“I thought all white people had a Cherokee great-grandmother,” the old AIM guy told me, sublimely deadpan. The barb in that joke is a deadly serious complaint having to do with wannabes and the misappropriation of culture. “I thought all white people had a Cherokee great-grandmother,” the old AIM guy told me, sublimely deadpan. The barb in that joke is a deadly serious complaint having to do with wannabes and the misappropriation of culture. Tim LaHaye loves Israel the way wealthy hippies love turquoise jewelry and dream catchers. He appropriates Judaism for his own ends, disrespecting it by usurping for himself the respect it is due, twisting it into what he wants it to be rather than what it is. [Read more…]

It should be automatic. The instructions from the Acme Romantic Comedy factory are clearly written and all Jenkins needed to do was remove the prefabricated plot device from its packaging and insert it into his novel. But Jerry Jenkins botches this classic can’t-miss plot twist — he botches the set-up, puts the thing in backwards, then drags it out for way, way too long. [Read more…]

Left Behind isn’t interested in exploring the character of Jesus. The authors are not at all concerned with how their portrayal of Jesus’ opposite, the Anti-Christ, might be a means to explore the meaning of Jesus’ own character, actions, words, ministry or mission. They’re not terribly concerned with Jesus at all. [Read more…]

Other stories in other books persuade readers to go along through the willing suspension of disbelief. Tribulation Force insists on the willing suspension of the reader’s humanity. It requires the reader not just to accept but to participate in the monstrous absence of empathy displayed by the characters and authors alike. [Read more…]

Neither Buck nor Steve seems to remember that they’re in the journalism business. Neither of them recalls that the best weapon against shadowy conspiracies is the bright light of public exposure. It never occurs to either of these Woodward and Bernstein wanna-bes that the head of the London Stock Exchange killing a policeman might constitute news. When it comes to actually reporting on what he has learned, our Intrepid Reporter turns out to be extremely, well, trepid. [Read more…]