Affirmations and Renunciations
The New Atlantis, the fabulous journal of technology and society of which I am a Contributing Editor, has a newly and beautifully redesigned website. Please do take a look around. Note that this is not merely a cosmetic but also a structural redesign. I would especially call your attention to a series of projects meant to renew our society’s engagement with, and use of, science and technology. And above all, I would encourage you to subscribe to the journal.
I’ve been doing a good many interviews about Breaking Bread with the Dead, but let me just call your attention to two conversations I especially enjoyed: with Mark Hurst on his WFMU Techtonic show — you have to check out the awesomely old-school web design on that page, which will remind you that the internet used to be cool — and with my friend Yuval Levin of AEI.
There’s something slightly eerie, slightly uncanny-valleyish, about the nearly photorealistic paintings of Jim Holland.
Which one of the above is bouba and which one kiki? Almost all of you are likely to agree.
Sarah Ramsey collects concrete: “ Concrete is quite often dismissed as simply dull, bland, and grey. And yet the sheer diversity of the concrete finish I’ve encountered during my travels has been thrilling and fascinating.”
Recent listening: Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge’s Mount Royal. A feast for lovers of acoustic guitar.
The rite for Holy Baptism in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer contains a series of renunciations:
Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?
I renounce them.Do you renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?
I renounce them.Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?
I renounce them.
But in the old 1662 book, the whole matter is conveyed more tersely:
Dost thou renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh; so that thou wilt not follow nor be led by them?
I renounce them all.
I love that: “I renounce them all.” All that crap, totally renounce it, no exceptions. I’m done with every bit of it. RENOUNCE.
