Fine Art’s ‘Ornamental Despair': Chris Foss, Glenn Brown, and the Question of...
How is a painting modeled on a science fiction book cover worth nearly $5.7 million? This question demanded internet attention back in October when Glenn Brown’s Ornamental Despair (Painting for Ian...
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“And Death Shall Be No More”: Going beyond Transhumanism for Kids
Death seems an odd topic for a children’s book, but author Gennady Stolyarov II explains that he wrote his recently released Death Is Wrong to share with kids what he wished he would have learned...
View ArticleDubious Depictions of Faithfulness in ‘God’s Not Dead’
In some ways God’s Not Dead is a compelling story: an inexperienced but sincere Christian college freshman faces the daunting challenge of defending his belief in God against a stridently combative...
View ArticleWhat Marilynne Robinson Could Learn From Herself
Marilynne Robinson has long been my literary hero; she is a thoughtful Christian with beautiful command of language and deep insight into the human condition. Although her fiction output is relatively...
View ArticleThe Fault in Green’s Story
John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars is a beautiful love story, really. In this young-adult-novel-turned-film, Green crafts believable characters struggling with a tragic reality in this world:...
View ArticleBeyonce Overtakes the Louvre: Making Space for the Other
Last month, Beyoncé Knowles, husband Jay-Z, and baby Blue Ivy stopped by the Louvre during their tour of Paris. And although the palace has been a museum since 1793, has been visited by upwards of ten...
View ArticleLiving in the Not Yet: “Mockingjay – Part 1″ as Microcosm of the Fall
Mockingjay – Part 1, which opened this past weekend and swept away its box-office competition, has a decidedly different feel from previous Hunger Games films. Katniss—the consummate hunter and...
View ArticleYuletide Intimations of Hope, Untarnished by Our Foibles
For many, holiday festivities come to a head tonight with candlelight communion services, concluding tomorrow morning with children gleefully unwrapping presents under the Christmas tree. Come tomorrow...
View ArticleHis Truth Is Marching On: Selma’s Clarion Call
“The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. There’s a poignant scene towards the close of Ava DuVernay’s new film Selma, a scene made all the more...
View Article‘Making Manifest': Creative Spiritual Formation, Free for CaPC Members
Dave Harrity has taken on a daunting challenge in his 2013 book, Making Manifest: On Faith, Creativity, and the Kingdom at Hand. A blend of devotional and creative exercises, Harrity’s slim volume is...
View ArticleAbout Time: A Romantic Comedy That’s Actually About Love
“With all respect to heaven, the scene of miracle is here, among us.” ~ Marilynne Robinson My new favorite movie is easy to mock, or at least easy to dismiss with faint praise. The critical consensus...
View ArticleIs Apple’s 12 Days of Gifts Blurring Our Vision of Epiphany?
“[F]or me the meaning of life is centered in our Redemption by Christ and what I see in the world I see in relation to that.” — Flannery O’Connor Apple brought a new holiday promotion to America this...
View ArticleSpectacularly Trivialized: “Teen Mom 2″ and Abortion as Entertainment
About thirty years ago in his signature work Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman warned that the encroaching entertainment industry threatened to undermine society’s ability to deal with...
View ArticleVirtual Choices, Real Effects: The Impact of Our Hyperlink Trail
“…we always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap.” —Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago Robert Frost’s most recognizable poem is probably his most misunderstood. Despite popular...
View ArticleMike Huckabee, Helpless Women, and Straw Men
In The Moral Landscape, atheist Sam Harris writes that much research on deductive reasoning suggests that people have a “bias” for sound conclusions and will judge a valid argument to be invalid if its...
View ArticleKurt Vonnegut: Unlikely Apologist
The late Kurt Vonnegut inspires loyalty among his readers. He’s the kind of author whose fans devour book after book, reading one after another in rapid succession. Or at least I did. Back in 1997 a...
View ArticleJ. K. Rowling: In Praise of Imagination
Written in collaboration with David Baggett. Scribblers in the blogosphere were abuzz with talk of Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling’s most recent revelation. Hold on to your broomsticks: in what she...
View ArticleAttending to the Least of These in the Age of Trump
“Even if you have this baby, I’m not going to love you.” Nearly twenty-four years later, despite my having faced and overcome many challenges since that time and finally feeling secure in God’s...
View ArticleThe Handmaid’s Tale Evokes a Longing for Peace and Justice
I love Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale, so I was thrilled to hear that Hulu was adapting it as a 10-episode series. The story has plenty of fodder for an engaging drama: a relatable...
View ArticleThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Shows Us a World Full of Meanness
“No pleasure but meanness.” Such is the ethos of the Misfit, the hardened criminal whose presence looms over Flannery O’Connor’s iconic short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” Even before he appears...
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Christ and Pop Culture Summer 2018 Reading Guide
Summer is for camping and road trips; it’s for cookouts and s’mores, lazy days and fireworks. It’s also for reading, as time is freed up with fewer kids’ activities and perhaps some time off from work....
View ArticleRBG Is an Invitation to Love Our Political Neighbors
A few minutes into RBG, the new documentary about Associate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I was having Fahrenheit 9/11 flashbacks. Michael Moore’s propagandistic attempt to thwart George...
View ArticleOn the Fifth Day of Christmas, CAPC Gave to Me: Five Needful Words
For each day of Twelvetide, Christ and Pop Culture writers will point to some of the cultural goodness that gives hope in the midst of life’s messyness. It’s our version of the “Twelve Days of...
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Christ and Pop Culture Summer 2019 Reading Guide
Once again, the writers at Christ and Pop Culture have compiled a reading guide of some of our favorite books to entertain and edify you this summer. As usual, we have an eclectic list, including...
View ArticleThe Surprising Blessing of Steak-umm Twitter
Corporations have some strong pivot skills. One by one, they hopped on board the we’re-all-in-this-pandemic-together bandwagon. You’ve seen the commercials I’m sure. From CarMax to Burger King to...
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Pandemic Restrictions, Human Limits, and Meaningful Gestures
This article was created in partnership with InterVarsity Press. Growing up in the church has its advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, from early on, I was immersed in Bible reading, prayer,...
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