A brilliant, demanding essay about the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln, Kafka, Walter Benjamin, and the peril of political traditions that continue to transmit gestures after losing their truth-content. Whoa. Only more fascinating would be Bryce writing something comparable about the truly Holy Writ, the Bible itself.
“Merely revolutionary” is a wonderful phrase because it refuses both pious nationalism and sterile abstraction. The Declaration survives only if its ceremony keeps reopening its judgment. - Thanks again, Bryce, for this latest ingenuity.
William, thank you so much for your generous remarks and your thoughtful contributions to this essay. This may be my last "Revolution 250" essay, and sometimes the fireworks show's "grand finale" can be . . . involved.
This line makes my point so well that (as I often do with your comments) I wish I'd said it: "The Declaration survives only if its ceremony keeps reopening its judgment." Yes! Your thoughts about "merely revolutionary" are another keen contribution here that opens the phrase for me in new ways.
I'm celebrating the 4th by catching up on several of your recent pieces--including the exchanges with your engaged reader, William! This one fascinated me in the way it used themes from Kafka and Benjamin to help unveil what has become our performative reading of the Declaration. Much to ruminate on here--gratitude!
Thank you, Elias! I'll now be celebrating the 4th reading Kermit Washington III's 2022 book The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America's Story. So excited that he locates the nation's founding at the Civil War Amendments' ratification. Thanks to the books of Galatians and Hebrews, I do the same. I can't wait to hear you and Pete discuss Washington's work on your podcast (The Lost Prophets Podcast)! https://www.lostprophets.org
The title of Oliver Nelson’s excellent 1961 record comes to mind, The Blues and the Abstract Truth. A truth that is not at all axiomatic, more, like a democratic republic, both hard fought and hard won. An epistemology of struggle. Thank you, Bryce— and readers— for an excellent essay and following discussion. Benjamin, Kafka, Jefferson, and Lincoln all on the same page is kind of fun. Yielding insights that are by no means “self evident.“ It has been said that the blues “ain’t nothing but the truth. Your essay gives me much to think about this Independence Day— a holiday I have long found difficult.
There's my answer: the blues as a tradition that harbored and transported abstract truth in a moment--well, pretty much a century--of danger. You've out-Lincolned my Lincoln. And here's my Substack's perfect new subtitle: "Yielding insights that are by no means 'self evident.'" I owe you one (or two), Cort. Thank you!
A brilliant, demanding essay about the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln, Kafka, Walter Benjamin, and the peril of political traditions that continue to transmit gestures after losing their truth-content. Whoa. Only more fascinating would be Bryce writing something comparable about the truly Holy Writ, the Bible itself.
“Merely revolutionary” is a wonderful phrase because it refuses both pious nationalism and sterile abstraction. The Declaration survives only if its ceremony keeps reopening its judgment. - Thanks again, Bryce, for this latest ingenuity.
William, thank you so much for your generous remarks and your thoughtful contributions to this essay. This may be my last "Revolution 250" essay, and sometimes the fireworks show's "grand finale" can be . . . involved.
This line makes my point so well that (as I often do with your comments) I wish I'd said it: "The Declaration survives only if its ceremony keeps reopening its judgment." Yes! Your thoughts about "merely revolutionary" are another keen contribution here that opens the phrase for me in new ways.
Your work is a pleasure to read and think with! Thanks in turn.
I'm celebrating the 4th by catching up on several of your recent pieces--including the exchanges with your engaged reader, William! This one fascinated me in the way it used themes from Kafka and Benjamin to help unveil what has become our performative reading of the Declaration. Much to ruminate on here--gratitude!
Thank you, Elias! I'll now be celebrating the 4th reading Kermit Washington III's 2022 book The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America's Story. So excited that he locates the nation's founding at the Civil War Amendments' ratification. Thanks to the books of Galatians and Hebrews, I do the same. I can't wait to hear you and Pete discuss Washington's work on your podcast (The Lost Prophets Podcast)! https://www.lostprophets.org
The title of Oliver Nelson’s excellent 1961 record comes to mind, The Blues and the Abstract Truth. A truth that is not at all axiomatic, more, like a democratic republic, both hard fought and hard won. An epistemology of struggle. Thank you, Bryce— and readers— for an excellent essay and following discussion. Benjamin, Kafka, Jefferson, and Lincoln all on the same page is kind of fun. Yielding insights that are by no means “self evident.“ It has been said that the blues “ain’t nothing but the truth. Your essay gives me much to think about this Independence Day— a holiday I have long found difficult.
There's my answer: the blues as a tradition that harbored and transported abstract truth in a moment--well, pretty much a century--of danger. You've out-Lincolned my Lincoln. And here's my Substack's perfect new subtitle: "Yielding insights that are by no means 'self evident.'" I owe you one (or two), Cort. Thank you!