War Horse: A Modern Epic on the End of Modernity

Last updated on: December 21, 2011 at 3:33 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

War Horse is not a postmodern film. Steven Spielberg’s latest offering does not aim for the stylish irony of a Quentin Tarantino film, the melancholic psycho-spirituality of Darren Aronofsky, the stylized editing of David Fincher, the staggering reversals of M. Night Shyamalan or powerful complexity of Christopher Nolan’s multi-layered masterpieces. I’ll publish a review of War Horse on Friday (it opens on Christmas day), but what interests me at the moment is the way in which Spielberg uses modern (and not... Read more

Christopher Hitchens, Suffering, and Deathbed Conversions

Last updated on: December 18, 2011 at 1:01 am By Timothy Dalrymple

It was one of the now-departed Christopher Hitchens’ most considerable virtues that he inspired many essays. I only met “Hitch” once, but the meeting served as the point of departure for a sardonic piece on “Santacide” and a more substantive reflection on suffering and finding Christ in its midst. I have been migrating some pieces from my old column to my new blog (this blog), so the latter is offered below, in his memory: * * * * * My... Read more

Four Reasons Christmas Matters

Last updated on: December 14, 2011 at 4:13 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

There are now, and long have been, two variations on the Christmas theme. There is the version in which Christmas is a largely commercial enterprise. At its best, this version of Christmas is an exercise in generosity and an opportunity to turn away from professional pursuits and remember the fundamental importance of family. At its worst, it is an unseemly weeks-long binge of expenditure and acquisition, an exercise in rank consumerist materialism, where we do not celebrate the power of... Read more

Conservatives Believe Romney Should Have Passed Up Chance to Make $10,000

Last updated on: December 12, 2011 at 5:31 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

There are many options for the worst bet this primary season. “Rick Perry’s no flash in the pan.” “Herman Cain will never give up.” “Newt Gingrich will stop offering at least 50 unrealistic ideas per speech.” But some are making the case that Romney’s $10,000 bet (offered with an extended hand to Rick Perry in the recent ABC debate) is the worst bet of Romney’s career. Not only that, but it’s a horrible, rotten, no-good thing to do. It shows... Read more

Moving Right is Sometimes Wrong: Why Ken Ham and Shelby Spong Are Equally Destructive

Last updated on: December 12, 2011 at 4:07 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

It is, fellow conservatives, possible to be too conservative. And moving too far to the Right can be just as destructive as moving too far to the Left. Scot McKnight comments at Jesus Creed that evangelicals with “conservative” theological commitments have a “special radar” for those who are moving Leftward. He offers three points for discussion: Among conservative evangelicals moving to the right seems never to be wrong. Moving to the left, however, is either on the way to being... Read more

Charles Brings Out the (Kraut)hammer

Last updated on: December 9, 2011 at 12:40 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

Charles Krauthammer continues to make the most forceful case against the Obama administration. Look at what he writes on “Obama’s Campaign for Class Resentment“: Yes, growing inequality is a problem throughout the Western world. But Obama’s pretense that it is the root cause of this sick economy is ridiculous. As is his solution, that old perennial: selective abolition of the Bush tax cuts. As if all that ails us, all that keeps the economy from humming and the middle class... Read more

Deep Thoughts on Fatherhood: Big-Boned Women, Bellybutton Paste, and Girl-Crushes at Old Navy

Last updated on: December 5, 2011 at 2:39 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

Note: For the first installment of Deep Thoughts on Fatherhood, go here. 1. A LITTLE LESS HONESTY, PLEASE: I took my three-year-old girl out to a furniture store with me a couple months ago, and at one point we came around the end of an aisle and found ourselves face-to-face with a portly middle-aged woman. My daughter extended her arm, and pointed her finger, and said in her outside-voice: “She’s fat!” We were about three feet apart. Facing each other. Ugh.... Read more

The Delight of Mocking Christ and Christianity

Last updated on: December 2, 2011 at 5:51 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

Rex Murphy has a powerful piece in the National Post on the veritable institution of Christianity-mockery. It begins thus: To be a serious Christian in modern Western culture is to be the favoured easy target of every progressive thinker and every half-witted comedian. It is to have your sensibilities and your deepest beliefs on perpetual call for taunts, mockery and desecration. At a time when all progressives preach full volume for inclusivity and sensitivity, for the utmost care in speech... Read more

Is the “Good War” Against Abortion, and the “Bad War” Against Gay Marriage?

Last updated on: November 30, 2011 at 1:07 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

The great Fred Barnes at The Weekly Standard recently wrote: Foes of gay rights are now seen by the press as fighting the bad war, roughly analogous to Vietnam. Pro-lifers are waging the good war, like World War II. “You get much less grief fighting against abortion than you do fighting to preserve traditional marriage,” says Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List. If only the media knew. They have missed the most important breakthrough in the struggle... Read more

Deep Thoughts on Fatherhood, Volume 1

Last updated on: November 21, 2011 at 5:58 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

1. SHE IS…SASHA FREUD. It was while explaining the lyrics to my three-year-old daughter that I realized the emotional and psychological dynamics of “If You Liked It, Then You Shoulda Put a Ring On It” (real title: “Single Ladies”) are surprisingly deep and nuanced. In addition to the gloss on her lips and the man on her hips, that Beyonce has profound insights into the mind of the taken-for-granted female. 2. BLASTING BEHIND. In recent weeks my wife and I... Read more