As film technology advances, the way we use it says something about our deepest longings. How theology intersects with de-aging in our favorite films and franchises… Get ready for more fortune and glory, kid. The trailer for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny dropped this week. It’s the 5th installment of a franchise that started back inContinue reading “Fortune & Glory and Nostalgia”
Category Archives: Future
An American Fourth In Britain
I’m sitting in our flat here in the UK. It’s a dreary morning. The mist hangs on the windows. I watch our three kids eat their breakfast. I’m thinking of William Stacy, someone like my fourth great uncle in 1775. When he heard about the British at Concord he grabbed his commission from the Crown.Continue reading “An American Fourth In Britain”
This Is America
Everyone has already made up their mind. Not about what happened in DC. But about what we want to believe happened in DC. That matters. Profoundly. The reality we live by and live in, our worldview, will—without much effort from us—interpret and assign meaning & value to much of yesterday’s events. Even filling in theContinue reading “This Is America”
Against Christian Nationalism
Christian Nationalism is a form of theological syncretism, a blending of religion & politics. It hijacks Christian Scripture, symbolism, and imagery to promote American glory & good as ultimate. In contrast, the Christian gospel of Jesus’ kingdom announces grace for all mankind. In Christian nationalism, the nation of America becomes essential to God’s plan toContinue reading “Against Christian Nationalism”
When You Wish Upon A Future
Walt Disney shaped the American Church because he shaped American culture. His vision of American progress in the 1960’s promised that technology would bring about the good life, less work and more leisure. The American church under the influence of this vision tends to choose the optics of progress: new facilities, new political voices, newContinue reading “When You Wish Upon A Future”
A Great (Secular) American Revival
America may be less Christian, but it is not less religious. We still worship. All human beings do. It’s just the altar was moved awhile ago. Now, truth is what we produce within, not something we come to possess from without. Truth in our age is subject to the human spirit, when it should beContinue reading “A Great (Secular) American Revival”
The Debate Showed Us Ourselves
We weren’t watching a debate last night, we were watching ourselves. The debate last night was a mirror. Take a good long look. This moment is showing us who we are collectively as Americans. This is us. In the days following, American Christians should search our spirit. Who are we, and how can we meetContinue reading “The Debate Showed Us Ourselves”
Jesus Says This Matters
If you keep a Spiritual trophy case somewhere in your soul, Jesus would like a word. I know, because he’s in the process of clearing mine out. We so quickly make an idol out of our past Spiritual “wins” and work hard to fill the case with more. But Jesus calls us to faithfulness, notContinue reading “Jesus Says This Matters”
The False Peace of the Atomic Age
Seventy five years ago today, a B-29 Superfortress nicknamed the “Enola Gay” circled the Japanese city of Hiroshima. It’s American crew dropped just one piece of ordinance that day: the first combat-deployed atomic bomb. Beneath them on the streets of the city, 240,000 Japanese died within the hour. One single bomb extinguished human life withContinue reading “The False Peace of the Atomic Age”
Eyes On The Future
Amazon went public in 1997. Imagine if you had invested in the company then. At first offering, the price of an individual share was just $18. Some very rough math tells us that if you purchased 100 shares in 1997 (an investment of $2,000) you’d be sitting on close to $250,000 today. Too bad timeContinue reading “Eyes On The Future”
Jared Stacy 