Thursday, March 16, 2017

Cultural xenophobia

Jane Jacobs:

Cultural xenophobia is a frequent sequel to a society’s decline from cultural vigor. Someone has aptly called self-imposed isolation a fortress mentality. [Karen] Armstrong describes it as a shift from faith in logos, reason, with its future-oriented spirit, ”always . . . seeking to know more and to extend . . . areas of competence and control of the environment,” to mythos, meaning conservatism that looks backward to fundamentalist beliefs for guidance and a worldview.

Jane Jacobs, Dark Age Ahead (New York: Random House, 2004).
Also from this book
Credentialing v. educating

[The unidentified quotation is from Karen Armstrong’s The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism (New York: Random House, 2000.]

comments: 2

Daughter Number Three said...

I love this, but I have to say I despair about logos vs. mythos (though I wasn't using those words) every time I hear about current brain research that says we humans are made more for the latter than the former.

What are we to do?

Elaine said...

There is also a very readable book, _Rescuing The Bible from Fundamentalism_ by Espiscopal bishop John Spong (not a typo)......
None of this is very comforting; the new Dark Ages?