Scott Hoezee

The volume had fallen behind a row of books in one of my office bookcases--I must have set it on top of a row of books and, at some point, it had gotten knocked to the back of the bookcase. That's where I found it laying on its spine, a distinct layer of dust covering the edges of its yellowed pages. The volume is my copy of The 1979 Hammond Almanac, which during my freshman year of high school I…

Among all of us who are currently members of the Perspectives editorial team and board, no one can recall an edition of the magazine or a board meeting that did not involve Jim Bratt. Since 1998 Jim has worked at most every level of the operation, including as one of the main editors across the last half-dozen years. In short Jim has been involved with Perspectives for most of the years since this journal joined forces with the former Reformed…

Some years ago a psychologist named Jonathan Haidt published some very intriguing data on what he called "elevation," which is the opposite of disgust. We all know that there are any number of things that disgust us or cause us to feel revulsion. When we witness hypocrisy, cruelty, and betrayal, we recoil--there are even certain physical sensations we experience when feeling disgusted such as a tightening in our chest, a clenching of our jaws, perhaps even a flutter of indigestion…