Men with Digital Chests
Worship, Education & the Occult Dangers of the Electronic Age
It has taken more than two years for the impositions of masking to subside, nor is there any certainty that they will not be revived again. Whether or not there is a human conspiracy at work behind the scenes to perpetuate this ongoing concealment of God's image, there is certainly a diabolical one. But that is not all the devils are up to. The days are evil, and hell worketh overtime.
Faced, at least in some quarters, with new lockdowns and a dystopian present of seemingly endless face covering, some Christians have taken solace from the digital technologies that allow us to traverse the waste spaces of the internet and gather in back-alley cyber rooms, where the online simulacra of our faces can be seen. In the last two years, the phrase "in person" has curiously become part of our lexicon to describe what we all used to expect as part of human life. Now churches have shifted their services to "livestream" for those at home. Enrollments in online academies have boomed. And working "remotely"—a word literally meaning "removed" from public space—has become a new norm for employers and employees alike.
A Cause for Rejoicing?
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Devin O'Donnell is the author of The Age of Martha (Classical Academic Press, 2019), a book on leisure and education. He served as Research Editor for the Bible publishing project Bibliotheca (2015) and has taught and worked in classical learning for over 15 years. He writes for the CiRCE Institute blog and currently is the Director of Family & Community Education at The Oaks Classical Christian Academy. He continues to teach Great Books and write because he can’t help it. He is a classical hack, who came up through the manhole covers of learned society to find wisdom.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on C. S. Lewis from the online archives
18.3—April 2005
on Being a Free Narnian & the Joy of Subordination by Donald T. Williams
more from the online archives
35.4—Jul/Aug 2022
The Death Rattle of a Tradition
Contemporary Catholic Thinking on the Question of War by Andrew Latham
16.5—June 2003
on the Importance of Fathers to Churchgoing by Robbie Low
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
