By Steve
Monday December 21, 2009
- Heaven and nature: It’s fitting that James Cameron’s “Avatar” arrived in theaters at Christmastime. Like the holiday season itself, the science fiction epic is a crass embodiment of capitalistic excess wrapped around a deeply felt religious message. It’s at once the blockbuster to end all blockbusters, and the Gospel According to James. But not the Christian Gospel. Instead, “Avatar” is Cameron’s long apologia for pantheism — a faith that equates God with Nature, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world by Ross Douthat (NY Times)
- Politics and religion on Pandora: Why ‘Avatar’ is crummy allegory by Jeffrey Weiss (Politics Daily)
- With new music on the way, Flobots’ activism remains a priority by Adam Trask (Boulder Weekly)
- The prodigal artist: Rembrandt’s art, like his life, traced the contours of sin and grace by Laurel Gasque (Christian History)
- Bob Newhart still gives good phone: He became famous for his one-sided telephone shtick, so it seemed natural to interview the iconic comedian over the blower (Globe and Mail)
- Charismatic leader Oral Roberts dies at 91 by Katherine Britton (Crosswalk)
- Winning not just hearts but minds: Evangelicals move, slowly, toward the intellectual life by Jonathan Fitzgerald (Wall Street Journal)
- Brian Setzer Orchestra rocks Christmas (OC Register)
- Merry marketing: Stores give us something to believe in—shopping by James Martin S.J. (Wall Street Journal)
- Single mothers, second chances: Robust support makes all the difference during an unplanned pregnancy. (Christianity Today)
- Credo: Tattoo artist Ed Hardy (SF Chronicle)
- Live review: X at the Wiltern. The seminal L.A. punk band’s messages of youthful desperation and searching remain as biting as ever. (LA Times)
- Why the Oral Roberts obituaries are wrong: The “faith-healer” (who hated the term) may have done much to mainstream Pentecostalism, but he was no architect of the Prosperity Gospel by Ted Olsen (Christianity Today)
- A Catholic “Robin Hood”? Take a look (BeliefNet)
- A look at how Americans lose their jobs by George F. Will (Washington Post)
- Sinead O’Connor wants pope to quit (Canoe)
- Thousands line up at Glide for bag of groceries (SF Chronicle)
- Of Niebuhr and Nobels: Divining Obama’s theology by David Gibson (Politics Daily)
- One gift to bind them all: Streamline your holiday shopping by purchasing the same present for everyone on your list by Noreen Malone (Slate)
- Art for government’s sake: Why art with an agenda fails as art by Chuck Colson (Breakpoint)
- Christmas gift ideas: tech, gadgets and video games: We present our list of the top tech gift ideas for gadget hounds and video gamers. (Telegraph)
- The best Christmas wrapping (Globe and Mail)
- Smart spending: 5 ways to save on gift wrap. ‘Tis the season: Save big with 5 easy, cheap and chic gift-wrapping options (ABC)
- Brittany Murpny mourned on Twitter (Daily Telegraph)
- Israel: First Jesus-era house found in Nazareth (USA Today)
- Our divine distortion: We can’t see God clearly without Jesus. O come, Emmanuel by Carolyn Arends (USA Today)
- Burger King, Carl’s Jr. pull out oldest ad trick in book: Sex (USA Today)
- John Lennon’s born-again phase. “Can He love me?” the former Beatle asked Oral Roberts. “I want out of hell.” An excerpt from The Gospel According to the Beatles by Steve Turner(Christianity Today)
- Multi-site churches mean pastors reach thousands (USA Today)
- What the late Middle Ages wrought: King’s College Chapel is the product of royal favor, religious politics, civil wars, labor strife and superb craftsmanship (Wall Street Journal)
- Jennifer Jones played both saints, sinners (USA Today)
- Brian Setzer Orchestra at the Gibson Amphitheatre: The former Stray Cats leader, now in his seventh year of touring with an annual big-band holiday show, ‘Christmas Rocks! Extravaganza,’ finally gets things rolling after a rocky start. (LA Times)
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