As promised a couple of weeks ago, Matt Mikalatos, Clay Morgan and I have launched a semi-monthly podcast. Introducing… STORYMEN!
Archives For Pop Culture
Skyfall is being hailed – and rightly so – as the best Bond of all time. On the franchise’s 50th anniversary, the new film at once completes the reboot of the bond universe begun in Casino Royale and moves forward. Skyfall‘s story is totally contemporary, setting up the franchise to keep Bond fresh in the years to come.
Short version: go see Skyfall. Even if you haven’t seen Daniel Craig’s other two Bond films. Though you really should them too.
Fair warning: Spoilers past this point!
I had an interesting phone conversation last week.
Today, America will choose who will be President for the next four years. Our church building is a polling center. And we are participating in the Election Day Communion event.
These facts all mean that last week, I had to call our county’s Board of Election to figure out exactly what sorts of signs we were allowed to put up. And since we’re offering communion throughout the day, for voters to partake in after they vote, I wanted to be sure we weren’t violating any poll laws.
The person with whom I spoke (who was helpful and kind) essentially told me any political signs had to be 100 feet away from the entrances, but when it came to communion, we could do whatever we wanted.
The County Board of Elections clearly doesn’t consider receiving Communion to be a political event. Continue Reading…
Part III of my conversation with Clay Morgan and Matt Mikalatos. We weigh in on some classic horror match-ups and offer movie and book recommendations that will make you:
- Marinate in laughter
- Marinate in a nervous sweat
- Marinate in your own shame
Matt Mikalatos on the Internet:
Check out Matt’s blog here.
Buy Matt’s books: My Imaginary Jesus, Night of the Living Dead Christian, Sword of Six Worlds (Brand new!)
Clay Morgan on the Internet:
And read Undead!
What are your three book or movie recommendations?
Part II of my conversation with Matt Mikalatos and Clay Morgan. In this segment, we share some of the times we were the most scared. Or, in Matt’s case, a time we did the scaring.
This part’s scary good. Especially if you need a laugh!
Matt Mikalatos on the Internet:
Check out Matt’s blog here.
Buy Matt’s books: My Imaginary Jesus, Night of the Living Dead Christian, Sword of Six Worlds (Brand new!)
Clay Morgan on the Internet:
And read Undead!
What’s YOUR scariest moment? Do you enjoy being scared? Why is that?
I got to hang out with Matt Mikalatos and Clay Morgan this past weekend (listen to Matt’s awesome talk on the Invisible (Wo)Man here).
Since we are (apparently) the three leading only Christian Monster experts, we took some time to talk about why we love monsters.
Matt Mikalatos on the Internet:
Check out Matt’s blog here.
Buy Matt’s books: My Imaginary Jesus, Night of the Living Dead Christian, Sword of Six Worlds (Brand new!)
Clay Morgan on the Internet:
And read Undead!
What’s YOUR favorite monster? What do you think that monster says about us?
Before 9/11, Islam was just another weird world religion that the vast majority of American Evangelical Christians didn’t really think about – in the same category as Hinduism and Buddhism. But in the wake of 9/11, we realized that over a billion people in the world are Muslim. And many of the countries most hostile to America are mostly Muslim.
For the last decade, we’ve demonized Muslims. But using Dr. Scott Poole’s methodology, we know that our monsters say more about us than about those we monsterize.
What does the Monster look like?
Is this representative of all Muslims?
The picture of Monstrous Muslims we have in our collective Evangelical imagination looks roughly like this:
Muslims are hell-bent on conquering the world. They’ve established a beachead in Detroit and are going to kill or convert every person in America to Sharia law. They hate women and freedom. They embody a particularly insidious brand of religious fundamentalism. And this isn’t just fringe Muslims. This violent fundamentalism is woven into the very fabric of the Islamic faith.
That some Muslims believe these things is certain. The question is whether those beliefs are representative of all Muslims. Continue Reading…
Click to get this book on Amazon NOW!
I’m giving away 10 FREE copies of A Year of Biblical Womanhood! Details at the end of the post.
Who would’ve thought that the next book to blow up the Christian publishing industry would be Rachel Held Evans’ attempt to live for a year following all the Bible’s rules for women? But gender is the most divisive issue in the Evangelical church these days, with some questioning whether a person can even truly be Christian if they don’t hold to traditionalist/complementarian gender roles!
As a woman who’s grown up in the Evangelical Church, Rachel was captivated by A. J. Jacob’s Year of Living Biblically experiment and decided to take on an even harder task: doing it as a woman.
Her central question is near the heart of the gender debates:
Could an ancient collection of sacred texts, spanning multiple genres and assembled over thousands of years in cultures very different from our own, really offer a single cohesive formula for how to be a woman?
Since I’m a huge fan of Rachel’s blog and definitely an egalitarian when it comes to the gender debate, I wasn’t worried that I’d like the book.
I wanted to know if Year of Biblical Womanhood could move the gender conversation anywhere helpful. Continue Reading…
This is Amanda, JR.’s wife. JR. turns 32 today, so I’m taking over his blog.
I know that it has been FAR too long since a post has been written about the lives of the Forasteros Family, so I thought since one of JR.’s primary love languages is verbal affirmation, I figured that I would start with a surprise birthday post of the many reasons I think he is the bee’s knees. Fair warning: it might get a little mushy at times, but what can I say? We are presh.
Without further ado, in no particular order, here are just 32 reasons I love JR.: Continue Reading…
As election day inches closer, the campaign rhetoric continues to heat up. And as in previous years, religion is at the forefront. This year, however, Evangelicals are faced with a dilemma we’ve never faced, at least not in our lifetime.
Most Evangelicals have traditionally voted Republican (74% voted for McCain in the last election), and every Republican candidate in the last 50 years has been at least Protestant if not Evangelical.
Republican candidate Mitt Romney is not an Evangelical. He’s not Protestant. He’s not Christian. Mitt Romney is a practicing Mormon.
And Barack Obama is a practicing Christian, a long-time member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
But primarily because of Obama’s views on Abortion (he’s pro-choice) and Gay Marriage (he favors it), Evangelicals as a whole – and especially Evangelical leaders – have been unwilling to support Obama despite his Christian faith.
In the last election, between two Christians, this wasn’t a problem for Evangelicals because McCain was a Christian. This election is totally different.
Because Mitt Romney is not a Christian, Evangelicals must choose either to vote for a Christian candidate whose politics they disagree with, or a non-Christian candidate whose policies they affirm.
