The new book and movie in the Hunger Games series, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, released Nov. 17, is currently the No. 1 movie in America. The story is a prequel to the four existing stories that take fans…
Comedy or tragedy? The stories we tell ourselves about creation
“Wicked looks at what happened in the land of Oz — but from a different angle,” the most popular show on Broadway advertises. “So much happened before Dorothy dropped in.” As we shuffled out of the theater at the end of…
When perception overtakes reality
Marjorie Taylor Greene has photoshopped an image of herself in a military vehicle and “toting” a high-velocity rifle as she rolls into the United States Capitol. Has she any sense of the perception she has created of January 6, 2021?…
Why this seminary professor’s view of MrBeast and his friend is deadly and dangerous
I’m trying to like Southwestern Seminary these days, but Daniel Darling just made it that much harder. The Fort Worth, Texas, seminary is promoting a piece Darling wrote for the conservative World magazine. Darling serves as director of the Land…
What absurdism and a parody conspiracy theory tell us about why Gen Z is sleeping in on Sundays
Gen Z has the lowest church attendance of any generation and is frequently dubbed as the least religious generation. In a time when churches are struggling to fill their pews, Gen Z is sleeping in on Sunday mornings. Many are…
How a seminary education causes a pastor to struggle with Comforting Lies versus Unpleasant Truths
Imagine going to medical school or law school and finding out once you graduate and enter your practice that you must forget at least 25% of what you learned or lose your job. Yeah, that is what it’s like for…
Truth Decay: How truthfulness is related to humility
“Each and every sin in its own unique way is a denial of what is real.” — Fr. Terrance Klein In my last post, I began to explore the ethics of truth as one finds this theme in the New Testament….
Seven ways to embrace a reality-based religion
In these days of “alternative facts,” pronouncements that “truth is relative,” where science is disregarded as just another opinion, and where we are taught to distrust any news except the news on “my” channel, let’s consider what a reality-based religion…