Word: factualism
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Congratulations on John McPhee's cover story [April 26] on Richard Burton. I read it with mounting excitement-would he fall off the tightrope stretched between ruthless factual reporting and sensitive (and sophisticated) interpretation? He didn't; the subject was rendered in the round; and the subordination of the Elizabeth Taylor episode at the end was exactly right. Without either apologizing or moralizing, Mr. McPhee conveyed the pathos (tragedy would be too big a word) and the self-destructiveness (selling-out would be too small a word) of Richard Burton's career...
...first appointment was to an instructorship in physiology, but from the outset he refused to treat physiology, psychology, and phiosophy as distinct and separate disciplines. In his lectures, as in his writings, he sought a synthesis comprising insights and factual contributions from each of the fields...
Both approaches have their dangers. Theologians tend to emphasize the divine inspiration and the factual truth of Scripture, and can fall into literalist absurdity -believing, for example, that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, even though Deuteronomy tells of his death. Scholars can be tempted to forget that the Bible...
...establishing the Sitz im Leben (life situation) of individual Gospel passages, form critics conclude that some can be judged factual accounts - but others are clearly not to be taken literally as records of events in Jesus' life. Many form critics agree that the detail-laden narratives of Jesus' Passion are derived from eyewitness accounts. But the story of the Magi, and Matthew's account (27: 51-53) of the disturbances that took place in Jerusalem after Jesus' death, appear to be folk tales that were devised to impress the faithful with the magnitude of underlying events...
...about back home since he won 2 to 1 over strong opposition. He is a soft-spoken man, with a brilliant war record and a tremendous drive to succeed. He is also a politician with unusual trust in his constituents; his newsletters as a Congressman were filled with reasoned factual descriptions of his positions, and simple, but informative descriptions of foreign countries. "My approach has always been a simple one. Many either speak down or lower themselves to the so-called 'level of the mob.' I try to excite people with larger problems; I avoid the local issues...