Book: Fuse by Julianna Baggott

Click to see Fuse by Julianna Baggott on Amazon!
Click to see Fuse
on Amazon!

Fuse is the second installment in Julianna Baggott’s Pure trilogy, and like any good second installment, the world expands, the stakes get higher and the characters sink to depths that make us fearful for them. In my review of Pure, I highlighted the religious overtones of the book. In Fuse, Baggott continues to weave reflections on faith, fundamentalism and our future into a story where these elements are an organic part of the world.

Fuse isn’t a morality tale about the dangers of religion, but we’d do well to heed its warnings.

As Bradwell comes to understand the Fundamentalist character of Willux’ worldview, he reflects on the nature of our world – his ‘Before’.

During the Before, the box we stored God in kept getting smaller and smaller. On the one hand there was science. And with all that science, Willux thought he could play God. And then on the other hand, there was the church invented for their own purposes— where the rich knew they were blessed because they were rich. Once one person’s better than another, it lets people get away with all kinds of cruelty.

Bradwell’s words ring true as a prophetic description of the Modern world.

As Science pushes God further and further out of the public discourse, humans can more easily play God.Continue reading

Book: Pure by Julianna Baggott

Click here to get this on Amazon!
Click here to get Pure on Amazon!

I have always been fascinated by post-Apocalyptic worlds. Whether films, TV or books, I love tales of humanity in a world where we lost it all. But missing from most post-apocalyptic worlds is something basic to human nature: religion. Herschel waxes religious occasionally on The Walking Dead, and Rick prayed once, but other than that, religion plays a minuscule role in these worlds if it’s present at all.

Which always struck me as odd, given how central religion has been to human existence. Where are my apocalyptic stories featuring God? (And I’m not talking about The Road, which is amazing and all about God but where religion still doesn’t feature prominently in the story).

Enter Pure by Julianna Baggott, hailed by many as “the next Hunger Games”.Continue reading

StoryMen: Apocalypse 2012 Special

storymen_bannerNEW The second (and possibly last!) episode of my new StoryMen podcast with Matt Mikalatos and Clay Morgan is up! Since December 21 is right around the corner, we welcome our first (and possibly last!) special guest, author and podcaster Jason Boyett. Jason’s sort of an Apocalypse expert, having written two very excellent books on the subject.

BONUS: check out the new StoryMen look! The art is courtesy of M. S. Corley, a truly astounding artist (who does COMIC BOOKS WHAT!?!). Check out his blog for some excellent art!

How to listen:

  1. You can subscribe on iTunes.
  2. You can listen on the StoryMen site.
  3. Oh, and if you haven’t liked us on Facebook yet, do it!
  4. You can WATCH us (!) on YouTube. Thanks right! Thanks to the magic of the interwebs, you can watch all four of us talk! It’s 1.057% more exciting than listening to us! Though you do get to see how pretty we are, which is an obvious bonus.

Enjoy these preview clips:

Continue reading

Week 2 – The Seven Churches of Revelation

JR. Forasteros - September 12, 2012

Week 2 - The Seven Churches

Week 2 - The Seven Churches

We explore Jesus' messages to the Seven Churches in Asia. This lesson covers Revelation chapters 2-3.

From Series: "Revelation to John"

Week 2 Notesheet     Week 2 PowerPoint

More From "Revelation to John"

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This week we explore the seven letters to the Seven Churches of Revelation. We’ll see that each Church faced the pressure from the dominant Roman culture differently, and Jesus’ message speaks directly to each church.

Jesus’ message to the Seven Churches of Revelation is just as urgent for the Church today.

You can subscribe the the podcast right here: SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES (and rate it if you like it!)

YOUR TURN: Which of the Churches do you most connect to? How did chapters 2-3 treat you overall?