Monthly Archives: December 2010

Why theology is more necessary in modern society

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Modernity progressively undermines the social environments which support taken-for-grantedness, in religion as in everything else that people believe. This is not the place to elaborate on this important phenomenon, but the basic reason for it can be stated quite simply: People take their beliefs for granted to the extent that everyone around them does the same. Put differently, beliefs appear to be self-evident if there is a more or less unified social consensus about them. Modernity, through some of its most basic processes (such as mass migration, mass communication, urbanization), undermines this sort of consensus. The individual is increasingly confronted with many different beliefs, values, and lifestyles, and is therefore forced to choose between them. Choice requires at least rudimentary reflection. Religious choice, then, requires at least rudimentary theologizing.

Peter Berger

Talking to Main Street, China by Yasheng Huang

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From Foreign Policy
 http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/20…

Looking at the seemingly inscrutable actions of the men who rule Beijing, Washington often assumes many in the Chinese government to be anti-American, whereas the Chinese public is pro-American. The reality is almost exactly the opposite. Among the Chinese general public, there has always been a strong suspicion that the United States has a well-crafted, carefully thought-out, and coherent strategy to contain China. In the most extreme version of this conspiracy theory, everything is a part of the plot. Criticism of China’s record on human rights? A bid to undermine the government in Beijing. Pressure on the central bank to revalue the yuan? Obviously part of an attempt to inflict a “Japan malaise” on China. Even private actors such as Goldman Sachs and Google are sometimes portrayed in popular books and publications as America’s foot soldiers and loyal pawns in this grand strategy. Continue reading →

查建英：国家公仆――中国最著名的作家是一名改革派还是一位护教者？

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查建英

2009年10月18日下午，作家王蒙在法兰克福国际书展发表演讲，是 时座无虚席。这是书展的最后一天，而中国作为此次盛会的年度荣誉嘉宾，正努力展示其文化吸引力。中国共产党的部长与德国总理一起为中国主题馆开幕。钢琴家 郎朗在古老的法兰克福歌剧院与德国艺术家们同台演出。还举办了京剧表演、中国民间艺术的展示以及关于中国日益增长的经济和政治实力的论坛。

76 岁的王蒙可能是中国仍健在的最著名的作家。他个子不高，戴着黑框眼镜，仪表整洁，满头黑白相间的头发，他著述广泛，作品几乎涵括每种体裁。作为曾经的中国 文化部部长，他对典礼应付自如。在法兰克福，王蒙被问及如何描述他的国家的文学现状。“中国文学发展非常快，读者的品味也是，”他用平淡的外交口吻说， “中国文学处在它最好的时候……中国现在有上百种文学刊物，诸多作家在从事纯文学创作，全国每年发表的长篇小说有上千部之多，中国可算是全世界的文学大国。”

他的评论在中国的互联网上受到了嘲笑。一个博客作者拿中国当代文学和中国制造的产品来比较：低价，大量，低附加值，没有品牌。很受 欢迎的年轻博客作者李承鹏把王蒙称为谎言家和马屁精，他说：中国大部分文学刊物“都是假话加变态刊物，有诸多作家从事纯文学创作，也就是拿国家的钱从事废 话加鬼话创作……王蒙的这个思路和各行各业的泰斗是一样的，只要够大够多够滥，中国的一切……都处于最好的时期。”几天之内，这篇博客文章点击次数超过 15万，收到数千条读者评论。对于年轻的中国博客主们，王蒙就像是又一个老化的处理品，一个僵化的体制的代言人。
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