Category Archives: Uncategorized

On the surface, Spanish Cinema tells a familiar story along the lines of most of Global Cinema. A promising start is interrupted by war which leads to an eventual social revolution, a democracy, and then new found growth and success in cinema. As I continue to travel the world through film in 2020 though, IContinue reading “Film Travels 2020: Spain”

If there is a single narrative that emerges from the shadows of Denmark’s modest but significant cinematic history, it would be its ability to foster an ongoing conversation regarding the relationship between art and culture. You can see this conversation present on either side of the Occupation, in the early establishment of a “golden age”Continue reading “Film Travels 2020: Denmark”

“In a country where there was still no debate about the war that had just ended, the films produced by the Polish Film School set out to engage the public in a deep emotional dialogue that would prove to be therapeutic. Through stories which unfold in a near past, they touch upon different current topics:Continue reading “Film Travels 2020- POLAND”

“The peasantry during and after the Revolution of 1910 – 1920 fell from the frying pan of dictatorship into a revolutionary fire caused by internecine feuds between the caudillos engaged in bloody warfare. Whether it was the cause of secular Revolution against a corrupt dictator, in defense of Catholicism against an atheist state, or toContinue reading “Film Travels 2020: Mexico”

The author of Matthew goes to great lengths in his Gospel to reposition Jesus within the Jewish narrative, the story of the Israelites, and in my previous reflections I have noted how Matthew emphasizes, expounds on and elevates the Old Testament references in order to retell the story of Genesis and Exodus and essentially createContinue reading “The Gospel of Matthew Part 6: The Last Shall Be First. Love the Greatest Law, and The Liberating Picture of the Righteous Sufferer.”

“Whenever religion becomes a depressing affair of burdens and prohibitions, it ceases to be true religion.”― William Barclay (The Gospel of Matthew) While the author of the Gospel of Matthew remains anonymous, tradition has long positioned it to be the words of Matthew, one of the Disciples of Christ and an Apostle (also known as Levi).Continue reading “The Gospel of Matthew Part 5: The Call to be Imitators of the Gospel for the Sake of the World”

As I reflected on in my last post, the writer of Matthew’s Gospel is intently interested in matters of the “Kingdom”. In Herod and Jesus we find a picture of two competing Kingdoms with two different types of Kings. with Matthew playing with these perceptions of power and weakness. The power that we find inContinue reading “The Gospel of Matthew Part 4: A Kingdom of Justice, A Brood of Vipers, and Turning Weakness into Power”

In my previous reflection, I talked about how the author of Matthew establishes his Gospel in line with the Genesis-Exodus story. He does this to raise up Jesus as the New Exodus, not only in a retelling of the Exodus story, but a re-imagining of the story in light of Christ ushering in the new,Continue reading “The Gospel of Matthew Part 3: Herod, John and Jesus, and a Picture of Two Kingdoms in Contest”

In part one I talked about how the Genealogy sets up Matthews larger concern for establishing Jesus and the new Kingdom as a Kingdom for the least, the oppressed and the marginalized, which is where he understands Jesus found him. The way he weaves the line is unconventional to say the least, and yet alsoContinue reading “The Gospel of Matthew Part 2: The Birth, The Temptation and The New Exodus Story”

Personal confession time: It has been a while since I’ve spent some time with this Gospel. I’ve always struggled to get into Matthew. It might be the language. It might be the context. If this time through uncovered something, it is that Matthew feels and seems more than a little bit feisty, particularly when itContinue reading “The Gospel of Matthew Part 1: Genealogies, Lineages, and Numbers”