Yesterday while filming at a homeless camp in Abbotsford, I spent some time chatting with Nick Zurkowski (pictured), who has lived outdoors for quite some time. Nick told me a story about how this past winter he met a man named Tom Mackenzie who was passing through town but had begun to display the early signs of hypothermia. After Nick provided Tom with some warm clothing and food, they got to talking, and Nick found out Tom was a writer.... Read more
Way, way back when I was in college, I spent some time studying family systems therapy, which was developed by psychiatrist Murray Bowen beginning in the mid-1950s. In a nutshell, family systems therapy, or the Bowen Theory as it came to be called, is a theory of human behavior that views the family rather than the individual as the primary emotional unit. So when an individual “acts out” or manifests some sort of psychological or emotional disorder, rather than treat... Read more
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In a recent email exchange with Orthodox Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, he expressed concerns about the recent situation in Turkey (to which the Archbishop is slated to travel this fall) as well as his take on the the root reason for the conflict–Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s surreptitious attempt to institute Islam. The Archbishop sees this as a form of religious violence that is repeating itself all over the world. I found his perspective rather interesting. He gave me permission to... Read more
Last weekend I had a wonderful time speaking and showing Hellbound? at Lendrum Mennonite Brethren Church in Edmonton, Alberta. While preparing a talk entitled Why What’s Clear to You Isn’t So Clear to Me, I came across the painting below by Belgian artist René Magritte. Called The Treachery of Images, I feel the painting is a perfect illustration of how often we confuse the map with the territory. Enjoy! (But remember: This isn’t the painting, it’s merely a digital representation... Read more
A few years ago I made a serious attempt at becoming a day trader. Call it burnout, a midlife crisis or simply a desire to indulge a passion I’ve had since childhood, but I resolved to finally give it a go. So I did what I normally do when seeking to learn something new: I immersed myself in books, blogs, videos and all sorts of other resources to learn the ropes. I also signed up for a trading service–think of... Read more
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about fundamentalism in preparation for an upcoming project I’d like to do on Rene Girard’s mimetic theory. As part of the development process, I’ve been doing a series of presentations to help me workshop the material. I’ve never approached a documentary project in this way before. However, I’m finding the opportunity to “test drive” the content with various groups tremendously fruitful. I’m keying in on the issue of fundamentalism, because I begin my presentation... Read more
Today’s the day! Hellbound? is now available for download on iTunes, Amazon and Vudu. Also available for rent or purchase on Youtube movies and Google Play. And if you’re outside North America, you can buy or rent it exclusively on Vimeo-on-Demand. Here is your one-stop shop. Of course, the special features (director’s commentary, “To Hell and Back” featurette, interview outtakes and French and Spanish subtitles) are only available on the DVD, which you can purchase here. Read more
A brief excerpt: Kevin Miller is an incredibly lucky person. He releases a movie about Hell on DVD the same week the new Pope says even Atheists go to Heaven. The topic of the movie is suddenly incredibly relevant in the Christian faith. There are quite a wide variety of interviewees in the film, although I don’t think it is unfair to say some of them are given more weight than others. Granted, it is also not unfair that this... Read more
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the positive response to my recent post Christ or antichrist? However, perhaps not so surprisingly, it has not gone without criticism. The central critique goes something like this: You criticize binary thinking, but the entire post is written within a binary framework–the Sacrificial god vs. the Self-sacrificing God. I admit it may appear that way on the surface, and it was something I was conscious of while writing the piece. However, as I allude toward... Read more
Hellbound
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