The Bible and Culture

Perhaps by now you have seen an episode of the TV show Swamp People. Pretty gnarly for sure. But those folks don't hold a candle to the real swamp people in the movie Beasts of the Southern Wild. Here is a brief synopsis of this film--- "In a forgotten but defiant bayou community cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee, a six-year-old girl exists on the brink of orphanhood. Buoyed by her childish optimism and extraordinary imagination, she believes that the natural world is in … [Read more...]

Here is a nice article about Ryan Hall, who, about the time you read this, will be running in the London Olympic marathon for the U.S.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/sports/olympics/faith-is-central-to-marathoner-ryan-halls-approach.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha27_20120715And here was my experience running the Boston Marathon in 1993---- (that tiny fellow in the picture above is me crossing the finish line in Boston in 1993) O.k., so the picture is sideways. That’s about how I … [Read more...]

(Courtesy of the New Yorker) … [Read more...]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1pyimuAOjg&feature=BFa&list=PL20E5694F90042FC5 … [Read more...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzIwwXkN8Pk&feature=BFa&list=PL20E5694F90042FC5 … [Read more...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kACnUo0I7hE&feature=related … [Read more...]

To some it seems self-evident. America is a secular country. It does not officially or legally endorse any particular religion. This must make it secular----- right? Actually, this is incorrect in almost any way you could analyze the situation. Let’s take the situation de facto first. As any recent Gallup poll will show you, Americans are a profoundly religious bunch. Some polls show us that somewhere close to 85% of all those polls consider themselves religious or very religious, s … [Read more...]

There are many sides to Woody Allen, and most of them are funny. His neurotic New York schtick is always fun to watch, and Woody is right on form in this movie. Here he plays an avant garde music impresario who has never found success---- due to his attempts to mesh opera with the theater of the absurd. Never, that is until he finds a mortician who can sing in the shower, but not much of anywhere else.But this movie is not mainly about Woody himself, 'To Rome with Love' is a pretty … [Read more...]