David French has been engaged in slow-mo debate over the past few weeks. Even to characterize what the debate is about risks tacitly taking sides, so see for yourself here, then French’s response, and too much more for me to try to keep score.
Feelings are running pretty high, and both sides land some solid blows (characterizing French’s response as “punch Right, coddle Left” for instance). (UPDATE: Nobody yet seems to have observed that some of French’s critics practice Pas d’ennemis a Droit, Pas d’amis a Gauche.)
I probably should stay out of what is overwhelmingly a Western Christian argument, but French was featured on Andrew Sullivan’s podcast last week. He made three seemingly off-the-cuff observations over the podcast length that rang true and that I can’t shake:
- The Church is full of Boromirs. (See text at note T 10 here.)
- Contemporary American Christians (read “Evangelicals”) have gained a tremendous amount of liberty the past few decades through litigation, but they’ve lost some power, too. They really don’t like living more free, less powerful.
- The right’s critique of Tim Keller’s kind of Christianity (and, tacitly, David French’s own) is fundamentally the same as Nietzsche’s criticism of all Christianity. (See text at not 6 here.)
The James Wood side will have more to say, I assume, but that last point is kind of breathtaking, actually, and I would count it as a Technical Knock-Out if only I were sure what they are debating and whether Woods and French actually hold the opinions ascribed to them.
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Tipsy Teetotaler ن 