Chance or the Dance

I read Chance or the Dance: A Critique of Modern Secularism by Thomas Howard after my senior year in high school and found it interesting, yet difficult to read and comprehend. After 3 years in college and an increasing interest in art and holism, I decided to try and read it again to see if it made more sense to me. I have yet to finish it as I'm back at school and should be doing my assigned readings, but it is a perfect articulation of a lot that I have been thinking about over the past few years. One of the main things that the book does is contrast the new, secular myth, that "everything means nothing" (i.e. that images abstract reality), to the old Christian myth, which is that "everything means everything" (i.e. that images reflect reality). Instead of acedemic analysis, which breaks things down into parts, fragmenting our understanding of the world, story, poetry and art synthesize the world and fill it with glory. This book is thoroughly refreshing to read right now while I am in the middle of an academic world that is full of analysis but seems devoid of life. I highly recommend the book!