If J.R.R. Tolkien didn’t know the perfect word to describe something he often created his own word or even a completely new language. The climax of “The Lord of the Rings,” he decided, was a “eucatastrophe” — which calls to mind words such as Eucharist and catastrophe. The scholar of ancient languages defined this as a moment of piercing joy, an unexpected happy ending offering a taste of God’s Easter triumph over sin and death. Tolkien thought this sacramental element... Read more
Believers often wrestle with tragedy and death on the Mukono campus of the Uganda Christian University. Families are large and disease common, affecting young and old. Terrorism and tribal conflicts in this culture often lead to violence, injury and death. “Someone will say, ‘My brother died last night,’ and he will say it as a simple statement of fact,” said Father Stephen Noll, vice chancellor of this Anglican Church of Uganda school. “Someone may report that a particular student will... Read more
The satirical report on the Democratic Underground website may have seemed bizarre to outsiders, but it was old news to Attorney General John Ashcroft. According to a fictitious poll by CNN, Time and Cat Fancy Magazine, 52 percent of calico cats surveyed were afraid — even deathly afraid — of the attorney general and another 36 percent were “somewhat afraid.” Some cats said they believed Ashcroft is, in fact, a sign of the devil. “There have been reported cases of... Read more
For headline writers, 2004 was the year of “values voters,” stormy acts of God in Florida, gay marriage rites and countless clashes between “believers” and “infidels” in Iraq, Russia, Spain and other locations around the world. This may sound like the annual list of the top 10 news events released by the Religion Newswriters Association. But no, these events dominated the 2004 Associated Press survey of the top stories in the world — period. In a typical year, at least... Read more
It was around 200 A.D., according to St. Clement of Alexandria, that theologians in Egypt settled on May 20 as the birthday of Jesus, while others argued for dates in April and March. This wasn’t a major issue, since early Christians emphasized the Epiphany on Jan. 6, marking Christ’s baptism. Then sometime before 354, Rome began celebrating the Feast of the Nativity on Dec. 25. Eastern churches kept using different dates, but the Roman custom became the norm by the... Read more
White House scribe Michael Gerson’s telephone rang with a vengeance after the 2003 State of the Union address and its claim that there is “power, wonder-working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people.” In the age of Google, it was easy to connect this with the gospel hymn “Power in the Blood,” which says there is “power, wonder-working power, in the precious blood of the Lamb.” Soon, journalists were calling Gerson’s West Wing office asking... Read more
We see the headlines every two or three years during the holidays. A pastor preaches on the true meaning of Christmas, warning about sins of selfishness and materialism. Then, in a moment of candor, disaster strikes. This time the dateline was Santa Fe Springs, Calif. Local newspapers, followed by national wire services, reported that Father Ruben Rocha of St. Pius X Catholic School did something shocking during a Mass for students in kindergarten through third grade. He told the children... Read more
At first it seemed normal to Michelle Gompertz to be sitting in an Indian restaurant listing to Kenny G recordings of pop Christmas carols. Then she grew disoriented. This Indian restaurant was in New Deli. She was surrounded by Hindu culture, but nobody thought twice about listening to the same holiday saxophone Muzak that would be playing in American shopping malls. “I knew that Christmas was everywhere. But it really hit me,” said Gompertz, the daughter of a United Church... Read more
Ask Americans to rank the world’s most influential evangelicals and the Rev. Billy Graham will lead the list. So you might assume that the world’s most famous evangelist has an easy answer for this tricky political question: “What does the word ‘evangelical’ mean?” If you assumed this, you would be wrong. In fact, Graham once bounced that question right back at me. “Actually, that’s a question I’d like to ask somebody, too,” he said, during a 1987 interview in his... Read more
One perk of covering a White House race from day one is that early-bird journalists snag lots of one-on-one time with the candidate. Thus, Candy Crowley of CNN found herself sitting with John Kerry in a super-ordinary coffee shop in Dubuque, Iowa. The veteran political correspondent ordered coffee. The senator, from Massachusetts, ordered green tea. The waitress, from Iowa, was puzzled. “I advised the senator that he would need to carry his own green tea in Iowa and probably several... Read more
Terry Mattingly
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In