Three Cities, One Sign

Two recent articles have staked out the field. “What Do Conservatives Mean by ‘Western Civilization?’” by James Diddams begins with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez using the same phrase with entirely different meanings. In his response to Diddams, John W. Burge sees Western civilization as an unbroken tradition of Logos (reason) and the Great Conversation, with modern radicalism from both the left and right as the source of discontinuity. Whether Diddams and Burge realize it or not, this argument is only another echo of a far older fracture. I want to say just one thing: stop. Both are correct—as Scripture makes clear.