As a former public access TV producer, I have a certain affection for low-budget documentaries. Filmmaking often is an expensive medium, and high-profile documentary filmmakers use all the same tricks and tools as blockbuster directors to great ends. They can…
The Trump administration is using the arts to rewrite history
I’ve written elsewhere about the role the arts have played in both creating and confronting shared identity and ethics across time. Art is a powerful medium. It has the potential to both reflect and to shape collective memory — which…
Why you should care about the Kennedy Center board
The arts — in whatever form they take — play an important role in all societies. In fact, archeologists often look to the artistic and cultural remnants of a society to understand what it valued and believed. In addition to…
CBF receives $1.25 million grant to nurture children
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has received a $1.25-million grant from the Lilly Endowment for an initiative on inclusive children’s ministry. The grant will equip churches to be safe places inclusive of children — especially children with disabilities — and to use creative…
Evangelicals upset about the Olympics are pearl-clutching hypocrites
Enough with the pearl-clutching! As if many rightwing Christians have nothing better to do, on Friday they set X alight with outrage over a scene from the Paris Olympics opening celebration. Drag queens were part of a DaVinci’s Last Supper…
Ron DeSantis throws another hissy fit like a mean father
Just when you think Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis can’t sink any lower, he limbos below the lowest bar you’ve seen yet. Although I doubt we would find the failed Republican presidential candidate doing the limbo because his fan club might…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with David Dark
David Dark is one of my favorite writers and thinkers, and for years now, I often finish reading him and think, “I wish I’d written that!” A professor of religion and the arts at Belmont University and an authority on…
Do the arts in church still matter?
Recently our daughter, Meredith, texted us a picture of two watercolors painted by our 7-year old grandson, Elijah. He has been watching his mother learn to use watercolors, and he wanted to try his hand. He traced the outline and…
A doorway to the sacred: Encountering God in the theater
In one of my oldest memories, my little hand is held firmly in my mother’s as we climb a long, wide staircase. We are dressed in our finest shoes and dresses, matching the elegance of the great chandeliers, plush carpeting…