The well-read life was the aspiration of bygone saints. No, not the life that was read by everyone (That was usually fantastical and morbid!), but the life that was spent reading everything.
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1 [ Back ] For a detailed analysis of this and other ways in which God and Scripture are identified, see B. B. Warfield, The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, ed. by Samuel S. Craig (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company 1948) pp. 299-348.
2 [ Back ] Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (New York: Penguin Books, 1985) pp. 104-105. Postman's book is as profound a piece of social criticism as I have read. His criticism of television news forms chapter 7 of the book.
3 [ Back ] For an extended treatment of this phenomenon in a Christian apologetic, read chapter 4 "The Ethics of Elfland" in Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton.
4 [ Back ] From the Church History of Eusebius, volume I of the Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), p. 379.
Rick Ritchie resides in Southern California and is a long-time contributor to Modern Reformation. He is a graduate of Christ College Irvine and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.
Issue: "Wanted: Thinking Christians" July/August 1994 Vol. 3 No. 4 Page number(s): 18-23
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