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Review: Amusing Ourselves to Death
I always cringe when somebody starts complaining about the content found on television. But… BOOBIES. I imagine them saying, in my head. Neil Postman’s 1985 book Amusing Ourselves to Death is...
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Could the Future of Philosophical Writing Be… The Graphic Novel?
Though it’s gotten me plenty of raised eyebrows over the years, I have never for an instant regretted majoring in philosophy. The department at TU was excellent (if small), and I never lacked for...
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The Best of The Erstwhile Philistine in 2012
As we head into the new year, I thought it would be good, for myself if no one else, to take a look back at the year that has passed on this site. Though we haven’t quite hit the one year anniversary...
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Book Review: Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
In a (futile) effort to be as cool as fellow Philistine Peter Holcombe, and also as a way to check the pulse of current literature as I labor away at my first attempt at a novel, I have decided to...
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RIP Robert Farrar Capon (1925-2013)
It was with a saddened heart that I just read the news that Robert Farrar Capon died yesterday. His thinking and writing on Christianity (especially how it relates to food and the rest of creation)...
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Girl at the End of the World Review, by Leslie Gelzer-Govatos
I’ve had a lot of different people write for The Erstwhile Philistine over the years, but this is the first time my wife Leslie has ever volunteered anything. When she approached me with the idea, I...
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Who Should Our Public Intellectuals Be?
This is a continuation of a post I made last week titled, Should Scientists Be Public Intellectuals? I got a fair amount of feedback on that post, and I’m afraid I may have ruffled a few feathers,...
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My Speech to the Graduates
Last night I had the privilege of giving the commencement address at my school’s graduation. As I am leaving to start my graduate studies, it was an emotional and profound opportunity for me. And hey,...
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Is George R.R. Martin’s Moral Vision Really More Complex Than Tolkien’s?
I went on a tiny Twitter rant the other day. It was prompted by this article on The A.V. Club. Otherwise a decent article, it is marred by a passing reference by one of the writers to a common...
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Some Reasons to Read Middlemarch
As I prepare to enter a PhD program in the fall, at which point presumably I won’t have much leisure time for reading what I want when I want it, I’ve decided to dedicate my summer to checking off some...
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