As reported by GlennBeck.com, U2 frontman Bono, never shy about his personal faith, gave an interview to RTÉ One in his native Ireland, in which he made this statement about Jesus: It’s a defining question for Christians. Who was Christ? I don’t think you’re let off easily by saying He was a great thinker or great philosopher. Because, actually, He went around saying He was the Messiah. That’s why He was crucified. He was crucified because He was the Son... Read more
It’s not right to call the story of the Roman siege of the plateau fortress Masada in Israel a Bible tale, since it took place in 70 A.D., and is obviously not recorded in the Old Testament, and doesn’t involve the founding of the Christian faith related in the New. But it an epic and tragic event that continues on with the struggle between the First Century Jews and their Roman overlords, which also plays out in the Passion narrative... Read more
In modern society, the distinctive aspects of male and female often become blurred, with the unique beauty of each sex reduced to a bland androgyny. But, every now and then, something traditional survives, and we are reminded of what Saint Pope John Paul II taught in the “Theology of the Body,” that men and women are the two dimensions of a shared humanity — equal in dignity but very different in expression. I got a lesson in that not long... Read more
“Killing Jesus,” the three-hour telepic based on the bestselling historical thriller of the same name by Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, may have shortchanged the divinity of Christ — click here for my review — but it scored with viewers in its premiere airing on Sunday, March 29. From The Hollywood Reporter: The three-hour Killing Jesus averaged 3.7 million viewers. That’s up 300,000 from the previous pics about Presidents Kennedy and Lincoln. Timing the launch to Easter week, and... Read more
In answer to to the question, “Can Justin Bieber be saved?”, you might say, “Who cares?” My answer would be, “Millions of young, impressionable girls, some of whom might go right off the deep end if anything truly bad happened to their pop-star idol.” Just look at the wailing around the world over Zayn Malik leaving the boy band One Direction. From The Oakland Press (via the Washington Post): Wednesday was a weird day in the American school system. Students... Read more
On Tuesday, March 31 (check local listings), PBS premieres the documentary mini-series “Twice Born: Stories From the Special Delivery Unit,” filmed at the fetal-surgery center at Children’ Hospital of Philadelphia. Here’s the PBS press release (a preview is embedded below — and more video can be found here): GROUNDBREAKING FETAL SURGERY BRINGS JOY AND HEARTBREAK IN TWICE BORN Stories From the Special Delivery Unit PREMIERING TUESDAY, MARCH 31 ON PBS – Emotional three-part documentary series features unprecedented access to patients... Read more
I haven’t read Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard’s “Killing Jesus,” but I have seen the movie. So, I can’t say if the movie is an improvement on the bestselling historical thriller — but as both “Killing Lincoln” and “Killing Kennedy” diverged from the books that inspired them, one could suspect the same here — but it’s definitely a step down from the Gospels. As I wrote about here, screenwriter Walon Green tells the story of Jesus (Haaz Sleiman, above) without the supernatural elements, just depicting... Read more
Early on in the life of Pax Culturati, I published a compilation of tweets from writer/producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach (“The Middleman,” “Lost,” “Jake 2.0,” “Medium”). in which he revealed the secrets to being a successful staff writer on somebody else’s TV show. Click here for that, but in brief, it requires humility and a respect for authority (sound familiar?) Luckily for all of us, as shown in his tweets, Grillo-Marxuach also has the soul of a teacher, and anyone who loves TV and... Read more
One of Pope Francis’ recurring themes is the damage done by gossip. In an Angelus about a year ago, he said (from the National Catholic Register, via CNA): “It’s so rotten, gossip. At the beginning, it seems to be something enjoyable and fun, like a piece of candy. But at the end, it fills the heart with bitterness and also poisons us,” Pope Francis said Feb. 16. “I tell you the truth,” he preached to the crowds filling St. Peter’s... Read more
Granted, this is not the tiniest pimple on the butt of the horrors perpetuated by ISIS — especially those committed against humans, particularly indigenous Christians — but like the assault on Assyrian antiquities in a museum in Mosul, Iraq, and the bulldozing of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, also in Iraq, it’s just a reminder that 21st Century civilization is under attack from barbarians who aren’t nearly morally advanced enough to be called medieval. Part of the 1977 sci-fi blockbuster... Read more
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