Monday Night December 5^th at 7PM

Special location: Bethany Community Church 1156 n. 80th St, Seattle, WA 98103

REGISTER NOW!

Trust me~ You don’t want to miss this amazing evening with Dick Staub hosting his friend, NYT bestselling author Eric Metaxas in a free wheeling conversation about The Life Work and Spiritual Journey of Eric Metaxas.

 We’ll discuss Eric’s classic books: Bonhoeffer~ Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and his just-released Socrates in the City (featuringOs Guinness, Sir John Polkinghorne, Peter Kreeft, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Chuck Colson, Dr. Paul Vitz, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Francis Collins and N.T. Wright. (What the heck Dick may get Eric talking about Veggie Tales, Amazing Grace, Squanto, Dick Cavett and Breakpoint too!) Remember “There’s a time for joking around and a time to be serious; this is not one of them.” Anonymous

8:45 PM There will audience Q&A AND book signing immediately after the show! (Signed copies of Eric’s books make great Christmas Gifts!)

We expect a big turnout: We’ve got a larger space than ever: BUT Reservations are required.

To Register Click Here! 

 Hear what the critics are saying about Eric’s biography of Bonhoeffer:

 “A definitive Bonhoeffer biography for the 21st century.”?— Kirkus (starred review)

“Monumental… a deeply important work.”?— Greg Thornbury, Union University

“Higher Ground” tells the true story of Carolyn Briggs, who became disillusioned with and left the Jesus movement, only to find that she missed the comforts of real community and certain belief. Director Vera Farmiga told us that Briggs didn’t leave religion, but rather an “impoverished expression of the Christian religion.”

“Septien” is the quirky story of eccentric, troubled but loveable brothers. An evil incident in the distant past is the cause of their madness, and a Christian prophet arrives to rid them of their demons. Screenwriter Michael Tully confessed he is not religious, but thought it would be refreshing to infuse the Christian story with, well, sincerity.

In “Abraxas,” Japanese director Naoki Kato tells the story of Jonan, a teenaged punk rocker-turned-Buddhist monk. When his passion to create music returns, he has trouble reconciling it with his religion. Kato confessed that he, too, has no religion, but added, “Humans can’t live without both music and spirituality.”

In “The Redemption of General Butt Naked,” documentarians Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasio tell the true story of Joshua Milton Blahyi, who claims to have murdered over 20,000 during Liberia’s civil war in the 1990′s. After a conversion experience and a new career as an evangelist, Blahyi seeks the forgiveness of families affected by his violent past. The filmmakers follow the evangelist over five years, drawing the audience into the complexity of the man and the messiness of his redemption.

In “Position Among the Stars,” filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich traces the lives of one Indonesian family in the slums of Jakarta. Grandmother Rumidjah is the Christian matriarch who lives in a small village and struggles with her sons Bakti and Dwi, who have both converted to Islam. Her self-centered granddaughter, Tari, is still Christian but is more influenced by Western pop culture. Grandma has invested heavily in Tari’s education, but when she travels to Tari’s high school graduation, the visit reveals major conflicts between traditional values and the modern world.

In “Kinyarwanda,” Alrick Brown tells the true story of the Mufti of Rwanda, who during Rwanda’s 1994 bloodbath forbade Muslims from killing, and opened his mosque as a place of refuge where Muslims, Christians, Hutus and Tutsis could come together to protect each other.

“Gun Hill Road” is a sensitive, believable exploration of the clash between a macho Latino father who returns home from prison, and his teenage son, Michael, who comes out as Vanessa, a transgender woman.

Polish filmmaker Lech Majewski’s “The Mill and the Cross” is a creative, devotional homage to faith as it translates Pieter Bruegel’s 1564 epic masterpiece, “The Procession to Calvary,” into an imaginative narrative of the characters in the painting.

“Salvation Boulevard” and Kevin Smith’s “Red State” both exploited religion for entertainment. “The Ledge” pits an atheist against a believer, but screenwriter Matthew Chapman chooses a mentally unstable caricature for his Christian protagonist. Chapman dedicated the screening to atheist Christopher Hitchens and to murdered Ugandan gay activist David Kato who, he said, was dead because of the “influence of American evangelical Christians.”

Braden King’s “Here” actually delivered the most transcendent moment at this year’s festival. The film tells the story of two wandering souls: Will, a satellite-mapping engineer conducting a survey of Armenia, and an Armenian expatriate and photographer who recently returned home.

As “Here” begins, the narrator explains that in ancient days when explorers met, each would share their map of their world with the other.

It’s a useful metaphor for Sundance. We arrive with a map of our known world, and we see and hear stories revealing maps of other worlds. Only when we realize our map is a map of OUR world, and not a definitive map of THE world, can we begin to grasp reality. And only then can we learn to love and understand each other despite our differences.

It’s a particularly important reminder in the world of religion, where lines, boundaries and territories are quickly drawn and guarded, and the sharing of variant maps is discouraged at best and forbidden at worst.

Then these words (below) came to me as if channeled from heaven above.

I live on a small island.
There is a reason people move to small islands.
You don’t move to a small island by accident.
You must make plans ~ buy a ferry ticket ~ pack some things.

It is quiet here.
Small is beautiful here.
We know each other.
Seems human.

I receive colorful mailings about off-island events.
Many are designed to help the next generation change the world.
The same speakers are on most of them.
When are they home?
When are they still and quiet?
How are their children?

I live on a small island.
There is a reason people move to small islands.
You don’t move to a small island by accident.
You must make plans ~ buy a ferry ticket ~ pack some things
And leave a lot behind.

HHHMMMM. I am now reading this one day later and it occurs to me: one of the things I am leaving behind is the mad clamor of conferences designed by overly busy people who develop and then travel to communicate strategies to do the things they can’t do because they are so busy designing strategies and traveling instead of investing time and energy in loving the people in their own lives. There is a reason Jesus concentrated on one small, seemingly insignificant patch of geography.

In the new Coen Brothers movie, True Grit, a tough U.S. Marshal helps a stubborn young woman track down her father’s murderer. From the beginning a haunting and beautifully orchestrated melody plays, one familiar to anyone raised on old gospel hymns ~ Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.

What a fellowship, what a joy divine,leaning on the everlasting arms;
what a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms.

Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
leaning, leaning,leaning on the everlasting arms.

O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms;
O how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms.

What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms.

The lyrics are drawn from Deuteronomy 33:27: 27 The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, ‘Destroy him!’

The philosophical Coen brothers, raised Jewish, know their Bible and they know a great story when they see it.  Interestingly,one line appears in three versions of “True Grit” (both movies & the Charles Portis’s True Grit novel): “You must pay for everything in this world one way and another. There is nothing free with the exception of God’s grace.”

Combining this line of narration with the musical variations of “leaning on the everlasting arms” is both subtle and brilliant.

The story behind the hymn is interesting too.

One day in 1887, after music class had been dismissed, Professor A.J. Showalter collected his books, locked up the church house and made his way across town to the boarding house where he had put up for his brief stay in Hartselle, Alabama. When he arrived, two letters from former students in South Carolina were waiting for him.

Showalter read the first letter. It bought the sad news that this student had just recently and suddenly lost his wife. The professor left the letter aside and decided to answer it later.

Opening the second one he found that it brought news identical to that of the first. What a tragic coincidence! Two former students had each been plunged into tragedy, through the same circumstances, and on the same day.

In an effort to console his two young friends Showalter wrote: “‘The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms’.” He paused, and put down his pen. In that single line of Scripture lay the theme of a great hymn. His pupils could read music, and they could sing – for he had taught them. Then why not write them a song of comfort instead of a letter? Quickly he wrote the Chorus: Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms; Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

God’s grace is unmerited favor and each hero on True Grit is flawed yet lovable.

The Coen brothers get it and the result is an endearing set of interesting characters upheld by their true grit and the everlasting arms of grace.

Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends, Dick Staub.

PS. And remember, “these are the best of times and the worst of times, but they are the only times we have.” (For Now).

Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends, Dick Staub.

PS. And remember, “these are the best of times and the worst of times, but they are the only times we have.” (For Now).

I am writing to those who share my interest in rekindling the spiritual, intellectual and creative legacy of Christians in culture.

As you know, there was a time when Christians were known for their spiritual, intellectual and artistic contributions to society. Bach, Mendelssohn, Dante, Dostoevsky, Newton, Pascal, Rembrandt, TS Eliot, Flannery O’ Connor, CS Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien are but a few who personified the rich tradition of faith.

That was then and this is now. Sadly, much of our culture and many Christians in it are accepting, producing and profiting from today’s artistic, spiritual and intellectual impoverishment, but the good news is that thanks to the tireless efforts of some groups that take faith and the arts seriously, some progress is being made towards a brighter future.

I’m writing you on behalf of these groups that for the most part fly under the radar.

It is no secret that in today’s struggling economy, charitable giving is down. This is especially true for those brave organizations seeking a renewal of the arts.

That’s where you can help.

As we approach year’s end I ‘d like you to think of one faith and arts organization doing the kind of work that matters to you, locally or nationally. Then send them a special year-end donation of any size.

If you need suggestions, I’m listing some national and local Seattle arts groups I partner with through The Kindlings.

Any gift you can make, large or small will make a difference.

Thanks for considering my modest proposal.

National

IMAGE Journal year-end letter. Gregory Wolfe.

International Arts Movement year-end letter. Mako Fujimura.

Seattle

Taproot Theatre year-end letter. Scott Nolte.

Karin Stevens Dance year-end letter. Karin Stevens.

Two Others: Atlanta & Kansas City
Theatrical Outfit Tom Keyes, Atlanta.
Storling Dance Theatre. Jeremiah and Mona Enna, Kansas City.

Final Thoughts
As always, we at The Kindlings welcome your financial support at year’s end as well.Read The Kindlings year-end letter. Dick Staub.

The Kindlings/CFC (The Center for Faith and Culture), PO Box 729, Eastsound, Washington 98245

On a personal note: If you have not yet ordered my newest book About You,there is no time like the present and it makes a great gift too! Order Dick’s Newest Book: About You, Fully Human. Fully Alive

May the generous spirit of Christmas infuse and empower us even in these difficult financial times.

Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends,

Dick Staub.

PS. And remember, “these are the best of times and the worst of times, but they are the only times we have.” (For Now).

Hi there!  As of today, my newest book, About You, Fully Human: Fully Alive, is now available online and at bookstores everywhere.  If I may be so bold as to ask this favor? If you have enjoyed my writing, speaking, broadcasting, podcasting or whatever other contact we’ve had, I hope you run right out and buy a copy or order online for your kindle!  Please read it and then post online comments at Amazon, make mentions on your Facebook or blogs, or suggest this book for your book groups ~

In About You I explore three major themes:

One answers the question: What can humans do to please God?
St. Irenaeus answers saying, “The glory of God is man fully alive.”

The second answers the question: What was the mission of Jesus?
Hans Rookmaaker answers saying, Jesus didn’t come to make us Christian; Jesus came to make us fully human.”
Here I try to show Jesus as a humanizer not religionizer

The third answers the question: What does fully human look like?
The answer comes from my own understanding that regardless of nationality, ethnic origin, religion or creed, each and every person on earth is a bearer of God’s image creatively, spiritually, intelligently, morally and relationally in ways unique to them.

Here are some stellar endorsements!
“The human race, in its mass confusion and conflict, asks the existential questions to which there seem to be no solid answers. In the sweep of a mere fourteen chapters, Dick Staub offers us the coherent narrative of the Why of humanity, the How of healing, and the Who of the Creator, giving firm ground for thoughtful questioners to stand on.”
—Luci Shaw, poet and author, Breath for the Bones, Harvesting Fog

“Broadcaster, writer, lover of all things C.S. Lewis, raconteur par excellence and great friend, Dick Staub is one of the few people I’ve met who truly cares about people becoming fully human. He is a faithful and effective guide on the journey to do just that.”
— Bill Kinnon, Moving Image creator, writer, blogger

“Dick Staub’s insight into our present age and our own deep longings lead us on a “rowdy pilgrimage” to discover the riches that lay within our unique design while pointing us to the fully human life.” —Scott and Pam Nolte, theatre artists and co-founders, Taproot Theatre

“Staub’s refreshingly honest book doesn’t flinch at the reality of our fallenness, but offers fresh insight into a profound mystery: Why does God love us? What is wrong with the current picture of our lives? How can it be painted more beautifully and truly to match the vision of the Artist?” —Bruce Herman, artist and Lothlorien Distinguished Chair in Fine Arts, Gordon College

“Dick Staub offers a cup of cold, clear water for all of those who thirst for something significant beyond the oft-superficial and bankrupt materialism of the prevailing culture.” —Jeff Johnson, singer and songwriter, Windham Hill/Ark Music

“About You  is a profound, capacious research into what we humans might both be and become as we find, focus and follow the intentionality of The Great Artist.”
—Nigel Goodwin, United Kingdom based actor and international arts advocate

“Dick Staub is a thoughtful, creative and insightful thinker, who journey’s into the deep questions of life.  About You is a treasure map, where Dick serves as both sage and guide, gently leading us to a broader understanding of our own humanity, it’s source and the fullness therein. A must read for fellow sojourners on the road to becoming fully human.” —John Priddy, CEO, Priddy Brothers

Hope to hear your feedback when you read About You!

My father was a clergyman who started his career in Bly, a rough and tumble, logging town in Southern Oregon. I remember as a four-year old sitting in a clearing in the woods and watching a deer at a salt lick, while dad sat on a tree stump reading. By the time I was a teen we had moved to Fullerton, California and dad went back to school part time to get an M.A. in English Literature. Books were piled everywhere.

I don’t remember a day when my parents weren’t sitting in adjacent chairs reading books and stopping occasionally to share some pithy excerpt. I read eagerly in school and remember how delicious it was to learn a new word like “fiddlesticks.” It was a long word, the longest I knew until I encountered Mississippi, and it sounded vaguely illicit, which is the kind of word a pastor’s son is sure to treasure.

In my senior year of high school I was to write a paper on Robert Burns and I put off the research and writing to the day before it was due. On that memorable day, when I was supposed to be in the public library, I was across the street at the gym, having been easily seduced into a long basketball game that ended after the library closed.

Bookless, I returned home to inform my dad that I was dropping out of school.

Dad hauled me into his library and pulled a stack of Robert Burns books off the shelves and introduced me to the concept of an all-nighter, which sounded more appealing than unemployment, another concept he explained with some conviction and passion that night.

My first year of college I took a lit class from Elizabeth Hough, who required us to read a novel each week. She also assigned a term paper involving literary interpretation. I chose to research and write about the significance of the birdcage in Frank Norris’s McTeague. I didn’t put it off to the last minute.

While in college and then again after graduate school, I attended Berkeley Presbyterian church, where a dynamic, intellectually curious young pastor named Earl Palmer preached. Not a week went by without him mentioning some book that went immediately to my “must read list”: Dostoevsky, Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth, C.S Lewis, Dorothy Sayers, Charles Williams, G.K Chesterton and J.R.R. Tolkien are but a few of the names he introduced to me.

I got into broadcasting almost by accident, my interest piqued when I learned I could receive free review copies of newly published books, and that better yet, I could interview the authors! This was back in the days before hostile political talk radio, back in a kinder, gentler more erudite time when broadcasters were expected to read books and conduct intelligent long-form interviews with authors. It was back in a time when America still nurtured a “middlebrow culture” of individuals interested in thinking through ideas and issues and equally turned off by highbrow academic pretensions and lowbrow bottom-shelf mindlessness. Middlebrow culture is a reading, thinking culture.

All this is on my mind because last year Earl Palmer retired and asked if I would host a live The Kindlings Muse podcast event featuring him. The concept is simple. Earl makes a list of books thoughtful Christians ought to read. We all read one book a month and gather at the Burke Museum Café at the University of Washington for a discussion. Last night we were talking about Mark Twain’s spiritual quest. As always, Earl brought a pile of books from home and read selected excerpts. Each book has his name on the inside cover and the date when he bought it. Each is dog-eared and worn, underlined and highlighted and has been read and reread.

I asked Earl how in his busy schedule he has had time to read all these years. He talked about reading on planes, reading before bed, always carrying a book wherever he goes and fervently advised severely limiting television viewing.

After the show his wife Shirley said she could have answered my question more succinctly. “When does Earl read?” she asked, then answered. “Always.”

• Order one of Dick’s books for Christmas! Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters OR

The Culturally Savvy Christian: A Manifesto for Deepening Faith and Enriching Popular Culture in an Age of Christianity-Lite:

Dear Friend of Staublog & The Kindlings

“In a poem every word must pull its own weight,” so said Irish poet Micheal O’Siadhail, as he and I talked over coffee about the cheapening of words in today’s culture.

It strikes me that the words that matter most, the Christmas words, are being robbed of their rich meaning in our casual gift card use these days.

Peace. Joy. Love. Thanksgiving. For these words to carry their own weight in the Holiday Season and year around, this is my prayer. The spiritual substance of these hoped for not yet fully seen gifts from God are ours when we allow God’s spirit to carry the weight of our lives, the burdens of our souls and all our heartaches and fears.

The lush lyrics of Christmas warm me this winter. “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” “Oh come to my heart Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for you.” “Jesus did come for to die for orn’ry people like you and like I.” “Son of God, loves pure light.” “Long lay the world in sin and error pining.” “Word of the Father now in flesh appearing.” These are words that carry their own weight.

But the need for a spiritual, creative intellectual renaissance has never been clearer. Poet T.S Eliot observed, “No culture has appeared or developed except together with a religion: according to the point of view of the observer, the culture will appear to be the product of the religion, or the religion the product of the culture.” American’s cultural and spiritual lives are spiraling downward together precisely because our religious and cultural lives reflect a symbiotic superficiality.

How do culture’s lose their way? In his later years Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” Since then I have spend well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.”

Weighing heavy on my heart this Season are the financial challenges we are all facing in America, and The Kindlings is affected like everybody else. I share our situation with you so you might pray for us and please make a generous year-end-donation to help us if you can.

The unraveling economy has hit many of our donors and it is showing in a 40% drop in giving this year. We’ve trimmed back an already bare bones budget and are trusting God for guidance as this fiscal year comes to a close and the new year begins.

The 2010 plans for Staublog, The Kindlings Muse shows, Kindlings Hearth Retreats and Kindlings Fest are directly tied to donations friends like you send us this month.  In that sense your giving will determine whether or not we can proceed with our 2010 plans. We really need a huge boost this December ~ it will take $50,000 dollars  this month to allow us to continue full steam in the first quarter of 2010.

The Kindlings are working to fan a small glowing spark; to illuminate the path back to God in whose image we are created; to enrich the culture through our enriched and transformed lives, and to do it together, each of us doing our part to the glory of God.

With peace, joy, love and thanksgiving for your friendship and support, yours fort the pursuit of God in the company of friends,

For the benefit of the world,

Dick Staub

Please send as generous a donation as you can, if you can. All donations are tax deductible: CFC TAX 94-3329592

TO DONATE:

1) PAYPAL: Click the “make a donation” button on the upper right column The Kindlings home page

2) WRITE A CHECK TO: CFC/The Kindlings and mail it to:

The Kindlings

PO Box 729

Eastsound, WA 98245

Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends for the benefit of the world,

Dick Staub.

PS. And remember, “these are the best of times and the worst of times, but they are the only times we have.” (For Now).

Recently I was asked to deliver a devotional to the board of IMAGE Journal, a glorious periodical that grapples with the intersection of faith, art and mystery. Taking up the subject of how art helps us “see God,” I observed that in the last years of his life Tolstoy gathered his favorite thoughts in a daily reader. Like Tolstoy instead of a scriptural exposition, I compiled a collection of quotes on how the arts help people see God, which I now share with you. Consider it a chance to sneak a peak at the “kindergarten drawing.”

Done properly art illuminates the path to God. The late Madeleine L Engle said, “we don’t want to feel less when we have finished a book; we want to feel that new possibilities have been opened to us. We don’t want to close a book with a sense that life is totally unfair and that there is no light in the darkness; we want to feel that we have been given illumination.”

Art that connects is art that flows from and connects to personal pain and fallenness. Julian of Norwich prayed a simple prayer: “O God, please give me three wounds; the wound of contrition and the wound of compassion and the wound of longing after God.” Then she added this little postscript which I think is one of the most beautiful things I have ever read: ‘This I ask without condition.’”

Rabbi Abraham Heschel insisted “unless God is of central importance, God is of no importance at all.” So Bono explains, “the music that really turns me on is either running toward God or away from God. Both recognize the pivot; that God is at the centre of the jaunt.”

Art explores mystery. In his novel As It Is In Heaven Irish writer Niall Williams tells the story of a man whose wife and daughter are killed in a head on collision with a drunk driver. On the opening page he sets the tone, “there are only three great puzzles in the world. The puzzle of love, the puzzle of death, and between each of these and part of both of them, the puzzle of God. God is the greatest puzzle of all.”

Many artists, even irreligious ones experience the transcendent while making their art. I think this is because humans are created in the image of a creative God and when we practice our craft and do it well we connect with God. Novelist John Updike confessed to this when he said, “I feel I am closest to God when writing. You’re singing praises. You’re describing the world, as it is. And even if the passages turn out sordid or depressing, there’s something holy about the truth.”

J.R.R. Tolkien said that artists are “sub-creators and as such, even their best work should be done humbly in recognition of their inadequacy as tools in Gods hands. James Lee Burke (one of only two authors to win two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America) describes the artist as an unworthy co-creator with God: “God might choose fools and people who glow with neurosis for his partners in creation, but he doesn’t make mistakes.”

Today’s artist will be tempted to “dumb down” their work to make it relevant in a superficial age, a problem identified by national book award winner Jonathan Franzen, who after the success of his novel, The Corrections clarified the challenge, “the novelist has more and more to say to readers who have less and less time to read: where to find the energy to engage a culture in crisis when the crisis consists in the impossibility of engaging the culture?”

The stakes are high, but art that illuminates the path to God is essential in a polluted age where souls are gasping for the fresh spiritual air.  So I end with Annie Dillard advising writers. “Assume you write for an audience consisting solely of terminal patients. That is, after all, the case. What could you say to a dying person that would not enrage by its triviality?”

Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends, Dick Staub.

I’ve read the NYT every day since the late 80′s when my career took a turn into the chaotic waters of talk radio. Today I stopped three places before I found my Sunday NYT. Country Corner and Ray’s Pharmacy were both out. Darvill’s bookstore had only two left and I was told I was lucky, “they’re usually all gone by 11 AM.” It was already 2:30 PM. At Ray’s they groused, “probably the tourists snapped them up.” The Sunday NYT is it for the island–the daily version are only delivered by mail (takes over a week) unless you have it fedexed–for an annual cost somewhere in the neighborhood of leasing Lamborghini.

My conservative friends will be chiming in with sarcastic comments about the unlined birdcage and such, but the fact is reading the NYT everyday, the paper version, not online, has become part of my intellectual and cultural mix, which when spiritual meditations are mixed in, are substantial fodder for my integrative thinking. Meanwhile back to staying indoors on Sunday.

In AmeriKa (what my island friend Tom calls the mainland) such a leisurely meandering respite would seem like a guilty pleasure–so many other things I should be doing–socializing, seeing the latest film, eating out, shopping. Here where life operates at a slower pace, a rainy day, especially on Sunday, is an invitation to do what humans are meant to do on such a day. Stay in. Stay warm. Be fed–physically, spiritually and intellectually.

I’ve just returned to the island after a two-week whirlwind. I moderated the International Arts Movement in NYC (where among other things I interviewed Irish poet Micheal O’Siadhai and artist Mako Fujimura). Nigel Goodwin and I headed off to Jacks Swiss Chalet in Cle Elum Washington, where with Marty O’Donnell, we co-hosted a weekend Kindlings Hearth Retreat with ten artists, writers, filmmakers & others. We then returned to Seattle where I hosted the live The Kindlings Muse @ Hales (on the Bono-fication of Christianity), The Kindlings Muse @ the Cs Lewis Centre (Burke Museum Cafe on the UW Campus) and taped The Kindlings Muse @ The Movies.

Sometimes islanders envy the richness of my off-island life and I always tell them I am weary of being off-island. I think they suspect I could not savor island life were it not spiced up with the off island forays.

But I recall my earliest days as a child in a small Southern Oregon logging town (Bly, population of 600 at the time) and these are the shaping days for me. One paved road, a colorful assortment of interesting folks, no societal distractions, no diversions–only a rugged natural setting in which to be human.

I remember in the summer an ornithologist visiting summers to track some Sand Hill Cranes, a local was an international expert on fungi/mushrooms, a man there invented a piece of logging equipment that revolutionized the industry. Ruby, the grey haired woman next door was the schoolteacher and her son had left town to become the CEO of a major grocery chain. One day a huge tree, big enough to fill the entire trailer of the logging truck, was brought into the mill. Everybody in town gathered to see it. Entertainment was real, local and free.

A rainy Sunday for us here on Orcas is about quiet pursuits off the beaten track, with people we like and don’t like and always keenly aware that we need to coexist on this rock we called Orcas. We renew our spirits on this rainy day so tomorrow we can get back at the work of stewarding the patch of earth and maintaining our neighborliness in a place where the longest drive is 25-30 minutes, there are no stop lights and pretty much everybody knows your name.

Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends, Dick Staub.

It’s been twenty-five years since I left behind my Eastern, mystical world-view ” hatched in the 1960’s and practiced for fifteen years into the early 80’s. This sojourn included a time in India and twelve years of being a disciple of the Indian spiritual leader Meher Baba, as well as many other aspects of religious and philosophical searching. My former perspective on life and the world was formed in the 60’s atmosphere ” which included a strong sense of things ending: the world on the eve of destruction; the heroes falling (or being felled); the sense that our generation was unique and called to a unique sense of prophetic rebellion against the established, corrupted order of things political and things religious.

Since then much ink has been spilt to show that our ideals and our yearning for a better way were mired in narcissistic fantasy and lacking the test of suffering our parents endured in the Depression and WWII. We were one of the most affluent and privileged generations in American — in world history, and yet we were dissatisfied. In many ways we were living proof of Jesus’ baleful statement that it’s harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to squeeze through eye of a needle. Kids of privilege accusing their parents of corruption and bad faith (all the while happily cashing in on the privileges).

Can there be an uglier image of smug, self-righteous, ungrateful dishonor to one’s parents? From my current perspective of one painfully aware of the log in my own eye, I am finding it harder and harder to accuse anyone ” especially my parents. There is a corollary, I think, between this accusing stance and one that indicates that we, the right sort of Christians, have the means of transforming the culture around us. Clearly if you have the audacity to declare the culture in need of transforming, you must have a better way.

But what is it in the culture that needs transforming, and are we, indeed, the ones to do it?

As evangelical Christians we are often cast as culture-critics ” as those who feel and assert that they have the answers and the only way to salvation. And our neighbors often react predictably with disgust. After all, who wants to eat dinner with someone who wants to steer every conversation back to his favorite topic? Who wants to be friends with someone who is always evaluating the weight of your thoughts or critiquing your expressions of self, of your passions, your dreams, etc by some invisible standard they believe they possess? The result of prominent evangelicals pronouncing public disdain for Hollywood or criticism of all our cultural neighbors and their products is that we live in self-imposed exile within the broader secular culture. It all reminds me, painfully, of the stance the 60’s generation has often been associated with ” the criticism which assumes a moral higher ground of superior knowledge, superior wisdom ” in a word, having the answers.

But do we evangelicals really have the answers?

For the last twenty-five years I’ve been involved in the evangelical movement ” in CIVA, IAM, Gordon College and the CCCU, and in various venues of culture work among my fellow Christians ” and I have felt that we are often a shoddy knock-off of the surrounding culture. Examples abound ” the Band Aid concert that raised funds through Christian rock bands for famine relief (two years after Bob Geldof’s Live Aid ” which was by all accounts infinitely better than our knock-off); the slew of books, records, art, talk-shows, movies, etc that all have a lackluster feel when compared with the genuine article ” the secular model. Our sub-culture is also plagued with a celebrity worship of our own, miserable marriage statistics of our own, and political intrigues of our own.

Are we really in a position to call the shots for cultural renewal, for a renaissance in highly-visible public manner?

My answer to this question is, sadly, in the negative. I feel that in real terms we are more needing to sit and listen ” to acknowledge the creativity and power of the so-called secular culture workers and their products ” than we are to dictate the needed improvements. We have been emulating the secular creative community for almost half a century, and that is testimony enough of our own cultural weakness and neediness. Why not admit all this and begin from a different posture? Would it hurt that much to trim-back our rhetoric and our claims? To sit and listen and look and receive from our neighbors?

Actually, the real secret of hospitality is that the host welcomes the guest and receives more than the visitor. Perhaps a new cultural hospitality practiced by Christians would look more like this, rather than our pontificating from the soap-box. Imagine if evangelicals were stereotyped as weak but hospitable ” instead of strong and censorious?

Lastly, what if we became known for extravagant giving instead of cultural power and judgmental attitudes? When Jesus spoke about the needle’s eye, he may have been simply stating the facts: when you cling to money and power and influence you cannot even see much less enter this new, counter-intuitive kingdom of God. And this kingdom is not only invisible, it’s upside-down. In this new kingdom the rich serve the poor, the powerful and influential do culture work without receiving acknowledgment or fame and name. In a word, the higher serves the lower, and the Lord of all is the lowest of the low.

What implications does this have for us ” evangelical Christians in a time of cultural change? In a short letter I don’t have time to suss this out very completely, but I will suggest that we need at the very least to cease from posturing and putting ourselves in the drivers seat culturally-speaking. We need to be doers of our work and not posing in heroic roles like great culture redeemers. A future generation may look back and call us that, but we are not in a position to arrogate to ourselves that name. Let someone else name us, and let us shrink to a small stature ” one small enough to allow us to fit through that small window of opportunity ” the eye of the needle. Maybe then we will catch a glimpse of the kingdom that the rich and powerful cannot see because they are looking in the wrong direction. Perhaps then we can indeed help a little, offer a modest alternative, invite our neighbors to dinner and listen.

Bruce Herman

Even the dimmest bulb on the planet can see that if “art is the language of the soul,” our Academy Award Best Picture Nominees reveal the misty twilight of human hope brought on by a dark shadows cast across the human soul.

All five nominees portray human capacity for evil and fallenness and each in its own way explores

whether or not there is reason for hope. With one exception, these films reveal a sense of inevitable doom and a pervasive pessimism about the human condition.

Two are memorable in bringing the extreme embodiment of evil to the screen as their official descriptions indicate.

“There Will Be Blood forces us to confront Plainville, who seems to be a larger-than-life personification of evil.”

In No Country for Old Men “the tension mounts, the body count begins to rise, confirming Sheriff Bell’s inability to battle this new wave of modern brutality Chigurh is a freakishly mysterious monster, and is certain to haunt viewers long after the final credit has rolled.”

Three of the films take on the issue of redemption, each reaching a different conclusion.

In Atonement “the honey-drizzled look of the first two thirds of the film contrasts achingly with the tension and seriousness of the action unfolding (and the grim intensity of the wartime sections).” These characters seek forgiveness and atonement, or as some say “at-one-ment,” and find it excruciatingly difficult to attain.

In Michael Clayton “George Clooney delivers a rich performance as a hangdog and haunted man who wants to stay on the side of good, but is a little too skilled at moral margin-walking to make that an easy choice in every situation.” In this throwback to classic filmmaking, we see a man whose career has been devoted to being a “fixer” for the “dark side,” but who now tries to move into the “light” only to realize how difficult it is to change directions.

If there is a feel good film this year it is Juno, the story of a teen-age pregnancy that ends not with abortion, but with birth. It takes the dilemma of human frailty more lightly, and offers a path to hopefulness.

In the words of host Jon Stewart, joking about the dark movies up for Best Picture with comedy Juno, “Does this town need a hug…? No Country For Old Men, Sweeney Todd, There Will Be Blood. All I can say is, `Thank God for teen pregnancy.”

Don’t get me wrong, these were powerful movies, art is doing a great job of revealing the desperation of the human condition, but now it is up to thoughtful, devout, creatives to show how their faith is an attractive and true solution.

Pascal, a brilliant French mathematician and Christian apologist believed in such situations it was the job of a Christian to: 1) Show that religion is not contrary to reason, but worthy of reverence and respect. 2) To make it attractive. 3) To make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is.

The current craze in Hollywood and in conservative Christian circles is to make faith-friendly, family-friendly films so nice Christians will come to the box office.

Of course, such films offer no compelling, intelligent response to the questions raised by Hollywood. As I said to Kim Lawton in a recent PBS interview, “the Christian story has a resurrection, but it also has a lot of messiness in it. It has a lot of reality in it. So if you want to tell the Christian story, it’s not just a feel good story. It’s a story that has substantial pain and suffering and sorrow in it, just like our lives do.”

Effective stories will start with “the feebly glimmering coal” and will reveal little glimpses of how that coal can be fanned to warmth illumination is needed.

Thoughtful creatives for whom God is of central importance–It is time to get to work!

Dick was featured this week on a PBS Special on God and Hollywood!

You can READ the full PBS interview with Dick Staub or SEE Dick Staub featured in the PBS special Academy Award feature God and Hollywood.

(This column first appeared as an RNS syndicated column in September 2007). I have moved to a small island, in part to pursue the un-frantic life. For twenty years we’ve vacationed in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State. Each year for a few weeks

we bask in the sunshine, pass the time away in the lazy pace of “island time” and rehumanize ourselves before heading back to our fast-paced cosmopolitan lives.Yesterday we joined friends for coffee at the ferry landing as they bid Orcas Island farewell. Around us we could overhear mainlanders hatching dreams that would one day allow them to make this paradise home. They feel the draw of a smaller place (Orcas has a year around population of 4500), a slower pace and an unspoiled environment, where bald eagles are plentiful and pods of Orca whales make their home.This year we are the envied ones. We are staying. Call it an experiment in rediscovering what it means to be fully human in a dehumanizing age. For some time I’ve believed America’s spiritual impoverishment and human angst is directly related to today’s frantic pace, where completing our daily tasks is a higher priority than human interaction. As a result Americans are the most productive workers on the planet and according to many psychologists, we are also the least connected relationally.A few years ago I heard an expert on CS Lewis describe the secret of Lewis’s productivity. He said: “Lewis style of spirituality was a rhythm of worship, work, reading, and leisure. This is an un-frantic response to God who is, as Lewis insisted, always a courteous Lord. Life-style is revealed by the use of time: what is given place and space; what is included and what, therefore, is excluded. What we see in Lewis is the steady place of his parish church; the quiet regularity of his Bible-reading and prayers; the natural large place for his main work of study and writing; the large blocks of time for leisurely conversations with special friends; and the importance of letter writing, especially with those who sought his help in the matter of Christian pilgrimage For all of his immense output of literary work, his life is marked by a spacious, un-frantic rhythm of worship, work, conversation, availability and intimacy.”A lot of people ask me how to manage their way through the craziness of today’s popular culture–how to make discerning choices about film, TV, music and entertainment.Nothing is more important than knowing what should be given place and space; what should be included and what, therefore, will be excluded.I ask myself how much time and space CS Lewis would allocate for television or movies?I ask myself which letter he wouldn’t have answered or which conversation with Tolkien would he have missed at their favorite hangout, the Eagle and Child Pub.I ask myself which book wouldn’t have been written if Lewis had gotten hooked on 24 or American Idol or Survivor? Ooops there goes Mere Christianity. Ooops there goes Screwtape Letters. No time to write Lord, I’m watchin’ TV! In today’s fast-paced world if you want to live an un-frantic life, you have to make some tough decisions about the use of your time.If you want more space for things that matter you have to make less space for media and entertainment.You don’t have to move to an island to do this, but so far I am learning some interesting lessons.Newspapers, books and electronic media are not absent on the island–this place has the highest per capita educational level of any county in Washington State, but media does seem to take a back seat to walking on the beach, sitting on the deck with a glass of wine, getting out the binoculars to get a closer look at the local wildlife out on their show.Island people definitely aren’t in a hurry. They stop by to say hello. When our moving van unloaded we had literally dozens of drop in visitors.Virtually everyday I reach 5 pm having accomplished few of my goals, but also realizing that my people time has been ample and rich.What if people aren’t interruptions in our day, but are the purpose of our day? This seemed to be Jesus’ view. Most of what he accomplished involved people who stopped him while he was on his way somewhere else.I’ve embarked on my year around island life with two primary questions: What will I learn about being fully human? How transferable is it to life on the mainland?I’m embarking on a journey towards a more fully human life and so far the word “un-frantic” living and time for people seem to be recurring themes.

2) Ethan Coen Playwright What to do after some extraordinarily thought-provoking films? Ethan Coen decided to turn his attention to writing a play and Carter Burwell, his musical collaborator, describes what makes Coen’s writing work. “It should start with some philosophical premise,” Mr. Burwell said. “Then you move on to contrast that with silly, and occasionally cruel, behavior, and end with a punch line. Ethan loves a philosophical paradox, which he usually inflicts on a character ill-prepared intellectually to deal with it. Yet that’s also the human condition, and exploring it is a valid form of art.”““Exploring the human condition“ a valid form of art—hmmm Shakespeare and other seem to have understand that; glad a contemporary writer does.

3) Acting on Broadway Charles Isherwood comments on the current levels of superior performances and collaborative excellence on stage right now in NYC. “Good acting is not contagious, as far as I know. But a visitor sampling the best of Broadway over the holiday season might almost imagine it is, and that it has swept through the city like a virulent flu, infecting people in packs. Everywhere you look, a particular kind of theatrical magic is taking place, as ensemble performances of a rare order are glowing brightly on stages across the theater district.”

4) Keira Knightley This British actress is only 22 years old, yet her performances reflect not only talent, but a dedication to learning her craft. As we learn in a recent interview this passion was fueled by her parents example and their vision of theatre as “world-changing.” ["Ms. Knightley, who has been acting more or less steadily since she was 7, has been around for what seems like forever and has already amassed the resume of a much older star. the other thing that makes Ms. Knightley seem older than her years is that she is unusually smart and voluble when talking about acting. That’s probably because she’s been around it all her life. She grew up in the London suburbs, in lefty bohemian circumstances. Her mother is a playwright and novelist; her father, Will Knightley, is a television and theater actor. They were part of the political theater movement in London in the ’70s, and they had a sense, she recalled, "that with theater you could change the world." "I suppose that’s quite a powerful thing to grow up with," she said. "It was an intoxicating thing to see your father up on stage, and I think as a child you’re either going to absolutely take against something like that or completely love it. I always loved it." ““For a while her parents resisted the idea of her getting into the family business as a child, but they gave in on the advice of a teacher who felt that Keira, who was struggling with dyslexia, needed a carrot dangled in front of her if she was ever going to learn to read. "So that was how it started," Ms. Knightley said. "'If she doesn't read, or if the grades don't go up, then she's not going to work.' That was the prize, if you like: At the end of the year I got to audition. And if something starts like that, it becomes such a special thing that you’re bound to get obsessed by it.

5) Exploiting Silence. Exploring Sound. [Like film editing, film sound remains a somewhat misunderstood craft, partly because at its best it tends to be imperceptible. Sound editor Skip Lievsay sums it all up: The better we do our job, the less people realize what’s going on, Mr. Lievsay said. I think a lot of people think the sound just comes out of the camera. Composer Carter Burwell said of sound in film. "If you ask film composers ” and I have ” whether they feel there’s too much or too little music in the average film, they will all say too much."] These two combine forces in the minimalist “No Country for Old Men.“

6) Artists For Whom God is of Central Importance While the work above reflects a cultural commitment to excellence, I am most excited about artists work that grows from deep faith. ““In the preface of “The Pursuit of God” A.W. Tozer said, “In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with correct “interpretations” of truth. They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water.” ““This is what I see across the country in grassroots little movements of artists who are single-minded about pursuing God and then making art that that tells the truth unflinchingly and beautifully.

Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends, Dick Staub.

We rarely remind you that this site (and all our work) is donor supported, so if you have just started reading this blog—please forgive us. If you are a long-time reader–send lost of cash right now!!! You can make a tax-deductible donation via PayPal (click The PayPal button to the right) or to the address listed below.

In 2007 The not-for-profit Center for Faith and Culture (CFC) has continued our mission to rekindle the spiritual, intellectual and creative legacy of next-generation Christians in culture. We do this in three ways:

1) Communicating: “The Kindlings Muse (TKM) is our live show taped for podcast (Listen today!) & distributed online and through iTunes. It originates as four shows–TKM @ Hales Ales Brewery and Pub, TKM @ The CS Lewis Centre, TKM @ The Movies and TKM @ Sundance Film Festival (with Windrider)

2) Building a Community of today’s Kindlings: by hosting by-invitation retreats for ” devout, thoughtful Christian creatives (drawn from the arts, academy and church) already making a significant contribution in culture. Alumni include Lou Carlozo, Craig Detweiler, James Elaine, Mako Fujimora, Grant Goodeve, Nigel Goodwin, Bruce Hermann, Paul Ingram, Rand Miller, Scott Nolte, Rebecca VerStraten-McSparren, Marty O’Donnell, Marcie O’Donnell, Ted Prescott, David Raven, Joe Rehfeld, Jennie Spohr, Gregory Wolfe and others.

3) Cultivation of next generation “Kindlings: through a variety of means: writing, speaking and partnering with other organizations like IMAGE JOURNAL, The International Arts Movement and The Windrider Forum. Books like my newly released The Culturally Savvy Christian are another way of cultivating a next generation of kindlings. In 2008 we plan to launch a new Artists & Lecture Series. We would also like to produce our first ever Faith, Art & Ideas Conferences on Orcas Island.

You play a vital role in our work because none of what we do is possible without your prayers and financial support.““Year-end contributions are especially essential to finishing this year strong and laying the groundwork for next year’s ventures. CFC needs ($) 40,000 by December 31, 2007 and as of December 19 we have received ($) 10,000.

If you believe in our work of rekindling the spiritual, intellectual and creative legacy of next-generation Christians in culture, please do what you can today! (In the past, readers of this blog have contributed amounts large and small from ($) 5 to ($) 5,000.)

If you’d like to support this work, please mail your year-end tax-deductible contribution now (to: The Center for Faith and Culture, PO Box 77385, Seattle, Washington 98177) or simply click the contribute button below and make your donation via paypal. Any envelopes postmarked December 31, 2007 or earlier with checks dated December 2007 will be credited in 2007!

Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends, Dick Staub.

PS. And remember, these are the best of times and the worst of times, but they are the only times we have. (For Now).

Best Humor Strip in America, six times (The National Cartoonist Society)

Cartoonist of the Year (The National Cartoonist Society)

The Yellow Kid Award for Best Cartoonist (The International Congress of Comics)

Best Cartoonist of the Year (France’s highest cartooning award)

The Sam Adamson Award, twice (Sweden’s international award for graphic artists)

In recent years Johnny Hart began inserting religious themes in BC especially at Christmas and Easter.Suddenly the BC cartoon strip revealed a man of serious faith who sought ways to thoughtfully challenge his readers about their beliefs. It revealed that Johnny Hart was a thoughtful creative for whom God was of central importance.

Johnny Hart earned the right to be heard through producing quality work year-after-year. This provided the platform where he could creatively share his beliefs, AND his track record of award winning work gave him enough clout to keep the strip in print when some newspapers, like the LA Times, refused to run the cartoons with religious themes.

I interviewed Johnny Hart in the 1990′s and discovered that his decision to follow Jesus came about through the combination of a satellite installation, religious Broadcasting and a small local church.

And now here’s the rest of the story!

Hart and his wife decided to move to small town and needed a satellite dish installed. They hired a father/son team to do the job— Because they lived out in the woods and because satellite technology was relatively new at the time, it took a few weeks to complete the job. The father and son were Christians who as they installed the system used religious television stations to check the test patterns. With the religious test pattern on all the TV’s scattered throughout the house Hart found himself secretly sneaking glances at the shows mostly because he thought some of the personalities on religious TV were funny!

Hart became convinced that the Bible was the revelation of God’s truth and he made a decision to follow Jesus. He wanted to go to church- but his wife wasn’t interested, so Johnny exercised his newfound faith. He prayed. A few weeks later Bobby, his wife, announced she wanted to go to church, Johnny’s faith was confirmed, his wife became a believer and the local church nurtured their faith, which Johnny began to express in BC, read by millions!

So we learn some lessons about the making of one influential thoughtful creative.

Getting a faith-fueled BC to millions of seekers–required:

a father/son satellite installation team;

Religious broadcasting;

Prayer;

And a small community church.

So as you head into your day wondering if you can have any impact on the world, think about that father and son who did their job installing a satellite system and in the process reached millions through Johnny Hart, who thought he ordered a satellite dish and ended up getting an abundant and eternal life in the process.

Except that I’m no “Sopranos” fan. Instead, I’ll celebrate the overdue death of a show that perpetuated the ugliest and least accurate of stereotypes: the Italian American as mobster.

I understand the arguments supporting this series. Tony Soprano is a different kind of criminal, they say. He’s conflicted and sees a shrink: how post-modern! The show’s extraordinary writing garnered a 2006 Emmy award. And the program has critics tripping over their Olive Garden mostaccioli to praise it.

But just as Leni Riefenstahl’s 1935 Nazi propaganda film “Triumph of the Will” could be called a cinematic masterpiece, the excellent craft behind “The Sopranos” serves only to make the offensive and repugnant look attractive. As someone who takes pride in Italian American contributions to art, culture, science and cuisine, I find the show’s popularity maddening. “The Sopranos” represents a huge billboard that makes a horrid, media-perpetuated cliche look hip and cool.

I’ve raised this point with “Sopranos” fans in the newsroom, and many of them look at me as if I lack sophistication. I’ve actually heard words to the effect of: “Come on Lou, it’s a great show. You’re being too P.C. Can’t you just get over it?”

Though I’ve never actually tried this”and if you offend easily, please skip this paragraph”I wonder what those co-workers might think if I suggested competing shows targeted to the sorest spots of their race, religion or ethnicity, with titles and themes such as “Sambo the Shiftless Negro,” “Survivor: Illegal Wetback Mexicano Border Run” or “Those Money-Grubbing Jewish Slumlords.”

They’d be outraged, and very rightfully so. When it comes to false images that hurt, the final word should come from people who belong to the targeted group. That’s why I sympathize so much with the Native Americans who sought to banish Chief Illiniwek from the University of Illinois. While oblivious (and non-Native American) U of I alumni blathered about Indians and school tradition, the Native Americans gave the chief a new name: degrading.

I can only imagine what the fight might’ve been like if the chief had a lot of Native American fans.

And therein lies the rub with “The Sopranos:” An overwhelming majority of its cast members can claim Italian roots. The very people who should rise up against a show like this instead help bring it to your living room every week.

“Italian Americans in Hollywood today are the modern-day Stepin Fetchit,” says Paul Basile, editor of the Italian-American newspaper Fra Noi. “They can make a living off of it, but they don’t have enough social conscience to rise up and change it.”

The facts speak: 1999 F.B.I. statistics show that the total number of Italian criminals in the United States numbered 1,150”less that eight one-thousandths of the entire Italian- American population of about 15 to 16 million. Compare that to statistics of how Italian Americans get portrayed by Hollywood: roughly 300 Mob-related movies made since the release of “The Godfather” in 1972. No wonder a 2003 Zogby poll found that 78 percent of American teens ages 13-18 associate Italian Americans with either crime or blue-collar work.

And a survey by the Response Analysis Corp. reports that 74 percent of adult Americans believe most Italian Americans have “some connection” to organized crime.

Do shows such as “The Sopranos” help with the gross, inaccurate depictions? Of course not. But do Italian Americans aid a corrective cause by creating such entertainments? Whether it is Robert De Niro lending his Oscar-winning talents to “Shark Tale” or “Analyze This,” or James Gandolfini taking on the role of tough guy Tony, viewers get the message: If actors and artists with a vowel at the end of their names have no problem with Mafia stereotypes, they must be OK.

“It’s easy money,” Basile says. “These are the parts where you make a lot of fast money in Hollywood. And Italian Americans haven’t developed the backbone to say no.”

The negative effects are so pervasive that they seep right down to our local classrooms. The unthinkable happened in November when Rotolo Middle School in Batavia fought”that’s right, fought”to defend its right to stage an original play called “Fuggedaboutit: A Little Mobster Comedy,” performed by the “Bada Bing Players.”

The Bada Bing, in case you didn’t know, is the topless strip club featured in “The Sopranos.” The author of the play was Matthew Myers, a teacher at the school (where apparently lessons in the First Amendment trump values of ethnic sensitivity).

Well if Myers can write a script, I can too: I indulge in my own Hollywood daydreams from time to time. And while the word “meta” has likely never been uttered in a “Sopranos” episode (doesn’t rhyme with bada bing, ya know), here’s my meta fantasy finale: Led by undercover cops Joe Pistone (a.k.a. Donnie Brasco) and Frank Serpico, federal authorities catch up to Tony Soprano and his posse. His linguini-loving butt is hauled into court, where Rudolph Giuliani is prosecutor and Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito preside as judges. Soprano faces the bench and as Giuliani rattles off the charges, he turns to the jury and says:

“But of the most offensive hits delivered by this thug Mr. Soprano, here’s the worst: He systematically slaughtered the cultural pride of so many decent, law-abiding Italian Americans: all 99.992 percent of them.”

There’s just one problem. Giuliani loves “The Sopranos.”

People Are Talking

“Staub’s passion and talent as a writer make this an enjoyable read.”

“Concise, well-researched… shines as something more than the sum of marketing muscle.”

“Staub’s take on Christians in culture is a standout effort.”

“Thoughtful, well-written, packed with insightful and often striking illustrations.”

“A challenging and hope-filled manifesto.”

“Highly recommended.”

He said: Lewis style of spirituality was a rhythm of worship, work, reading, and leisure. This is an unfrantic response to God who is, as Lewis insisted, always a courteous Lord. Life-style is revealed by the use of time: what is given place and space; what is included and what, therefore, is excluded. What we see in Lewis is the steady place of his parish church; the quiet regularity of his Bible-reading and prayers; the natural large place for his main work of study and writing; the large blocks of time for leisurely conversations with special friends; and the importance of letter writing, especially with those who sought his help in the matter of Christian pilgrimage. For all of his immense output of literary work, his life is marked by a spacious, un-frantic rhythm of worship, work, conversation, availability, and intimacy.

A lot of people ask me how to manage their way Through the craziness of today’s popular culture— How to make discerning choices about film, tv, music and entertainment, and there are practical tips and I try to understand and communicate them. But nothing is more important than knowing what should be given place and space; what is included and what, therefore, is excluded.

I ask myself how much time and space would Lewis allocate for television? movies? video games? I ask myself which book wouldn’t have been written if he had gotten hooked on 24, American Idol or Survivor. Oops there goes Mere Christianity! Oops there goes Screwtape Letters! Can you hear Lewis say, “No time to write Lord, I’m watchin’ TV!”

I ask myself which letter he wouldn’t have answered? Or which conversation with Tolkien would he have missed At their favorite hangout, the Bird and Baby pub? In today’s fast-paced world if you want to live an un-frantic life, You have to make some tough decisions about the use of your time. If you want more space for things that matter you have to make less space for media and entertainment.

Living an un-frantic life in response to God makes all the difference in the world.

The core itinerary concludes with disembarkation in Portsmouth followed by flights home from London; however, most of our group will continue on for a three-night, post-cruise visit to the historic town of Oxford, where Lewis spent most of his adult life. Included will be a tour of C.S. Lewis’ home, The Kilns.

Dr. Jerry Root, a Wheaton professor and one of our country’s foremost Lewis scholars, will be hosting talks throughout our cruise, offering insights into the rich and inspiring works of C.S. Lewis. We’ve also arranged for Lewis’ stepson, Douglas Gresham, to take time out of his busy schedule (he’s working on movie #2 of the Narnia Chronicles”Prince Caspian) to share with us from his wealth of childhood Lewis memories. Myself and Walter Hooper, Lewis’ companion-secretary and now literary advisor to his estate, will be speaking, too.

Our means of travel for this voyage is the magnificent sailing yacht, SEA CLOUD II. Built in 2001, this three-masted sister ship to the legendary SEA CLOUD offers 86 privileged guests the romance of a bygone era where elegant tall ships ruled the seas” here, crew members still climb the rigging and set sails by hand! Couple this with the ship’s five-star restaurant cuisine and hotel accommodations and you’ll agree that there simply is no finer way to cruise in this part of the world.

David Spence, a trusted friend and owner of First Century Voyages, is handling the details of our trip. He and his officemates did a wonderful job hosting our first adventure on the SEA CLOUD II back in August of 2004. This year’s trip is sure to be even better. As I said, there are only spots for 86 guests onboard. So enjoy looking through the online brochure for the a C.S. Lewis Study Tour and Cruise aboard the sailing yacht, SEA CLOUD II. then call the folks at First Century Voyages (919-933-7674) to reserve your accommodations. BE SURE TO TELL THEM YOU HEARD ABOUT THIS TRIP THROUGH DICK STAUB! The sooner you call, the wider the selection of cabins you’ll have to choose from. Hope to see you onboard! Smooth Sailing, Dick Staub

I reply that despite its superficiality popular culture is a theological place. It systematically teaches and preaches, informing its audience about which issues matter most, fulfilling an educational role once occupied by schools and a spiritual role once filled by religion.

Former poet laureate Carl Sandburg recognized this early, saying in the 1950s, “I meet people occasionally who think motion pictures, the product Hollywood makes is merely entertainment, has nothing to do with education. That’s one of the darnedest fool fallacies that is current. Anything that brings you to tears by way of drama does something to the deepest roots of our personalities. All movies, good or bad, are education,and Hollywood is the foremost educational institution on earth.”

Veteran religion editor Phyllis Tickle points out that since the 1960s, popular culture is where we explore our beliefs: “More theology is conveyed in, and probably retained from one hour of popular television, than from all the sermons that are also delivered on any given weekend in America’s synagogues, churches and mosques.” So much theology is derived from popular culture that many argue that it has replaced religion.

A leading Jewish intellectual and commentator on culture, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, believes that popular culture is not only displacing religion but actually is a religion: “Hollywood is not just a place”it is a world in itself. Hollywood has done something remarkable: it has created a great and very successful religion. Through its successful missionaries”the films produced in Hollywood” it has spread around the globe, gaining adherents faster than any other religion in the world. If it has not attained the stature of a full-fledged religion, at least it is a very strong cult.”

Every week, newly released songs, films, or books give voice to our common human concerns and probe the essential human questions:

Is there a God?

Who is God?

Who are we?

What is our meaning and identity?

Where did we come from?

What is our destiny?

What is love?

Why am I lonely?

What will satisfy me and make me happy?

Does anybody understand me?

Is there any hope?

Popular culture is a theological place. And so I pay attention to the stories told there. I listen to the cries of our age. I ask how I can better understand and communicate good news to people Who, based on the hopelessness so often on display in today’s popular culture, so obviously need it.

Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends, Dick Staub

1. Inviting Monsters into our Hearts. A child uses all of her senses to discover the world. She picks up and finds fascination with a dandelion, feels the bumpy bark of a tree, tastes the baseball, smells the fallen leaf. If you asked a room full of kindergarteners, “Raise your hand if you are an artist!”Almost every child would raise his hand. But if you ask a room full of adults, almost every adult would not. (At a conference full of artists like this, you might say we are not just a gathering of artists, but a gathering of children!) And if you are an artist, you know you are seen as out of the main stream, as avant -garde, but you also have been treated like a misfit or patronized like a child. You struggle to find meaning and significance in that gap between the two seemingly irreconcilable worlds. “Grow up and do something useful for society!” The world seems to place in opposition pitting the Innocence against the reality of the Experience. We are caught between being able to have that curiosity, inquisitiveness and emboldened sense of discovery of a child and the reality of the “adult world”, a reality that forces us to realize that we all indeed live in fear, in a ground zero of some kind or another. In our conversation to create a world that ought to be, we must start at that zero point of devastation. In a recent Fresh Air broadcast of Guillermo Del Toro, Terry Gross interviews the writer/director of Pan’s Labythinth. A remarkable film. Not what you would call a family film, but as a kind of Narnia for adults, it delves deeply into the mystery of redemption within the cruel setting of the Spanish civil war. Terry Gross interviewed Del Toro about his upbringing, in which his strict Catholic grandmother tried to exorcize him twice because he was drawing monsters. He was forbidden to imagine a fantasy world. That was his “ground zero.” So he grew up having to bifurcate his moral sense of duty to his family, and his growing imagination. He was lead to believe that he could not have both imagination and religion, that the two worlds could not be reconciled: so he chose to journey on the path of imagination, leaving religion behind him. Some of us identify with Del Toro, thoroughly. We feel that the church has tried to “exorcise” us of our imagination. Del Toro states “I invited Jesus into my heart as a young child, but then I invited monsters into my heart.”

International Arts Movement exists for this type of wrestling of faith, culture and humanity. It starts with the admission that living and creating in ground zero means you live with both Jesus and monsters. Wrestling in this way, we give ourselves permission to ask deeper questions. What if the monsters do take over? That would be a concern of parents in this room for their children. That may be our current cultural condition of fear. But, in reality, I think the situation is reversed: monsters have already taken over in reality, and the only hope we have is to imaginatively work backwards. We are to take charge of the situation, and we mediate both the sinister and the good. Just like in Pan’s Labyrinth, we need to know we have a greater inheritance waiting for us. Some have called the 21st Century the Creative Age. Phil Hanes, philanthropist and arts advocate, at a recent National Council on the Arts meeting, began a discussion on how we need to prepare ourselves as a nation to address this shift. Richard Florida, Thomas Friedman, Daniel Pink and others have noted similar shifts in culture: The Information Age is behind us, and yet we, in America, are educating our children to thrive in that past. The skills and knowledge for Information Age are now outsourced, but we are ill equipped to lead in the age of imagination, the age of synthesis. While a hard term to define, The Creative Age will certainly mean one thing: we would have to reconcile living with both Jesus and monsters in our imaginative territories. We have to reconsider the artists’ role in society, in our education of our children: and we need to redefine how we see ourselves, all of us, as creative human beings who need art in our lives so that we can preserve a child’s innocence in the midst of horror and unspeakable evil, and help them to prosper and thrive in the creative age. In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, he exhorts us: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Thus, if the whole creation longs for the revealing of God’s children, we see that creativity, too, longs for some reality. Creativity longs for our “fittingness” in God’s plan of redemption. But this frustration causes setbacks, and birth pangs. In Eden, Adam the poet names animals, and then discovers his need for Eve. Before the Fall, Adam’s creativity revealed his inner lack. After the Fall, then, the whole creation longs for a redeemed humanity to appear, not to return us to the Edenic state, but to move us into a better longing, for the New Creation. Our longing is not just to be restored to the fullness of our being, our longing is for the glorious freedom of the children of God and for liberation of our creativity and Creation. Our longing is for nothing less than a coronation/wedding celebration. The glorious freedom is in anticipating what that day will reveal in us and in our creativity.

2. From Being an Orphan to a Bride. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte’s Gothic tale, I see a (romantic) parable for us for the Creative Age. Now, I have known about Jane Eyre for a long time now, as this book had a transformative effect on Judy, my wife, when she encountered it at the age of 13. I heard from her how God filled her heart via the voice of Helen, a little girl (probably about 13) who befriends Jane in the school for orphans. Helen sows seeds of belief into then very bitter Jane. Jane had a right to be bitter, rejected by her cruel aunt who adopted her, and bullied by the new siblings; she was not only cast as an orphan, and falsely accused in the process, and some often used Biblical reasons for doing so. But Helen spoke of forgiveness and her confidence in God, even though she was treated just as unfairly, and even as she lay dying of typhoid fever, caused by less than adequate facilities at the school. Recently, I watched with my wife the Masterpiece Theatre production of Jane Eyre, which, by the way, sadly, but typically, took out Helen’s exhortation to Jane (although I did like the casting of Ruth Wilson as Jane, and Toby Stephens as Mr. Rochester). I realized, though, how this powerful story, written before the Enlightenment schism, anticipates the modern dilemma and opens new vistas. Jane Eyre is a story of an orphan who finds herself becoming a bride of inheritance, even a double inheritance. She perseveres betrayal, neglect, and abuse and breaks through class barriers. It is a parable of liberation of humanity from “our bondage to decay, to that glorious freedom.” She is also an artist, learning to draw at the school where she was exiled as an orphan. Written in first person narrative, the depiction of her world is done via a first-rate artist’s eye. In short, if you have not read Jane Eyre, take my advice: “Beg, borrow, or steal it without delay.” Actually, I am quoting Charlotte Bronte here, speaking well of her Yorkshire native William Wilberforce. “Beg, borrow, or steal it without delay;” she wrote, “and read the Memoir of Wilberforce,–that short record of a brief uneventful life; I shall never forget it; it is beautiful, not on account of the language in which it is written, not on account of the incidents it details, but because of the simple narrative it gives of a young talented sincere Christian.” Charlotte Bronte, consciously or unconsciously, fuses this Wilberforcian idealism into her creativity. In her novel, she makes art with the belief of liberation for all people. This is precisely why we need to be speaking about her at this conference. She incarnates our common call to “create the world that ought to be,” and speaks through Jane Eyre’s voice. It humbles me to think that I have been married to Judy for over 20 years now, and have never read the most influential book in her life. When I told her this, she, with her typical gentleness, countered by saying “That’s why it’s so worthwhile to stay together. It may take 20 years to start to read each other’s books, we’re just getting to the good part!” Jane Eyre is equally as patient, a plain governess who determines her path of forgiveness, choosing to love her enigmatic, brooding employer Mr. Rochester, despite his inevitable downfall. There’s quite a drama in this rich landowner conspiring to hide his past, and the disastrous path that he paves for himself. But somehow, throughout, he acknowledges Jane, an orphaned woman without glamour, a woman of intellectual and creative thirst, as his equal. But because of Rochester’s failures, she is exiled and again abandoned, to be one without family or friends. If you know the story, she then gains the favor of a missionary suitor, St. John Rivers, who takes her in when she is at his door, in near starvation. He then discovers her to be a determined force. St. John Rivers wants to marry her to take her to India, to be a missionary although neither loves the other. Jane would tell Rochester later, her true love, trying to allay his jealousy: “He (Rivers) is good and great, but as cold as iceberg.” I find it curious that Charlotte Bronte sensed in the early 19th century that just like St. John Rivers, the church will manifest the effects of the enlightenment: theology veering towards depicting the gospel intellectually and only as a set of facts or information, but not communicate with the heart. The church is “good and great, but as cold as iceberg.” Bronte, throughout the novel, ties in Jane’s spiritual state with her creative, artistic state. Jane is an artist, cast away by society and circumstances from her true love. And the missionary can only present a sound, rational argument why she should join him, and this without love. This disconnect is, also exemplified in works of van Gogh, where the church is still present in the Starry Night, holding the image together visually. But the Spirit has left the church, swirling into Nature. Her lover Rochester is the emblem of that Nature, swirling in her mind as her salvation. But Rochester, once a wanton world traveler, now is haunted by dark secrets. Though initially, Nature taps into her hunger, Nature herself fails ultimately, as Rochester fails her. But even in a severe, literal hunger that Jane experiences, Bronte also paints a landscape of hope.

I was recently going through the Biblical book of Joel, which I find to be a stark reminder of the catastrophes all around us, and those to come. I had put a post-it note on Joel 2 that I had forgotten about. I wrote: “The world is 90% catastrophe, but 100% grace (not 10%).” Theologically, the whole world, after our expulsion from Eden, is ground zero. But art can refill the world with the aroma of grace. There’s grace at work deeply imbedded in the novel, Jane ultimately using words reminiscent of Helen to cry out to God in her wilderness. She is exiled from both the world and her lover. Meanwhile, Mr. Rochester has literally been blinded from tragic consequences, though he finally begins to see his real wretched state. Jane would chose to return to him. “It is time some one undertook to re-humanize you, and she begins to comb his tangled hair. Re-humanize: what a wonderful word. Rochester needs to be re- humanized. Jane needs to inhabit that enigmatic, but now repentant heart. Just like Mr. Rochester, we need to be re-humanized. This culture needs to be re-humanized. Culture has been a tangled “shaggy black mane” like Rochester’s, that Jane has to comb out, blind to it’s own misery. Modernism has resulted in a tangled mess, or perhaps a neatly categorized supermarket of ideas, as in this photo re- presented in Andreas Gursky’s “99 Cent”. As a result of the enlightenment’s tendency to seek specialization, and minute categorization,  “it knows more about the little things and less about the big things. It knows more about every thing and less about Everything.” (Peter Kreeft, pg 108, Seel). Without the macro perspective, the grand narrative, our tangles get smaller and tighter, and as a result our creative expression has had to focus on the details, like here in Yayoi Kusama’s painting Technological advancements, certainly, lead to better living conditions and longer lives, and we should be thankful for that. But it also means the expansion of not just supermarkets, but of ground zeros. We find ourselves there alienated and smaller and smaller, and our injuries greater still. Just like Rochester’s limb, at the end of Jane Eyre, culture has been disfigured by the horrid fires of Hiroshima, and the poisons of the Holocaust, the twin emblems of the 20th century. These ghosts still haunt our post-modern, and now post-human realities (here captured as Willem de Kooning’s “Woman I” . Artists, “the canary of the cultural mine” (Marshall McLuhan), know and sense this reality of being disfigured and cut off, orphaned by society. They feel that beauty, and pleasure, are both tainted and cannot be trusted. They embrace everything “anti” but rarely have much to say about what they are actually for. I was recently at the Veritas Forum at Columbia University where I was asked to debate feminist/activist artist Coco Fusco. At the end of the night, I felt very saddened by the fact that our dialogue seemed to be stuck on the NEA related culture wars of 15 years past. But the church, seen as the main source of cultural hegemony and oppression, has not provided her an alternative vision. The church has not romanced artists. As a result, the artists are left alone to defend themselves in culture, and do not have many Helens to speak God’s hope into their hearts. Like Jane Eyre, we are to face a ruined heart and a ruined condition, our ground zeros. Mr. Rochester is disfigured, in misery.  Astonishingly though, she tells Mr. Rochester as she combs his hair: “You are no ruin, sir no lightning-struck tree: you are green and vigorous.” She, by saying this, forgives. She not only gives a nod to Eden here, but foreshadows the New Creation to come. She is able to do this because, somehow, she keeps her innocence and purity intact, while recognizing fully the fallen reality. It was indeed during the deceptiveness of her lover that caused the actual lightning to strike on the tree she refers to. It was God’s judgment. She sees now with a refined purity of having gone through the fire of betrayal, and having come through without dross. She stands faithful.

In his book, “Breaking Ground,” Daniel Libeskind, the architect chosen for Ground Zero master design, also stood in the pit of Ground Zero, and facing, and laying his hand on the slurry wall, and heard an Augustinian echo, “Take it and read it, take it and read it.” “Take it and readâ” the slurry wall of your ground zero. “Take it and read” the faces of those who lost their lives there. He called his Berlin office and told his staff to scrap everything they had done up to that point: “The slurry wall is an engineering marvel, a metaphoric and literal stay against chaos and destruction. In refusing to fall, it seemed to attest, perhaps as eloquently as the Constitution, to the unshakable foundations of democracy and the value of human life and liberty.” (pg. 43, Breaking Ground) Artists, we are called to create in our ground zeroes, too. We need to be a voice of faith there. Yes, we have been alienated and orphaned. It is time to regard the age at hand, and take individual steps to move beyond the post-modern fog into the Creative Age. It is not time to remain bitter, but it is time to bring the words of Helen into our bitter culture. Helen embraced, even in her illness, the deeper voice of her God for her friend, Jane Eyre. You, along with other entrepreneurs of the age, are asked to hold your gaze true to your original call. Though the conditions are bleak, it is still our call to listen to the voices speaking through our slurry walls, our limitations and our boundaries. The Creative Age exists because of the opportunity presented by the crisis of our age. We face a precipice of despair and fear, a culture at a loss to offer what it means to be a human being. This culture herself is orphaned, and cannot see beyond her misery. We at IAM can see our “slurry wall” in front of us, a wall that somehow withstood the onslaught of ideological attacks that claim bondage to our souls. Within, there are millions of faces, victims of dehumanization, the holocaust, and the fragmentation of our time. It is time to read those faces, and build on faith. There’s no other choice; To love is to remain human. We need to romance the culture in this present crisis. Woo her to love, and not fear. To do that is to be a true artist of the Creative Age. Artists have the empathetic capacity to embrace humanity even in the most destitute of times. But to do so, we have to see, like Jane, in a disfigured man a “green and vigorous” reality. She did not create reality, but she saw the greater reality. It is imagination guided by faith that taps into the New Earth and New Heaven. We need to note that she saw her own heart as disfigured, too, and she had to go through the fire of sanctification herself to know and recognize another cry, the cry of Mr. Rochester, out of that fire. Charlotte Bronte created a parable that echoes Romans 8. “Our sufferings are not worth the future glory.” We are destitute and orphaned, yet Christ sees a royal wedding and a coronation to come. Artists need to remember that the reality of faith unlocks creative vision. Christ has been disfigured and orphaned for us. The great Artist, the Author of Life, who the prophet Isaiah speaks of as “crushed for our inequities” (Isaiah 53:5), released our souls from our own “bondage to decay.” The Spirit gives birth to creativity. God’s love flows into our hearts, via our creativity, to the world. In Christ you are part of the ekklessia, the new kind of community, that Jesus died for. You are not only invited to a wedding; You are the bride of Christ. Even if your stand alone, in you ground zero, you can stand like Jane Eyre, with a wedding dress.

3. The Bible begins with Creation, and ends in a wedding. What does a wedding require for a Bride? We are to anticipate that day with all of our resources. We are always thinking of the Bridegroom. A wedding has all the genres of the arts represented; Dance, spoken words, art, culinary expertise, fashion and music. Children of the Creative Age are really wedding planners. We are to present the best, to spend the rest of our time preparing for that reality. This anticipation will usher a new age, and a new purpose. But it will cost, and it will require sacrifice. Do not listen to anyone who tickles you with a notion that we are a generation of Indigo children, and evolving into a new, and higher consciousness. No, instead, we are the children of God in a disfigured age. Our call is to love in that condition. Our call is to see through the disfigurement and tragedy. Mr. Rochester cannot fully comprehend how Jane would be as “happy as I can be on earth,” to be with him. “Because you delight in sacrifice?” he asks. “Sacrifice! What do I sacrifice? Famine for food, expectation for content. To be privileged to put my arms round what I value, to press my lips to what I love. to repose on what I trust; is that to make a sacrifice? If so, then certainly I delight in sacrifice.” She, apparently, loves him more despite his infirmities. This is the heart of the New Creation. This parable gives us artists a new paradigm to consider. How do we love a disfigured world? How do we give sacrifice, without being conscious of it? This sacrifice, that is no sacrifice to Jane, is precisely what we need now for true, lasting beauty, to re-humanize. Beauty is not cosmetic. Botox will not result in happiness. Jane Eyre is telling us we need to love even more our wrinkled faces. It is through this path that we will see creativity that not only restores but also redeems. We need, as the children of the Creative Age, not only to create in love, but to create what love means in this culture. By doing so our art will begin to re-humanize the world.

4. Enchantment of Jesus. So how do you indeed live with monsters and Jesus in your heart at the same time? How do we remain innocent and pure in the age of wickedness? We must live with groaning and expectation of Romans 8 at the same time. After all, our world is broken but also enchanted, in the sense of the medieval word for gospel, “Good Spell.” We have been cast a good spell by the words and breath of Jesus. The arts need to cast good spells into the world that is dying and cynical. Do not “throw out the baby with the bath water”: Jesus, the babe, is the source of life and art that no religious water can tarnish. So it is no surprise that all the tales of old that we were enchanted by as children, like Beauty and the Beast, seem to fit into our journeys. It is no surprise at all, that as we venture forward, we seem to give a backward glance, as in to this marvelous image of coronation by Fra Angelico. In a world that ought to be, we will have monsters dancing in our cosmic wedding. Our Experience, even our greatest of fears, will be rewoven into the texture of God’s design for the Innocent. You are not an orphan, but a prince and a princess of God. We are to receive more than a double inheritance. We need to begin to live like a bride expecting a great, cosmic wedding. We need to begin to act like Jane Eyre, the first child of the Creative Age.

Less you feel overwhelmed by the Hollywood entertainment machine, check out this story about Amy Allin who is taking poetry to the people! “Just like she’s done every Sunday since early July — whether in summer heat or freezing rain or snow — Amy Allin last weekend set up a small wooden table along the northwest shore of Green Lake. Hanging from the front of the table, glittery glass letters spelled out “P-O-E-T.” Then Allin, 39, sat and waited for the curious who jogged, bicycled or simply walked along the path 30 feet away. Sometimes she reads poems; sometimes people read poems to her that she’s selected. She prefers to select the work of other writers — some well-known, and others less known. Allin has a yearlong mission: to bring poetry to everyday people, whom she says the poets have forgotten. “Poets are on an academic campus and writing for each other. I’m tired of poets who think that reading to one another is enough,” she said. So the Poetess at Green Lake spends all day each Sunday at her table across from the Shell gas station on West Green Lake Drive North. She’s taking poetry literally to where the public is.”

Evangelicals are preoccupied with themselves, and usually don’t like the rap they get in American culture. According to Sarah Bakhshian they hope to use “Amazing Grace,” the story of William Wilberforce “to reclaim Wilberforce as one of the early architects of modern-day evangelism and to raise awareness about modern-day slavery.”  “Randall Balmer, an expert on evangelicals at Barnard College/Columbia University in New York, said religious conservatives ‘are taking great pains to style themselves as the so-called ‘new abolitionists’ in order to emphasize the moral parallel between their opposition to abortion and the abolitionist movement in the early 19th century.’ Balmer finds that a bit disingenuous. ‘As I see it, the great contribution of 19th-century evangelicals was to work on behalf of those on the margin of society, including slaves but also women and the poor,” he said. “I simply don’t see that range of concerns reflected in the actions and the agenda of the religious right at the turn of the 21st century.’”

As if to prove Balmer’s point, Laurie Goodstein reports that the Christian Right, (people like James Dobson, Gary Bauer, Tony Perkins and Paul Weyrich) are trying to force the National Association of Evangelicals director of government affairs to stop speaking out on global warming. “The conservative leaders say they are not convinced that global warming is human-induced or that human intervention can prevent it. And they accuse the director, the Rev. Richard Cizik, the association’s vice president for government affairs, of diverting the evangelical movement from what they deem more important issues, like abortion and homosexuality. The letter underlines a struggle between established conservative Christian leaders, whose priority has long been sexual morality, and challengers who are pushing to expand the evangelical movement’s agenda to include issues like climate change and human rights. ‘We have observed,” the letter says, “that Cizik and others are using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time.’”
This raises some really interesting questions: If Wilberforce was alive today, what issue would captivate him today as the abolition of slavery did in his day? If Wilberforce is the model of today’s evangelicals, who are the real evangelicals today? And a macro question, was Wilberforce concerned about his identity as an “evangelical” or was he just following Jesus and his teachings? Post your thoughts!
Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends, Dick Staub.

The second movie worth celebrating is Guillermo del Toro’s “‘Pan’s Labyrinth.” This film is not for kids, nor is it for the squeamish—It is not family-friendly, it is rated R for graphic violence and occasional obscene language, entirely appropriate given its setting in the repressive days of Franco’s fascist Spain. The makers of Pan’s Labyrinth describe it as “Alice in Wonderland” for grown-ups, with the horrors of both reality and fantasy blended together into an extraordinary, spellbinding fable. Told through the eyes of a little girl whose imaginary world is inhabited by nightmarish creatures, Pan’s Labyrinth is a visually imaginative and allegorical take on the fears she faced in Spain during WWII. Roger Ebert says Pan’s Labyrinth” “is one of the cinema’s great fantasies, rich with darkness and wonder. It’s a fairy tale of such potency and awesome beauty that it reconnects the adult imagination to the primal thrill and horror of the stories that held us spellbound as children.” More importantly, “Pan’s Labyrinth” taps into what CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien described as “the one true myth. As a young buy Del Toro dreamed of monsters and drew them. His devoutly Catholic family attempted two exorcisms on him and Del Toro decided he could not reconcile Jesus and these monsters. He chose the monsters. Like so many of us, leaving the conservatism of our religious roots does not erase the elements of truth planted in our memory. In Pan’s Labyrinth, Del Toro, consciously or not, finds the resolution of his “monster stories” through the redemptive stories imbedded in the religion of his youth. Anyone familiar with the basic outline of Jesus story will recognize in “Pan’s Labyrinth” the themes of sacrifice and the spilling of blood as requirements for opening the portal to restored relationship with God. Sub-titled, dark and brooding this film is for adults, and the serious minded will find Del Toro, working like Tolkien, influenced by Christian symbols and imagery, skilled in the genre of ancient myth and relating the two artistically. Whether in a biography like Amazing Grace Or a rich brooding fantasy like Pan’s Labyrinth I celebrate when well-made films explore truth. “Amazing Grace” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” are cause for celebration for thoughtful creatives for whom God is of central importance.
Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends, Dick Staub.

(Over the next few days we’ll feature podcasts about faith and science. This week’s The Kindlings Muse @ Hales features a spirited discussion by Adrian Wyard and John West about the new atheists–Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett. We’ll also carry an interview with Randy Olson whose Flock of Dodos is a humorous, insightful and controversial exploration of the contemporary controversy over evolution, intelligent design and how science is being taught in our schools.’ Today comments by Oxford Professor Alistair McGrath about Dawkin’s “God Delusion.”) He is a ‘psychotic delinquent’, invented by mad, deluded people.

And that’s one of Dawkins’s milder criticisms.

Dawkins, Oxford University’s Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, is on a crusade. His salvo of outrage and ridicule is meant to rid the world of its greatest evil: religion. “If this book works as I intend,” he says, “religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down.” But he admits such a result is unlikely. “Dyed-in-the-wool faith-heads” (that’s people who believe in God) are “immune to argument”, he says.

I have known Dawkins for more than 20 years; we are both Oxford professors. I believe if anyone is “immune to argument” it is him. He comes across as a dogmatic, aggressive propagandist.

Of course, back in the Sixties, everyone who mattered was telling us that religion was dead. I was an atheist then. Growing up as a Protestant in Northern Ireland, I had come to believe religion was the cause of the Province’s problems. While I loved studying the sciences at school, they were important for another reason: science disproved God. Believing in God was only for sad, mad and bad people who had yet to be enlightened by science. I went up to Oxford to study the sciences in 1971, expecting my atheism to be consolidated. In the event, my world was turned upside down. I gave up one belief, atheism, and embraced another, Christianity. Why?

There were many factors. For a start, I was alarmed by some atheist writings, which seemed more preoccupied with rubbishing religion than seeking the truth. Above all, I encountered something at Oxford that I had failed to meet in Northern Ireland – articulate Christians who were able to challenge my atheism. I soon discovered two life-changing things. First, Christianity made a lot of sense. It gave me a new way of seeing and understanding the world, above all, the natural sciences. Second, I discovered Christianity actually worked: it brought purpose and dignity to life. I kept studying the sciences, picking up a PhD for research in molecular biophysics. But my heart and mind had been seduced by theology. It still excites me today.

Dawkins and I both love the sciences; we both believe in evidence-based reasoning. So how do we make sense of our different ways of looking at the world? That is one of the issues about which I have often wished we might have a proper discussion. Our paths do cross on the television networks and we even managed to spar briefly across a BBC sofa a few months back. We were also filmed having a debate for Dawkins’s recent Channel 4 programme, The Root Of All Evil? Dawkins outlined his main criticisms of God, and I offered answers to what were clearly exaggerations and misunderstandings. It was hardly rocket science. For instance, Dawkins often compares belief in God to an infantile belief in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, saying it is something we should all outgrow. But the analogy is flawed. How many people do you know who started to believe in Santa Claus in adulthood? Many people discover God decades after they have ceased believing in the Tooth Fairy. Dawkins, of course, would just respond that people such as this are senile or mad, but that is not logical argument.

Dawkins can no more ‘prove’ the non-existence of God than anyone else can prove He does exist. Most of us are aware that we hold many beliefs we cannot prove to be true. It reminds us that we need to treat those who disagree with us with intellectual respect, rather than dismissing them – as Dawkins does – as liars, knaves and charlatans.

But when I debated these points with him, Dawkins seemed uncomfortable. I was not surprised to be told that my contribution was to be cut. The Root Of All Evil? was subsequently panned for its blatant unfairness. Where, the critics asked, was a responsible, informed Christian response to Dawkins? The answer: on the cutting-room floor.

The God Delusion is similarly full of misunderstanding. Dawkins simply presents us with another dogmatic fundamentalism. Maybe that’s why some of the fiercest attacks on The God Delusion are coming from other atheists, rather than religious believers. Michael Ruse, who describes himself as a ‘hardline Darwinian’ philosopher, confessed that The God Delusion made him ‘embarrassed to be an atheist’. The dogmatism of the work has attracted wide criticism from the secularist community. Many who might be expected to support Dawkins are trying to distance themselves from what they see as an embarrassment.
Aware of the moral obligation of a critic of religion to deal with this phenomenon at its best and most persuasive, many atheists have been disturbed by Dawkins’s crude stereotypes and seemingly pathological hostility towards religion. In fact, The God Delusion might turn out to be a monumental own goal – persuading people that atheism is just as intolerant as the worst that religion can offer.

Alister McGrath is professor of theology at Oxford University. His new book The Dawkins Delusion?, co-authored by Joanna Collicutt McGrath, is published by SPCK at £7.99.