Serrated Edge III

This is from 2005,Wilson responding to those Christians pooh poohing his book.

The Nail Can of Bitterness Douglas Wilson
....Thus far the only thing that most of my critics can demonstrate that they took from the book was the title -- critics now regularly refer to the "serrated edge," and they do so with disdain. But for the rest of the book, the only answer people feel compelled to give is a broad and dismissive "I am not convinced," leaving it at that.

I know of only one person who has attempted seriously to interact with the arguments in the book. All the others just wave the hand, and say that they don't really "agree with" the serrated edge approach. Do I raise this point because my feelings are hurt? Do I bring it up because I am standing on my dignity and think that people don't take me seriously enough? Not at all. I bring it up because I intend to make fun of it in a minute.....

....In polemical exchanges, good humor trumps pursed lips. The dour countenence gives way before the gut chuckle. Cavalier Puritans gallop in circles around the prissy puritans, falsely so-called, along with their stick horses of legalism. Whenever these two approaches clash, the contest is unequal. And that is a central reason that objections are raised to a weapon that one side knows how to use and the other doesn't. There is a mystery here. The reason good satire works is that it is driven by affection and love. The reason that bad-humored-eat-your-spinach admonitions are no fun is that they are driven by bitterness, envy, and a gnawing fear that somebody out there might have discovered that Jesus Christ was not a schoolmarm.