Rachel K. Ward

Too Much Love, Never Enough: The Postmodern Culture of Infatuation

Infatutation: (noun) a foolish or all absorbing passion or an instance of this: a mere infatuation that will not last “In the modern philosophy….it cannot hope to find any romance, its romances will have no plots. A man cannot expect any adventures in the land of anarchy.” G. K. Chesterton, “Authority and the Adventurer,” 1908   Too much information, this appears to be our […]

Rachel K. Ward

Hijack Nation: America’s Past-Postmodernism

“America ducks the question of origins; it cultivates no origin or mythical authenticity; it has no past and no founding truth. Having known no primitive accumulation of time, it lives in a perpetual present. Having seen no slow, centuries-long accumulation of a principle of truth, it lives in perpetual simulation, in a perpetual present of […]

Rachel K. Ward

Sanctified: Fashion, Fame & the Everlasting

Above the new brand materials for Saint Laurent During Summer 2012, a subtle shift was made to France’s most significant fashion label. Just a few years after the designer’s passing, Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) has been renamed Saint Laurent.  Born with the last name Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, Yves Saint Laurent was fashion’s golden child, but refining his […]

Bryne Lewis, bryne lewis allport

The Necessity of Another

            From the very first time I was introduced to the work of Jean-Luc Marion, I was captivated with his account of the passive self and saturated phenomenon. Being principally concerned with the human propensity for self-righteousness, Marion’s philosophy provided me with a way to think the Christian experience while […]

Rachel K. Ward

So you think you can tell?: Perception and the Postmodern Condition

Apple, Sydney, by Pedro Milanez So, so you think you can tell heaven from hell, blue skies from pain? -Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd, 1975 The classic Pink Floyd song addressed former band member Syd Barrett’s breakdown, and writer Roger Walters’ feelings of alienation. The song’s symbolism has also been aligned with perceptions of a […]

Bryne Lewis

Not at-home: rethinking hospitality and homelessness

This Christmas season I had the privilege of attending a memorial service, a vigil in memory of the homeless from our area who had died. Gathered in the early dark of the winter solstice, a group comprised of homeless persons, service providers, and local residents read from a necrology, including twenty names new to the […]

Rachel K. Ward

Love By Any Means Possible (and The Postmodern Condition of Desire)

“Love is something like a theater of the world but with only two people in the audience,” -Alain Badiou, “What is love, sexuality and desire?,”[i]   In 1909, E.M. Forester wrote the “The Machine Stops.” He described a future world where people live privately in rooms and interact with one another via screens connected to […]

Geoffrey Holsclaw

Towards a New Missional Mapping?

Jason Clark will be presenting this recent digest of missional theology later in November at ‘Seek the Welfare of the City‘. We thought that it would be helpful for you all to engage it here. Is there any pointing mapping the missional church? Is there a future for Evangelicalism? Let us know. Towards a New […]

Geoffrey Holsclaw

Augustinian Inversions: How would the Bishop Contend in Postmodernity?

Over the last several years of studying contemporary (continental) philosophy and theology and the theology of Augustine, I’ve noticed several recurring themes, or rather, inversion of themes between contemporary theological battles and those in which Augustine was involved.  Of course these inversion only makes sense from a broadly Augustinian point of view (which you can […]