Screwtape Redux

Last updated on: January 18, 2013 at 6:00 am By Coyle Neal

Review of Operation Screwtape by Andrew Farley By COYLE NEAL This book probably needs no summarization. If you are any kind of literate Christian, you’ve probably been at least indirectly exposed to C.S. Lewis’ masterpiece The Screwtape Letters. Andrew Farley has updated Lewis’ work to meet the needs of the 21st century by providing this “translation” of a demon’s how-to manual. Broken into three broad categories (“Steal,” “Kill,” “Destroy”), the instructions walk through the ways in which a tempter might... Read more

Middle Earth is Inherited by the Meek

Last updated on: January 17, 2013 at 6:00 am By Kendrick Kuo

A Review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Directed by Peter Jackson By KENDRICK KUO After hearing the good reviews, including our very own Paul Miller’s take on the film, I decided to watch The Hobbit on New Year’s Day. There are many ways to review a film adaptation of a book—fidelity to the book’s plot, how well the characters make it to the screen, or other criteria. I will simply say read Paul Miller’s review since I agree with... Read more

Kafka’s World Without Grace

Last updated on: January 16, 2013 at 6:00 am By Paul D. Miller

Review of The Trial, by Franz Kafka By PAUL D. MILLER A hundred years ago, a German-speaking Czech insurance salesman—and a secular Jew—wrote three incomplete novels and a handful of short stories and died young. His reputation soared among literati, who speak of this man—Franz Kafka—in the hushed, awed tones reserved for the great and the gods. His name has become an adjective: to be in a Kafkaesque world is to be trapped in the clutches of an irrational, faceless... Read more

Smart Christians

Last updated on: January 15, 2013 at 6:01 am By Paul D. Miller

Review of Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind by Mark Noll By PAUL D. MILLER I previously blogged sympathetically about Mark Noll’s indictment of evangelical stupidity in his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. That post spurred a bit of debate (see my friend Owen Strachan’s response, and Carson Clark’s response to Owen). For my part, it seems only fair to consult Noll’s follow-up work, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind, in which he attempts to... Read more

Not Fade Away and the Limits of Nostalgia

Last updated on: January 14, 2013 at 6:00 am By Christian Hamaker

A review of David Chase’s Not Fade Away By Christian Hamaker As a young boy, radio and records were my best friends. We lived in a split-level home inBurke,Va.—not the bustling Fairfax Country suburb of today, but a new development in the early 1970s. A 7-Eleven, a Peoples Drug store and High’s convenience store were the neighborhood retail highlights. A Woolco discount department store housed the neighborhood record shop, where I purchased my first 45 rpm record at age 8... Read more

Justice at Zero Dark Thirty

Last updated on: January 11, 2013 at 3:00 am By Paul D. Miller

An Army veteran and former CIA spook appreciates Zero Dark Thirty. For him, it's all too real. Read more

Reforming Hollywood: The Ups and Downs of Protestant Film Engagement

Last updated on: January 10, 2013 at 6:03 am By Christian Hamaker

Review of Reforming Hollywood: How American Protestants Fought for Freedom at the Movies by William D. Romanowski By CHRISTIAN HAMAKER As religious film criticism has carved out a niche in the broader world of the arts the past two decades, so has the literature on Christian film criticism and involvement. One of the better writers on the subject of Christian engagement with film is William D. Romanowski, whose books Eyes Wide Open (Brazos Press) and Pop Culture Wars (Intervarsity Press) were... Read more

Finding Your Soul-Mate

Last updated on: January 9, 2013 at 3:43 am By Alexis Neal

Review of The Sacred Search: What If It’s Not About Who You Marry, but Why?, by Gary Thomas By ALEXIS NEAL I’ve read a lot of marriage books. Not all of them, mind you, or even most of them. But as someone who tends to believe that there is no obstacle you can’t study your way over and no problem you can’t think your way out of, I have devoured marriage books like a chubby kid eats cookies the day... Read more

Rust and Bone: A Slow Awakening to Love

Last updated on: January 8, 2013 at 6:36 am By Christian Hamaker

Review of Rust and Bone, Directed by Jacques Audiard By CHRISTIAN HAMAKER Pity the critic who can’t make heads or tails of what he’s just seen. Readers, who look to him for guidance, will surely be disappointed when he frankly admits he’s not sure about the merits of a particular film. That’s the case with this critic’s take on Rust and Bone, the new film from Jacques Audiard, whose last film—the Cannes Film Festival prize winner A Prophet—left me similarly... Read more

Josh Garrels Speaks of God

Last updated on: January 7, 2013 at 6:31 am By Kendrick Kuo

Review of The Sea In Between, a Mason Jar Music Film By KENDRICK KUO Josh Garrels has become a hit at my church, and I count myself among the smitten. Mason Jar Music (the producer) screened the music documentary The Sea In Between at each stop of Garrels’s Northeast tour. The tour ended in Washington, DC where I had the pleasure of attending the film and concert. The Sea In Between gives brief biopics of each of the band members... Read more