The Dude Abides
It was precisely what I needed to hear. Not from a rock band, not from any other human being. It’s what I needed to hear the Creator of the Universe say. Read more
It was precisely what I needed to hear. Not from a rock band, not from any other human being. It’s what I needed to hear the Creator of the Universe say. Read more
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I was standing in the bathroom of my apartment outside Chicago, about to hop in the shower, when I heard the phone ring and then my husband call my name. “It’s Roger from the desk,” he said, sleepily, invoking the name of the morning assignment editor at the Chicago Sun-Times where I was a reporter at the time. I padded down the hallway in my pajamas to the living room and picked up... Read more
The horror of "Red State" is not the body count wrought by machine-gun-toting church ladies or federal agents with orders to use deadly force to empty a fortified cult compound. Rather the true horror of Smith's film is in the fundamental beliefs that give rise to such atrocities. Read more
In the flickering pixels of a video screen, “Liberate Eden” becomes words with a heartbeat, movement and breath, giving a contemporary face to an eternal story. Read more
If the New Yorker piece is any indication, apparently we evangelicals remain an elusive, vastly misunderstood lot -- 30 years after evangelicals became a potent political force. In the popular imagination at least, evangelicalism is an ideological monolith. Read more
"Music for me is like a weed that just keeps springing up," Bridges says in a video trailer for the album. "No matter how thick the concrete is it somehow manages to eke its way toward the light. I've been doing music since I was a young teen and man, I'm really digging the way the weed popped through this concrete." Read more
"As the water fell against little foreheads and was gently patted dry with the crisp white linen, I heard it. `You'll be up there again with your baby."' Read more
Most teen stars are more carefully produced and packaged than a pair of glass slippers, polished to perfection (at least on the outside). Apart from giving superficial nods to faith as a means of assuring their fans' parents that they are inoffensive entertainment, it's rare to hear a teen star talk about his or her spiritual beliefs with any depth and consistency. Read more
Just as silence forms the central element of worship in a Quaker meeting, in the Church of Beethoven the music is the worship, the homily and the anchor of the community of believers, if you will. Wurman's concept for the Church of Beethoven, where the music itself is the preacher, reminds me of a favorite spiritual quote, often attributed to St. Francis of Assisis: ``Preach the gospel; when necessary, use words.'' Read more
Without the help of special 3-D glasses or Pixar-style bells and whistles, the new “Winnie the Pooh” film succeeds in transporting its audience to a place every bit as magical, where the hidden treasure is found in simple pleasures and sacred friendship. At a throw-back 63 minutes long, “Winnie the Pooh,” directed by Stephen J. Anderson (“Meet the Robinsons”), is a tale that surely appeals to the kindergarten crowd. But it will also charm parents who, like me, probably saw... Read more
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