Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

If you saw the new movie list, you know that the second installment of The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian, came out this last weekend. Seeing as our boys loved The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, we made an opening weekend screening part of our plans. I didn't mess with reading any pre-reviews. I also didn't bother to read the book. The first was probably not a big issue. The second one was a mistake. I should have refreshed my memory of the original story. The foreboding doom of that last statement should not in any way reflect on the movie itself. It was a great movie. The quality of the acting was a little better. The scenery was, of course, beautiful. The story moved along at a good enough pace. And the action. Oh the bloodless violent action. For all the hacking and slashing that happened in the movie, it was truly amazing that bloodshed was kept at a minimum. Unrealistically so. But its a kids movie. Thankfully the blood was at a minimum. You have to realize ...

I picked up a copy of Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow. Like many others in the church, I have noticed the growing absence of men in the church as a whole. Women are taking the majority of leadership positions, leading mission outreach activities, and showing up without their husbands. Murrow began to study the statistics and talk to men and women about this phenomenon. His answer can be summed up as: the church as it is in today's culture is a feminine haven where masculinity is shunned, retrained, or demonized. As I have been reading, I can see places where Murrow's argument is sound. He makes some very good points. And there are some times when I just cringe at what he says. One thing that really almost set me off of the entire book was in saying the men who are active in church are more feminine in characteristics than masculine. Basically he was saying that men who enjoy being in church fit a more feminine stereotype than masculine. And while that may strike...

I just finished reading a sermon that, for some, it was powerful and meaningful. General Conference is happening right now. Every 4 years United Methodists and affiliates gather from around the world to discuss, debate, and elect the path of the UMC for the coming 4 years. Interspersed among the issues of "how then shall we live" are sermons. Bishops, clergy, and laity provide the message of the Gospel to those in attendance. But the sermon I read was not from General Conference. No, it was a Sunday morning sermon. In fact, it was a sermon preached on the Third Sunday of Lent. And the congregation hearing the sermon had to have been engrossed in the words of the minister. Because I was hanging on every word, waiting to hear the Gospel. The sermon was entitled, "A Sermon on Werewolves". Yep, werewolves. And the sermon was about....werewolves. Granted, the sermon was preached in 1508 in Strasbourg, Germany. The context of the sermon needs to be considered. 16th Centur...