Many are waiting with anticipation to hear from Manti Te’o either an explanation or a confession–or perhaps a bit of both. Is he a victim or a perpetrator of a national hoax? Was he drawn into a relationship with a phantom–an avatar playing a role–or did he construct a false relationship in order to further dramatize an already compelling storyline? This story is constantly on the move–shifting each day. With this ESPN story, it seems increasingly likely that Te’o was... Read more
So Lance is finally coming clean, as it were, about doping it up in order to get up those mountains over and over again on his way to his seven former Tour de France titles. Now after being outted by his buddies and banished by his nemeses, he does what any celebrity does when he’s up against the proverbial wall and needing to squeeze out some mercy as well as a few more bucks: turn to Oprah. Awaiting what will... Read more
Over the last few months, Christopher Brewer has devoted several blog posts to my theological approach to art over at Transpositions, a collaborative on-line project of students associated with the Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts at the University of St Andrews. He reviewed several of my blog posts here at Patheos as well as God in the Gallery: A Christian Embrace of Modern Art (Baker Academic, 2008), a book I wrote while Chief Curator of the Sheldon Museum of Art at the University... Read more
I’m back in the teaching game after a sabbatical. In some ways, it’s hard to gear up–I was getting used to a leisurely life of research, writing, and coffee drinking. But in many other ways, it’s good to be back. It’s certainly caused me to reflect a bit on the teaching craft–and why I do it. I recently came across a typically thought-provoking piece from Parker Palmer on “good teaching.” In this piece, he challenges the notion that teaching is... Read more
Well, it’s official. 2012 was the warmest year in United States on record, a full degree warmer than the last record in 1998. In Australia, 113 degree temps are helping fuel raging fires in the southern part of the country, giving new definition to what it means to be “down under.” From NOAA: The year consisted of the fourth warmest winter, a record warm spring, the second warmest summer, and a warmer-than-average autumn. Although the last four months of 2012... Read more
Robyn O’Neil, Hell (2009-2011) This time of year brings the remembrance of those whom we have lost during the last twelve months. In the aftermath of hurricane Sandy in late October, which flooded the neighborhoods that make up Chelsea on the lower west side of Manhattan and the center of the art world, many artists lost precious works of art, which were located in underground storage or on first floor gallery spaces. The artists (and the dealers) suffered considerable financial... Read more
In circles wherein I tend to travel, this existential question, along with its companion query on human consciousness, serves as a theological bulwark against which atheism crumbles. So naturally I was drawn to Jim Holt’s bestseller on the question. Serving as an “existential detective,” Holt seeks first to define “nothing” (no small task), and then proceeds to engage a number of philosophers and others regarding our existence. It’s been a mind-numbing slog, mostly because what may be a simple question... Read more
Claudia Alvarez, Flower Girl, ceramic, 2011 Art is like a magnet, attracting, collecting, and accumulating our thoughts and experiences over time. This process peels back new layers of the work, which those thoughts and experiences seem to reveal. A good work of art interprets us, works on us, forces itself on us and invades our thoughts, getting into our psychological nooks and crannies, insinuating itself into our emotional lives, and often forcing us to confront the reality of our lived... Read more
December 26 is a day marked on the church calendar as The Feast of Stephen. Now some of you hail from countries where December 26 is also known as Boxing Day. Contrary to popular opinion, Boxing Day has nothing to do with boxing up your Christmas trash, with after-Christmas sales or with punching some irritating relative to whom you were just being nice during the holiday. Instead, Boxing Day derives from an historic practice of opening and emptying church alms... Read more
In my day job as curator of LIBERATE, the online resource ministry of Tullian Tchividjian and Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, I was searching for a suitable image to pair with a sermon by one of our contributors, Rev. Nick Lannon, on the Advent theme of waiting. And I happened upon a photograph by contemporary artist Gabriel Orozco which I had often used to introduce his work to my undergraduate students. Now it strikes me as one of the more... Read more
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