christianity

Living Light Interview

October 10, 2011 Books

I’m not sure I qualify as a living light, but the upbeat Christian site Living Light News has a nice interview with me this week.  Nice photo too by Anacleto Rapping: He’s been hailed by Stephen King as “the most original American novelist of crime and suspense …” Two of his books became major motion [...]

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The Pope Rocks

March 31, 2011 Books

When I read Pope Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth:  From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, I was blown away by the courage and brilliance of its approach.  I remember someone interviewed me for one of those Best Book of the Year columns and I mentioned the Pope’s book and called it “luminous.”  [...]

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A Report on Story

September 28, 2010 Culture

Back from the Story conference in Chicago where I spoke last week.   The sold-out event featured artists and businessmen addressing young Christian leaders on how best to spread their message.  I spoke about some of the darker and more twisted stories and themes that led me to faith, including Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and, completely [...]

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NT Wright and the Gospel of Mark

August 18, 2010 Culture

Bishop N.T. Wright is an excellent Anglican theologian who has written some fine if massive tomes exploring how Jesus understood himself in his time and place.  He also seems to have a hankering to be a modern C.S. Lewis, writing more popular-style books exploring Christianity in day to day life.  These, to my mind, are [...]

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Andrew to Speak at “Story” Conference

August 17, 2010 News

Andrew will speak this September at Story, billed as “a conference for the creative class in ministry.”   Conference organizers say, “The purpose is to fuel the church’s artists, writers and producers in communicating the greatest story ever told.”  The sold-out gathering will be held September 23-24th, at the Park Community Church in Chicago.

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Anne Rice Quits Christianity

August 4, 2010 Culture

Spanking porn author Anne Rice has announced on Facebook that she’s quitting Christianity.  According to John Nolte over at Big Hollywood, she made the announcement on Facebook thusly: I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial [...]

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Christian Libertarianism

April 29, 2010 politics

Over at our much beloved Big Hollywood last week, filmmaker Leigh Scott had some thoughtful and entertaining comments on Kick-Ass, a movie he liked and which I haven’t seen.  He says it’s a libertarian film and, as a side note, goes on to discuss what he feels are the differences between libertarian conservatives and Christian [...]

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God-Shaped Hole

March 29, 2010 Culture

As they did in the beginning, Passover and Holy Week coincide this year, and yet not one major film being released for the season has anything whatsoever to do with religion. Nowhere is popular entertainment more bizarrely alienated from the lives of ordinary people than in the matter of God. Why should this be? Let [...]

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Me At OneNewsNow

February 19, 2010 Culture

A brief article up at OneNewsNow.com has me pointing out the obvious:  that Christians are far too often the bad guys in mainstream entertainment.  Frankly, though, I think it goes beyond that.  We are in a strange place where so-called mainstream entertainment doesn’t represent the mainsteam at all and in no area is that more [...]

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Galileo Goes to Jail

January 30, 2010 Culture

I’m disconcerted to find that January’s not even over and I’ve already burned through most of my Christmas books.  Haven’t hit upon anything great so far, but this one – Galileo Goes to Jail – was kind of cool.  It’s from the Harvard University Press, a series of essays by scholars ranging from atheist to [...]

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