One of the most unique musicians of a generation died yesterday. Scruggs was an icon with a banjo in his hand. Part of the legendary duo with Lester Flatt, they defined real bluegrass and took flat-picking to the masses. Scruggs played everywhere, from the White House, to Carnegie Hall, to the country fair the man was universally respected for being one of the truly good guys in the music business. Plus he could flat out play. I’ll never be as... Read more

Here are a few paragraphs from a paper by Mike Clawson, who is getting his PhD. at Baylor. He argues that the neo-reformed movement (think Mark Driscoll, John Piper, John MacArthur, Acts 29, The Gospel Coalition), is really just a new fundamentalism which is built around different issues than before. I think it’s a fascinating read. You can read the entire paper here, but this is a quick look at what he’s arguing. “I contend that this growing concern expressed... Read more

  Stanley Hauerwas has made a deep impression on me over the years. My first encounter with him was via Resident Aliens. That was twelve or thirteen years ago. Then came A Community of Character and articles and speeches. I love his sense of humor and how seriously he takes his work. But I think reading his memoir Hannah’s Child forever changed the way I will see the man and his work. That he faithfully lived and cared for a... Read more

I confess that I am not a consumer I am a steward. I confess that we do not live in a world of scarcity, but a world of abundance. I confess these things with my mouth, and believe them in my heart. I confess that too often I do not live as though they are true. I confess that I am obsessing over Bethge’s biography of Bonhoeffer. I want to buy it really badly but it is $33. Even used... Read more

I’ve got a new article up at the Huffington Post. Strangely it has been filed under the “Politics” section, not the religion section. It’s the last in the 3 part series on the major players in the 2012 political elections. As always, I really appreciate when people go onto the Huffington Post site and “share” or “like” the article from there. The more traffic it gets, the more likely it is to climb the food chain. In this article series,... Read more

There’s a pretty good review of the Hunger Games at the AV Club. I typically enjoy what these guys put out there & having not seen the movie the review seems fair. Their assessment is that it is the kind of book-based movie which tries to stay faithful to the book. Starship Troopers, meets The Running Man, meets The Truman Show with a touch of Survivor is not exactly a glaring comparison, but I get what they mean. I have... Read more

  One fall Satellite Soul lucked onto a tour featuring Big Tent Revival, Jennifer Knapp, and us. Fall tours were the best for some reason… better crowds and always interesting places. We got 30 minutes at the beginning of the show (28 minutes to be exact – which road manager Grant Garner would harp on every single night). This time we went up north through New England all the way up to Barr Harbor, Maine in the middle of the... Read more

I was forwarded a very interesting article by Steve Taylor today. Steve is the old CCM rocker turned filmmaker who directed the new Blue Like Jazz movie. Taylor chronicles the resistance of the Christian film industry to the film and its makers. It’s sad but predictable to hear that evangelicals have lined up to smear and defame Blue Like Jazz and its makers all in the name of protecting their hegemony – sad, predictable, and shameless. If Taylor’s version of what’s going on... Read more

Television’s Kirk Cameron was on The Today Show this morning promoting his new film called Monumental. It’s a documentary type project built upon this premise: “I spent the last year and a half on a personal journey traveling through Europe and the United States in search of what I’m calling the real national treasure of America. I’ve got six kids and as a dad I’m wanting my kids to have a great future. And I look at what’s going on... Read more

I confess that I’m watching The West Wing series again. I’m six episodes into season two and have already have confirmed what I suspected all along – I think The West Wing is the best TV show ever. I confess that I don’t get to play guitar as much as I used to, so when I do my fingers hurt because my calluses are all but gone. To alleviate the pain, I will sometimes put superglue on my fingers to... Read more