The State of First Things, February 2010

Next in a Continuing Series.

A. Must Read articles
1. Reno, "Brain Food"
A very interesting meditation on the nature of knowledge, using Griffiths' Intellectual Appetite: A Theological Grammar as the launching pad. Reno concludes by arguing that the modern obsession toward intellectual and academic specialization comes from the same root as the obsession of man with the personal lives of celebrities--it masquerades as knowledge, thus letting us avoid the realization that there is a whole realm of Truth out there that is scary. I think Reno it right.

B. Flawed, But Worth Reading
1. Anderson, "The Bible, Rated R"
A review of R. Crumb's new comic-book version of the Book of Genesis. When I first heard about the book (Crumb's version, not the old Hebrew one--I'd heard about the latter quite some time ago), I figured it was just a gimmick for Crumb to draw some more of his tired semi-pornographic pictures. But, the review convinced me that Crumb's book was not without merit. I still doubt I'll ever actually read Crumb's version, but after reading Anderson's review, I understand why someone might want to read it.

2. Anderson, "Some Like it Warm"
Another shot in the Climate Wars. I think we may be seeing the end of the Global Warming Crusade.

3, White, "Filmmaking by Numbers"
Compares the new movie Nine to the Fellini movie 8 1/2 it imitates and convinces me that the latter is worth watching (and the former is not). I saw La Dolce Vita and was underwhelmed--it was good and all, but too repetitive to be the masterpiece many seem to want it to be.

4. Wieder, "Fast and Furioso"
A review of a new translation of Orlando Furioso. The new translation sounds wretched. But the review convinced me that some other translation should be added to my list of books to read.

5. Bottum, "The Papal Difference"
I mention this mostly because I never know whether to list Bottum's articles in "The Pubic Square" here--suffice it to say, that I think he is always interesting and worth reading, but I always discount him because Neuhaus did this section so much better--that is a terribly unfair comparison, but it is the curse of following the Great One every time.

Special Mention:
Nuechterlien reviews George Nash' new book, Reappraising the Right. I mention this only because George is a friend of mine and his book deserved a better review. The review is positive, very positive in fact. But, the bulk of the review is simply Neuchterlien's cursory history of Conservatism--the review as a whole reads like some canned speech he gave bookended by some nice remarks about George's book. Lee Edwards has a great review of George's book in National Review.