Surrendering Earth to Thugs: How Atheism Empowers ISIS

Last updated on: February 20, 2015 at 1:28 am By Samuel James

By now many of you have surely either read or seen mentioned Graeme Wood’s cover story for The Atlantic, “What ISIS Really Wants.” It’s a monumental piece of journalism and analysis that comes at a crucial time in the fight (a generous term, perhaps) against the Islamic State. I commend the piece in its lengthy entirety to you. Of especial interest, though, is Wood’s careful yet unequivocal corrective to those who, like President Obama, are quick to dismiss ISIS’s Islamic religion so... Read more

Why the Oscars Still Matter

Last updated on: February 19, 2015 at 1:28 pm By Samuel James

I know, I know. Of all the major American entertainment award shows–the Grammys, the Tonys, the Emmys (sounds like a rosy-cheeked American family, eh?)–the Oscars are by far the easiest to ridicule. The broadcasts are much too long, the interviews much too self-adulating, and the winners too predictable. There’s only so much Meryl Streep one can experience in a calendar year after all. Nevertheless, despite the jokes and the eye-rolls and the eagerness many of us have to let social media... Read more

How to Watch TV Like a Christian

Last updated on: February 19, 2015 at 1:01 am By Samuel James

Last week I wrote a review for The Gospel Coalition of a helpful new book called The Stories We Tell: How TV and Movies Long For and Echo the Truth. Author Mike Cosper is a pastor here in Louisville, but he writes more like your smartest moviegoing friend who also happens to have a degree in theology. I think the more Christians–especially evangelicals–who read this book, the better and more fully Christian our conversations about pop culture (which is much, much more important... Read more

50 Shades and the Limits of Cultural Engagement

Last updated on: February 18, 2015 at 11:57 am By Samuel James

As forecasted, 50 Shades of Grey is a box office hit. The film toppled a record for R-rated films set in 2004 by The Passion of the Christ, a fact that practically begs to be stretched to its symbolic and metaphorical limits. Its popularity is both predictable and suprising–predictable because of the book’s astonishing success, and surprising because the box office, as this New York Times report noted, is not usually kind to sexually explicit romps like this. The Christian... Read more

Screwtape Predicts Instagram

Last updated on: February 16, 2015 at 12:50 pm By Samuel James

From Letter XIII: I myself would make it a rule to eradicate from my patient any strong personal tatste which is not actually a sin, even if is something quite trivial such as a fondness for country cricket or collecting stamps or drinking cocoa. Such things, I grant you, have nothing of virtue in them; but there is a sort of innocence and humility and self-forgetfulness about them which I distrust. The man who truly and disinterestedly enjoys any one... Read more

The Case Against Comments

Last updated on: February 11, 2015 at 3:55 pm By Samuel James

Andrew Sullivan’s farewell to blogging has inspired reflection on his legacy and influence on the medium. One of Sullivan’s contributions that is not getting enough attention is his decision to disable on-site commenting on The Dish when he went independent with it back in 2007. Sullivan wasn’t the first blogger to see the disadvantages to having open forums on the blog posts, but his blog’s influence and prestige gave the comment-free policy a widespread (and controversial) hearing. There’s little question... Read more

Dotage and Dawkins

Last updated on: February 9, 2015 at 3:44 pm By Samuel James

Valerie Tarico is the latest to observe the spectacular decline of Richard Dawkins. She zeroes in on Dawkins’s capacity to offend nearly everyone with his Twitter account: Part of the reason Dawkins has been so influential in positive ways is that he has a compelling drive to say what he thinks, whether his opinion is popular or not. But coupled with Twitter, this quality has created a public relations storm that threatens to undermine his legacy as a pioneer and the... Read more

Fifty Shades of Self-Loathing

Last updated on: February 5, 2015 at 3:10 pm By Samuel James

I have absolutely zero intention of talking about the upcoming Fifty Shades of Grey movie. However, when I saw Ross Douthat retweet this piece from Gawker on the film’s “disastrous” publicity tour, I couldn’t help myself. Kelly Conaboy’s coverage of the promotional interviews given by the movie’s stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan is…well, I don’t even know what to call it. Revealing? Bizarre? Sad? Predictable? Maybe all of the above. It appears that Johnson and Dornan are not in love. Actually,... Read more

Measles and Mainline Protestants

Last updated on: February 3, 2015 at 10:41 pm By Samuel James

Vaccination skepticism is–regardless of one’s judgment about inoculation–an elemental rejection of expertise and authority structures. Hostility towards vaccinations exists on a spectrum, ranging from the “anti-vax” advocates (think Jenny McCarthy) to worried parents to libertarian-leaning folks who vaccinate but think the alternatives should be legal. These distinctions are important and it would be unwise to talk past or dismiss them. Nevertheless, it’s safe to say that each of these camps are connected by a mutual distrust of medical professionals (doctors) and... Read more

A Response to Ken Ham’s Response to Justin Taylor

Last updated on: February 2, 2015 at 3:57 pm By Samuel James

Last week, The Gospel Coalition’s Justin Taylor posted an article entitled, “Biblical Reasons to Doubt the Creation Days Were 24 Hour Periods.” In my opinion, it’s a terrific piece. I’ve been familiar with several of Taylor’s points since reading Vern Poythress’s excellent book Redeeming Science (which Taylor cites), and I found Taylor’s summations clear, fair, and hermeneutically responsible. Here’s a brief excerpt: Genesis 1:1 tells us that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This is not a... Read more