Book in review: Heresy: A History of Defending the Truth
by Alister McGrath HarperCollins. 2009, 288 pages.
Reviewed by Neil Craigan
Several years ago I used the word “heresy” as part of a statement I was making on the floor of our presbytery.
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Film in review: “The American”
“The American” is a high-impact film with a serene, starkly simple setting, and a quiet, slightly discordant musical score that creates a building tension throughout.
Film in review: The Other Guys
Spoofing is a delicate business. You can be so subtle that the viewers hardly know you’re playing a parody of your own part. Then there are self-parodies, even when they aren't meant to be.
Film in review: “Get Low”
“Get Low” is one of those “niche” movies that feature a cast warmly embraced by the aging Baby Boomers such as yours truly: Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek. How could it go wrong?
Film in review: “Takers”
“Takers” is one of those high-adrenaline joy rides that’s both a good story and well-crafted visually. This one works, and it will do well at the box office.
Film in review: Mao’s Last Dancer
This is one of those films that you’re rooting for to work really well, but it’s sort of a mixed bag, which is a shame, because it’s an inspiring true story.
Film in review: “Animal Kingdom”
“Animal Kingdom” has that gritty, hand-held camera feel of low-budget forays, and sure enough, we recognize hardly anybody on the screen, but all that anonymity somehow adds to the realistic dilemma of the main character: “J” Cody (James Frecheville), a 17-year-old who is having to grow up way too fast.
Film in review: “The Expendables”
“The Expendables” is a really sad action/adventure movie, because it features a collection of old, over-the-hill tough guys who seem like stunted adolescents, unsure what to do with themselves except throw knives at dart boards, smoke cigars, drive loud motorcycles, and make fun of each other.
Film in review: “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World”
It was bound to happen. Video games are so popular among the youth that the current “niche” movie for the under-twenties looks like … a video game.
Film in review: “The Switch”
“The Switch” is one of those movies that appears to be a romantic comedy, therefore you go in expecting something kind of silly and predictable. Thankfully, it is neither.
Anxieties and resilience of U.S. churches focus of Yale journal
What does the future hold for the institutional church in the United States, particularly “mainline Protestant” churches that once dominated the country’s cultural landscape?
Changing the wind: McLaren at Church Unbound
MONTREAT, N.C. — Institutions and movements — secular and religious — need each other to retain their vitality, even as they frustrate each other, cutting-edge theologian Brain McLaren told several hundred Presbyterians gathered here in mid-August for "Church Unbound."
Film in review: “Agora”
reviewed by Ronald P. Salfen
I love it when filmmakers re-create the Roman era, complete with the togas, the chariots, the Greek-influenced architecture. Of course, many of the now-familiar Roman soldier outfits have been used to shoot films about the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth. But there are plenty of other locales and eras to consider as well: such as Alexandria, Egypt, in the 4th century.
The Presbyterian Territories
They need no exodus who dwell in the Promised Land.
Foundation donates $400K for Episcopal gay liturgies
(RNS) — A Michigan-based gay rights foundation has given more than $400,000 to the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif., to help craft formal same-sex covenanting liturgies for the Episcopal Church.
Unfettered exploration, bold proclamation
Recently I attended the sixth grade Renaissance Fair at Springfield Middle School. It was quite the event with hundreds of eleven- and twelve-year-olds dressed in varying degrees of homemade costumes displaying varying degrees of mortification.
Pulpiteer, entrepreneur
Members and officers, my word to you is this: be entrepreneurs.
Spiritual Leadership for Church Officers: A Handbook
Spiritual Leadership for Church Officers: A Handbook
by Joan S. Gray
Geneva Press, Louisville, Kentucky 2009
reviewed by Roy W. Howard
In the Acts of the Apostles Luke describes the beginning of the Church: On the day of Pentecost when the believers were gathered for prayer, the Spirit of God came upon them; they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Transitional Ministry: A Time for Opportunity
Transitional Ministry: A Time for Opportunity
edited by Molly Dale Smith. Foreword by Loren Mead.
Church Publishing, 2009. Pb., 194 pp. $20.
reviewed by Joel A. Alvis Jr.
When a church is without a pastor, there is anxiety and uncertainty. For many years a church in this situation was referred to as “vacant.” But it was obvious this did not mean the church was empty. Rather it meant the pulpit did not have a “permanent” occupant.
Film in review: “Eat, Pray, Love”
This film features a main character who’s maddeningly inconsistent, and frustratingly unhappy: not only with herself, but with everyone around her.
Christian group wants to stay in Afghanistan despite killings
BANGALORE (ENI) — The International Assistance Mission, a Christian development agency, has rejected Taliban claims that 10 of its staff killed in an attack in Afghanistan had been trying to convert Muslims.
Twin brother Paul
The city of Minneapolis could not have been more welcoming to the two or three thousand Presbyterians who gathered for the 219th General Assembly. But her quiet twin brother, St. Paul, also threw open his arms of welcome.
10 Minutes (or so) with Landon Whitsitt
Landon Whitsitt, the 33-year-old pastor of First Church in Liberty, Mo., near Kansas City, and I had lunch on July 5 — just two pastors sitting down at the pub for a friendly lunch — with my recorder. Landon was Moderator Cynthia Bolbach’s pick for vice moderator.
Middle East comm. scales its own wall to amend report; GA approves
MINNEAPOLIS —The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly overwhelmingly approved an amended report on conflict in the Middle East that aims at a careful balance between Palestinian and Israeli narratives of injustice and the path to peace.
UNDERSTANDINGS WITH MUSLIMS, JEWS STUMBLE AHEAD
MINNEAPOLIS —Commissioners to the 219th General Assembly voted overwhelmingly July 8 to approve a document outlining theological understandings between Christians and Muslims, but they referred back to committee a document aiming to bring greater understanding between Christians and Jews.
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