in the open space: God & culture

As I mentioned before , I am writing a 13-week series of columns for MWR that correspond with scripture used in an international Bible study plan for NCCC member denominations . This time, the series focuses on “the promises of hope found in the words of the prophet Isaiah and the hope found in Christ, the Suffering Servant.” The first nine columns reflect on texts from Isaiah and the last four come from Mark’s gospel.  I've really enjoyed spending time in these Scriptures--the way Isaiah captures God's grace- and love-full reproach that invites us to once again fall fearlessly into his arms, the reminder that his from-the-beginning plan to give us a way back into the wide open spaces of his Kingdom weaves dramatically through history, and how Jesus wakes us to and gives us that way back. For what it's worth, here are links to the latest of those columns: One who restores , Turn and be saved , Sinners mended , Pay it forward , New state of mind , Let Jesus lead , ...

If you follow me on Twitter , you may have seen most of these already, but that assumes you actually read my tweets, heh. For what it’s worth, here’s a list of links and blogs I found particularly worth reading in the last week or so—and most of which brought God-talk into open spaces. 1. New Testament prof and scholar Daniel Kirk uses Gladiator and Revelation as launch points to examine the concept of “What we do echoes in eternity!” and asks “Does that idea scare the poop out of you?” 2. AMC released a trailer for its The Walking Dead , an adaptation of a graphic novel by the same name chronicling the lives a group of survivors in a zombie apocalypse. The series looks to have the makings of a good story. Wait , you say. How can zombie flicks be good stories ? Read film critic Peter Chattaway’s Why even consider a horror movie? at Christianity Today , an interview with self-confessed Christian director Scot Derrickson ( Hellraiser, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Day the Earth St...

After I wrote up my post on the Lost finale , I started to look around to see how others responded, and here are a few links to articles and musings I’ve found insightful, informative and/or entertaining concerning series and its finale: Beth Rambo and Ken Brown are big reasons this post is shorter than it could have been. On The Painful Nowning Process (one of the more cleverly named blogs I’ve run across) Beth (who’s a PhD in lit plus a Buffy universe guru) pulls together a solid collection of links to various musings about the finale along with some reflections of her own . At C. Orthodoxy , Ken (who’s soon leaving for Germany to get his own PhD) gives us Lost links to reflections on the redemption themes and reviews by a couple of television critics. Jason’s post at NonModern — Lost in the Wrong Motivations or: The Beginning and The End, or the Mystery in the Middle —contains a collection of answers the series provides—and it’s a good list. And for all those questions left u...

I’m trying a new approach in compiling links for this category by sifting through the ones I’ve tweeted and pulling out the ones I thought more interesting. If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen many of these before, but that assumes you actually read my tweets, heh. For what it’s worth, then, here’s a list of links and blogs I found particularly worth reading this week—and most of which brought God-talk into open spaces. 1. Fav-series-of-this-blog Caprica , the prequel series to Battlestar Galactica (another fav of this blog) made the list of Entertainment Weekly’s Top 10 Best TV Series Right Now along with yet other fav of this blog, Lost . (If you want to more about the fav shows of this blogger, go here .) Hat tip @ CapricaSeven . 2. Speaking of Lost , this week’s episode “Sundown” produced a good collection of musings and analysis. King-of-all-that-is- Lost Doc Jensen gives his customarily brain blowing recap complete with religious, biblical, literary and philosophi...

Photo from the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti. Donate to the American Red Cross International Response Fund . Photo credit: Matthew Marek/American Red Cross.

Hat tip Liturgy . Heh, and all you Lost fans out there, pay close attention.

Recently, Andrew Jones (aka, the Tall Skinny Kiwi) was invited--along with a group of other bloggers--to Summarize the Gospel in 10 Words or Less . Why? Says, host blogger Demian Farnworth, "The thinking behind the post is essentially this: If you can’t summarize what you believe in ten words, do you truly understand what you believe?" The results (as well as those left in the comments section) are interesting--and diverse. It's worth a look-see. It also challenged me to come up with my own version--one which I fully disclose, admit and put forth lifts verbatim from Scot McKnight's own summary of the Gospel of which I am so fond : Jesus reconnects us to God, ourselves, others and the world. Of course, like Farnworth says, a tiny summary like this isn't meant to explain the rich nature of the Story and God's gift to us in Jesus. But, this exercise is good for me. And I'm finding it a bit addictive--perhaps it's my fascination with words? or maybe a r...

1. It looks like Kings —a modern day spin on the biblical King David saga—has been cancelled (HT Peter Chattaway ), though it also looks like the remaining episodes will still be seen on NBC starting June 13. At SF Gospel, Gabriel Mckee wonders if network squeamishness about religion killed the series. I wonder if it had something to do with why good series get cancelled . 2. Speaking of cancelled series, the official word came down that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was cancelled as well. Mckee says that while he thinks the series might be “the best thing the Terminator franchise ever offered up,” he’s not that upset to see it go . For those going through withdrawal, there is the latest film in the franchise and, in more general terms, Peter Chattaway looks at how Sarah Connor may actually have made the war worse . 3. For more miscellaneous God-talk in film, Ken Brown feels somewhat conflicted about Star Trek , and so does Gabriel Mckee . Jason has some interesting th...

1. This month is a huge one when it comes to film releases—and it started this weekend with X-Men Origins: Wolverine (which we will be seeing tonight—I really love my babysitter). As I’ve said before, comic-book films are a fav on this blog for their tendency to bring God-talk into open spaces . However, the film isn’t doing so well with critics. Josh Hurst gives it 2.5 out of 4 stars at Christianity Today , where he writes “Wolverine's once sharp claws are wearing dull in this one.” Chad Pendleton seems to agree in his review at Relevant Magazine , where he concludes the film “in time will probably be categorized alongside X3 rather than the first two tales.” And so does Christa Banister at Crosswalk , who says “The sharpest thing about Wolverine are the claws.” Ouch. Even generous critic Roger Ebert doesn’t like the film so much (though it does give him the opportunity to fill his review with enjoyable and witty barbs, heh). But just because the film isn’t doing so well with ...

Had a great day, but I'm exhausted. However, here are few tidbits I've found intereting over the last few days: 1. At FilmChatBlog , Peter Chattaway has a list of biblical and religious film and TV newsbites--including the info that we won't be seeing any new Kings episodes until June. Oh, that does not bode well. Sounds like another good television story is well on its way to getting the boot . There's also news on the film development of the The Year of Living Biblically and Angels & Demons , the sequel-prequel to Da Vinci Code (you can also see another interesting tidbit on the latter film here .) 2. Ken has a review up of the God-talking Battlestar Galactica sequel-prequel, Caprica . I haven't seen it yet, but plan on it as soon as I can get my hands on it. By the way, Ken has some pretty interesting things to say in response to my recent post on Twilight --great conversation. 3. Speaking of Twilight , Karen has some updates on the sequel to that film ...

1. The Tall Skinny Kiwi muses on Twitter and how it can help us to exhort each other daily--but offers a scriptural warning as well. Heh, I love how Jones sees this stuff. 2. Film critic Roger Ebert muses about what he believes (and doesn't believe) about God. One of the more interesting quotes from Ebert (in my humble opinion, of course) comes in the comments section (in which Ebert responds surprisingly and consistently often): "I agree with the teachings of Jesus, as I understand them. Unspeakable things have been ascribed to him. It has gotten almost to the point that when someone mentions the name Jesus to me, I know they are not talking about the one of my understanding." (Hat tip Peter Chattaway .) 3. Trek Movie got a sneak peak at a May issue Wired essay by (and interview with) J.J. Abrams, in which Abrams muses on his love of mystery--and laments the disappearance of mystery in today's culture. In particular, I was struck by his comments about how our de...

1. Tonight is the finale of the second season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles , and over at i09 Charlie Jane Anders tells you everything you need to know before the end of Sarah Connor . Yes, it just may be the end for the series, and it seems even exec producer Josh Friedman isn’t sure in this Q&A at CBR . (Just, please, don’t let it be all a dream induced by some meteor-impacted computer .) Friedman also gives another Q&A back at i09 , where he comments on the religious nature of Catholic ex-FBI agent James Ellison(portrayed by real-life Christian Richard T. Jones ): “I got the idea to make his character religious because of who he was. I wanted to do a religious character who believed he was moral and a good man but also got twisted around in different ways. RT's personal beliefs dovetailed nicely with the religious nature of the Terminator mythos. We've probably hit it a little hard but I like it.” Me, too. 2. Lost is definitely amping up its religious...

1. Richard Clark links his thoughts about Twitter to the early church, which lived their lives together throughout the week the way most of us don’t do today, due in part to the culture we live in. So, how could Twitter help? Read on: “Twitter offers one way among many that we can compensate for these cultural flaws. While we need to acknowledge that a virtual, internet relationship is really no relationship at all, we also need to be honest and acknowledge what can be the real world benefit of knowing, for instance, that I’ve been thinking of doing some freelancing work, playing PS3 a LOT lately, and meditating on the vanity of life. This sort of knowledge makes the conversation a heck of a lot more meaningful and challenging when we come together on the weekend. By knowing what’s happening in one another’s lives, we know how to speak truth to one another, how to pray for one another, and how to serve one another.” Worth considering or just another rationalization for Twitter? You d...

1. ComingSoon reports that the Cohen brothers’ next project will be another adaptation of True Grit , a 1969 novel by Charles Portis. The first adaptation, of course, is the classic film starring John Wayne , whose portrayal of the curmudgeon Rooster Cogburn earned him both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for best actor. (I’ve been watching John Wayne films since I was a little girl, and Cogburn is one of my favorite characters he’s portrayed .) The Cohens report that they’ll be sticking closer to the novel than the Wayne version, which presents some interesting possibilities when it comes to films that bring God-talk into open spaces. According to Wikipedia, the novel is dripping with God-talk, both literally (Mattie apparently constantly quotes biblical references) as well as in its themes. It seems that the Wayne film watered a lot of that down, so it’ll be interesting to see what the Cohens’ version does with all that. 2. ComingSoon also reports that Brad Pitt and Natalie Por...

1. ComingSoon reports that the cast for M. Night Shyamlan’s live-action The Last Airbender has been rounded out and filming will begin this month. This film is an adaptation of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender that ran for three seasons on Nickelodeon—a series that we really enjoyed watching with our kids. The series takes place in a world of four nations based on their abilities to manipulate one of four elements: Fire, Water, Air and Earth. It follows the adventures of 12-year-old Ang , the last “Avatar” (who can “bend” all four elements) whose destiny is to help maintain peace between the four nations. The mythic foundation of the series draws heavily on Asian influences, from its art to philosophies and religion, and explores themes like redemption, sacrifice, suffering, good versus evil, and what it takes to face the challenges involved in saving a world. At first glance, its Eastern influences might seem to take it out of the God-talk realm, but all of these el...

1. Vin Diesel is hinting once again about a third Riddick installment (the first two being Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick ). While both films have got more than their share of violence, Riddick’s story is also often riddled with God-talk , so I’m interested to see just what the next one has in store. Interestingly, while Babylon A.D. definately wasn’t the best of filmmaking, I found it interesting that Vin Diesel’s Toorup seemed more than akin to Riddick, and that film too had its share of God-talk. (Hat tip ComingSoon ) 2. The Red Dawn remake is apparently still on track. In an interview with ShockTillYouDrop , Disturbia scribe Carl Ellsworth had this to say: "We're working with Dan Bradley, the director, on revising the draft. . . ."We're not straying too far from the original story. It's about the Wolverines, a group of kids. And we're doing our best to make these kids realistic and relatable. There are parallels between these kids who become an ...

1. Above is the latest Terminator: Salvation trailer , which reveals some interesting aspects about the upcoming film—at least according to film critic Peter Chattaway who writes about some interesting parallels between the Terminator and Star Trek films (which also has a new installment on the way). 2. Chattaway also has an interesting article up at Christianity Today’s Books & Culture comparing the original and recent remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still . The original is one of my all-time favorite films ; I’ve yet to see the remake (directed by Scott Derrickson, who Chattaway notes as one of the few openly Christian writers/directors in Hollywood), but I found intriguing Chattaway’s discussion of “alien messiahs.” Also, did you know the original film is adapted from a 1940 short story by Harry Bates called “ Farewell to the Master ”? I didn’t. You can read it here . 3. Speaking of Christ figures, check out Gabriel McKee’s (of SF Gospel ) guest post at Say It Backwards...

Normally, this would be nestled in a post with a collection of other notable morsels, but my life is so hectic these days, I thought I'd put it out there for all who are interested: If you're a fan of Paul Newman (or just good writing), the obituary in a recent issue of the Economist is not to be missed. It begins thus: THE eyes were blue. Cornflower blue, steel blue, ice blue. They smouldered through the soft-focus foliage in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” as he swayed on a bicycle with Katharine Ross on the handlebars. They stared beautifully in his middle-aged lawyer’s face as, in “The Verdict”, he was handed an enormous cheque which he refused to take. They were so blue that they registered even in black and white. As he stepped out of the ranch door in “Hud”, casually buttoning his shirt, or as he woke himself up in “The Hustler” for another frame with Minnesota Fats after 25 hours at the pool table, you could have sworn they glowed with the colour of some deep, di...

On Saturday, evangelical pastor and author Rick Warren will sit down with U.S. presidential candidates Senators Barak Obama and John McCain for an hour each at Saddleback Church . CNN and C-SPAN just announced they’ll carry the event live and I’m thinking other cable news networks will follow suite. I mentioned to my husband the other day that only Warren could do this. To be honest, I’ve had mixed feelings about Warren in the past. Unlike many of my evangelical friends (even those wise prophets who hover at the edges whom I deeply respect—you know who you are, heh), I wasn’t all that enamored with Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life . But when I started hearing about the things Warren was doing (like advocating for AIDS victims and speaking out about poverty), he began to get my attention. These and similar issues have gotten pitifully little attention in the upper echelons of evangelical rhetoric and focus, and it heartens me to see Warren not only address them but lead efforts in d...

Jet lag is awful . I’m grumpy, sluggish, sleepy and irritable, and I can’t get a lick of work done, much less think a coherent thought. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a cross-country trip —a really long time—and I am having a terrible time adjusting back to East Coast time (three hours difference from West Coast). Part of it must be because my body is older—which I was reminded of yesterday when I went to my hair salon and spent the afternoon with girls at least 20 years (or more) younger than me. As we talked about movies, music and celebrities, I realized I could be their mother. Heh. Anyway, since I can’t think like a real human being, I decided to post a collection of thoughts from those who can: here you go: Interestingly, two bloggers I read just welcomed new additions to their families: congratulations to Ken at C-Orthodoxy ( who has finally decided to read The Shack ) and Matt at Bible Films (where you can also check out a list of the 10 Worst Movies About Jesus ). ...