The Sower and the land
Of all the parables of Jesus, one of the most important, interesting, and of course one of my favorites, is the Parable of the Sower. In my opinion, it should be foundational for thinking about …
Religion
The Scam of Commercialized Christianity
In a recent Religious News Service article, Karen Swallow Prior (KSP) criticized what she termed the “Biblical Manhood Industry” as a scam within Evangelical circles. This industry, she argues, prioritizes stereotypical ideals of masculinity more …
Recovering from religious trauma: Extinguishing the gas lights
Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play Gas Light tells the story of a young woman named Bella Manningham whose husband Jack exhibits suspicious behavior. He engages in improper flirtation with the servants and goes out for long …
Book Review: The Evangelical Imagination by Karen Swallow Prior
Recently, I was asked a profound question that made me pause and contemplate my identity as a Christian in a world that is becoming increasingly post-Christian. The question posed to me was, “Why do you …
The Costly Wars on History: Censorship and Books
Book burning and censorship campaigns seemed a relic of the past in the rural middle-class world where I grew up. We vigorously attacked the censorship of the repressive Soviet Union and insisted that Americans stood …
Trumpalmentalism: The new religion of taking Trump seriously AND literally
The conventional wisdom that Trump supporters took him seriously, but not literally, was challenged on January 6, 2021, when hundreds of his supporters–literally–answered his call to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell!” His …
The (possibly) Biblical roots of a Dec. 25 Christmas
See amid the winter’s snow, Born for us on earth below, See the tender Lamb appears, Promised from eternal years. Hail, thou ever-blessed morn! Hail, redemption’s happy dawn! Sing through all Jerusalem, Christ is …
Confronting our little monsters: Gremlins and the legacy of spooky Christmas lessons
Ghostly apparitions glide as easily into the Christmas season as they do Halloween. In fact, the traditional association of frightening morality tales with the holiday season stretches at least as far back as the seventeenth …
The Reformations and the genesis of popular Christian media
The Reformations of the sixteenth century are remembered as many different things. Interpreters focus on this period as a time of religious renewal, ecclesiastical schism, social upheaval, and political realignments. All of these approaches and …
Unexpected joy in the least likely of places: The gospel according to Die Hard
Die Hard ranks among my all-time favorite Christmas movies. But before you spit out your eggnog in protest while directing a choice “Yippee ki yay” my way, the film’s director John McTiernan supports my position …