Here are a few articles I’ve found interesting lately:
1. Does pornography use case brain damage? Or, in any case, is there a correlation between porn usage and abnormally low brain activity? Take a look at this. Not that we needed any more motivation to avoid porn.
2. “Tradition is an absolutely essential part of the Christian faith. It is one of the highest authorities we have as a community of Jesus followers.” That’s what Brandon Peterson says in his recent piece “Why We Cannot Give Up Tradition” which serves as a welcome counter to the anti-traditionalism so prevalent in evangelical circles.
3. What is Father’s Day like for boy raised by lesbians? Robert Oscar Lopez knows the experience very well, since this is the situation in which he grew up. Check out his fascinating and insightful reflections about it here.
4. What makes something funny? That’s a timeless and even serious question. Leading theories explain why certain things are funny but can’t explain why other things are not funny. So Peter McGraw, founder of the Humor Research Lab, offers the “benign violation” theory to explain this and provide a unified account of humor. Check it out in this Slate article.
Ben
I hope to be perusing these links well in the near future. Thanks! the comedy one has me especially interested even though it seems one of the greatest comedic deaths is its academic analysis. (Can a funny one be written?) (Content and form are rarely so distinct…. or so it seems.)
Anyway, this anti-tradition sentiment to which you refer……. Something about this doesn’t fit for me . Maybe you could help. It seems the view of tradition as commentary is considered “low” but if it is right then other views (like it as even canon definitive) would be excessively high (monstrous?). Does evangelicalism get any “lower” than commentary? Any works to which you would point me?
Thanks and I hope the comment wasn’t too long.
Daryl
“1. Does pornography use cause brain damage? Or, in any case, is there a correlation between porn usage and abnormally low brain activity? Take a look at this. Not that we needed any more motivation to avoid porn.”
I read the article. Unfortunately, their study is analogous to trying to understand walking by measuring the swinging of the arms. The swinging of the arms is related to walking but indirectly, and unessentially so. If their study were to instead focus on the involuntary accumulation cycle happening in every healthy male, it would better elucidate the porn phenomenon.
“4. What makes something funny? That’s a timeless and even serious question. Leading theories explain why certain things are funny but can’t explain why other things are not funny. So Peter McGraw, founder of the Humor Research Lab, offers the “benign violation” theory to explain this and provide a unified account of humor. Check it out in this Slate article.”
I agree with Mr. McGraw’s benign violation theory. But, the approach of finding a sweet spot for a single joke might steer them off course in cracking the code on humor. Simply put, to make someone laugh is to instantiate a mood. The gamut of initial moods a person might be in is as wide ranging as the gamut of human emotions. In every case, one’s initial mood must be overcome before the person laughs. That is why I agree with the approach of comedy shows and stand-up comics where they follow a joke with a joke continuously. It addresses the initial mood issue where a single joke might not tip the balance on its own.