Last night The History Channel aired their epic miniseries The Bible. A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post based on the trailers History was using to promote the show and made the point that, though subtle, there is a highly problematic racism going on in the casting of this series wherein history is whitewashed as virtually all the heroes, good guys, and not least of all the savior, are white guys. This past weekend Kevin Hart hosted Saturday... Read more

It’s officially March. And you know what that means…. That’s right, we’re only 18 days away from the start of the 3rd annual American Jesus Madness tournament!! If you’re not familiar with this epic battle royale of American Christianity, it’s really simple…. It works just like the NCAA Tournament, but instead of basketball teams I use famous Christians and famous Christian things. I seed those people and things and then you vote on a winner. What are you voting on?... Read more

As I’m always welcoming new people to the blog I sometimes like to revisit an old post or two that sparked a good conversation, but may have been missed by those who weren’t around when it was originally posted. Since I’m currently cramming for my Reformation Europe midterm (which is tomorrow), I thought today would be a great day to bring something out from the vault. And, since the Reformation was already on my mind, what better subject to talk... Read more

We’re just a few weeks away from Easter. Which means you’re going to be hearing a lot about Jesus, the cross, and the resurrection at church for the foreseeable future (not that you didn’t already….I hope). You might even hear some talk about how scandalous the cross is or, at least, how scandalous it’s supposed to be. Of course, when something has become a fashionable piece of jewelry, a tasteful decoration, and a trendy tattoo it becomes difficult to call... Read more

A friend of mine shared this on Facebook today and I thought it was pretty amusing. And slightly awesome. Lightsaber AND a jetpack in heaven? Um, yes please. Of course, there are a couple things I’d want to trade out or at least add. I was never a big fan of Firefly, so if I could get never ending seasons of Arrested Development, Michael Scott era The Office, and/or King of the Hill that would be pretty fantastic. Also, I... Read more

[Image via]   We live in a bottom line society. If something isn’t efficient enough, if it doesn’t get the job done, or, most importantly, if it doesn’t make money, we get rid of it or ignore altogether in the first place. Whether in business, church, or just day to day life, many of the decisions we make are based on what’s best for the bottom line, what makes the most sense in light of our resources, or what will... Read more

Yesterday I shared the SNL spoof “DJesus Uncrossed.” Even without knowing it was from SNL you probably could have probably figured out on your own that it wasn’t a real movie. Well, it may not be, but it seems “Fist of Jesus” is. Or at least its creators want it to be. There’s not a lot of information about this on the Fist of Jesus website. Not even a description of what it’s supposed to be about. They are, however,... Read more

You don’t get much more “American Jesus” than this. Over the weekend SNL gave Jesus the Quentin Tarantino treatment with their movie spoof “DJesus Uncrossed” in which Jesus rolls away the stone with his bare hands, grabs his guns, and gets revenge on the bad guys who put him there. Somewhere in Seattle I imagine Mark Driscoll sitting on his couch watching this and shouting “That’s my Jesus!” Of course, he’s probably not the only one. As my friend David... Read more

Jesus once said “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet still believe.” If I’m being really honest that’s a blessing I would rather do without. Given the choice I would rather “see” than “believe.” Simply put, I wish I didn’t have faith. I don’t mean I wish I didn’t believe in God or the resurrection or anything like that. That’s not what I mean at all. In fact, I mean just the opposite. I wish I had knowledge. I... Read more