Answer Session The Kindlings Muse scoops us with a discussion of Christian rock. That’s right, folks: Nate Gilmour is DANGEROUS. Okay, maybe not…