*
From reviewing the most recent discussion about what 'Christian reactionary' bloggers might call themselves,
http://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2011/12/kalbosphere-idea.html
my sense is that Orthosphere (coined by Kristor) seems (to my subjective judgement) have emerged as the 'winner'.
Plus the suggestion from Imnobody that it could be shortened to 'Ortho' as an adjective - as in
"ortho blogs, ortho people, ortho thought, ortho books. It is a new name, which is useful when you construct a new identity."
*
I didn't like the word Orthosphere at first - but just a few days have familiarised it, and it now seems quite natural.
I therefore propose that we go with Orthosphere.
*
I'm OK with it, but I think as several people pointed out it would be better to keep it "orthosphere" (i.e., lower-cased except when its positioning at the start of a sentence necessitates it), so that the "ortho" is understood to mean orthodox and not, you know, Orthodox.
ReplyDeleteThe word has a long history for being used of Orthodox Christian bloggers, both capitalized and not.
ReplyDelete@Ariston - When I Google I can find barely any relevant usage of Orthosphere - no long history.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you come across the word?
So many Orthodox bloggers delete their blogs or are semi-private that a lot of history is lost. I hear it conversation still.
ReplyDeleteIt seems good to me.
ReplyDeleteGentlemen,
ReplyDeleteIn the recent “orthospheric” discussions on your blogs there has been talk about how we are to define ourselves. (I hope I’m not being presumptuous by including myself in your gang.) Are we to be Catholic? “Mere” Christian? “Judeo-Christian”?
My thoughts: Our enterprise, to the extent that it aims at a concrete goal, should be about restoring properly-ordered (or at least adequately-ordered) Western societies. The order of society does not depend on the people adopting a specific view of exactly how men are saved from the wrath of God or of what the correct religious practices are. For Western social order we only need what might be called “mere biblical theism,” and therefore it is possible for Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christians to come together in this enterprise. It’s probably even possible for sympathetic Orthodox Jews to come on board, for the Christian view of a just society is not much different (I think) from the Jewish one. The real, Old-Testament-based Jewish view, that is.
We must, of course, give ourselves permission to disagree publicly on subjects that are secondary to the goal of a properly-ordered society: sola scriptura, justification by faith alone, and so on. A man needs integrity. I have disagreed publicly with Catholic doctrine on several occasions. But these real disagreements need not, I hope, make our fellowship impossible, because they do not nullify our commonality.
You may post this if you like.
Cordially,
Alan Roebuck
@Alan Roebuck
ReplyDeleteI agree with your letter above.
Bruce
I dunno. I think it might be mistaken for a circle of bone specialists. I rather like Albert Jay Nock's notion of The Remnant, but it is hard to turn that into a something-sphere.
ReplyDelete(Of course, I do not consider myself a member of this sphere. I am just in an eccentric orbit around it.)
Sounds good I suppose; nothing in "orthosphere" or "Christian reactionaries" necessarily excludes Protestants, and Mr. Roebuck seems like good company.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it's the best option. No option is perfect, because nothing in this world is perfect. Thank you, Bruce, for taking into consideration the argument I mentioned (but Kristor has all the merit for inventing a new word that will be very useful).
ReplyDeleteImnobody
I think it's excellent.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm not a blogger myself, I read several orthospheric (adjective form needed immediately, as you can see) blogs daily. Although it's impossible to reduce a worldview (nay, a creation-view) to a single word, this one should do as well as any one can.
What do you call an ortho blogger? An orthographer.
ReplyDelete@Kristor - since my spelling is mediocre, I would prefer Orthoscribe, or perhaps more accurately Orthoscribbler.
ReplyDeleteNow we need an Orthosphere aggregator blog, which could be called...
Orthopundit, of course!
Quick, Proph - grab the domain!
@Kristor - since my spelling is mediocre, I would prefer Orthoscribe, or perhaps more accurately Orthoscribbler.
ReplyDeleteNow we need an Orthosphere aggregator blog, which could be called...
Orthopundit, of course!
Quick, Proph - grab the domain!
Hey man, I'm broke. :(
ReplyDeleteThe best alternative to orthographer would be orthologer. That word means "someone devoted to correct word usage" - i.e., to telling things as they really are, as accurately as possible.
ReplyDeleteSo bad spelling would be OK.
what about 'the orthogonals'? ..."right" angle....inklings of 'something' that varies independently of modernity.
ReplyDeleteGlenn Reynolds of Instapundit is often referred to as "Prof" because he is a professor of Law.
ReplyDeleteIt would be wonderful if "Orthopundit" could be run by someone called "Proph".
So go for it, Proph! It was meant to be.