Category Archives: Uncategorized

Its interesting how paradigm shifting works can quickly begin to reframe everything around it. This is what happens when you exchange one lens for another. In this case I’m thinking about Jason Staple’s monumental work Paul and the Resurrection of Israel: Jews, Former Gentiles, Israelites. In it he proposes a blind spot in common theologicalContinue reading “Luke 14: Considering the Lens Through Which We Read the Scriptures”

“It is clear to what a degree the discovery- that is, the revelation- of a sacred space possesses existential value for religious man; for nothing can begin, nothing can be done, without a previous orientation- and any orientation implies aquiring a fixed point. It is for this reason that religious man has always sought toContinue reading “The Sacred and the Profane: Discovering The Power of Mystery in a Secularized World”

In his book Light of the mind, Light of the World: illuminating Science Through Faith, Spencer Klaven examines the history of the modern scientfic enterprise through the lens of the mind-matter divide. He notes that science, used in this modernist sense, can only hand us a representation of reality, not Reality itself, and shows howContinue reading “The Light of the Mind, the Light of the World: Where Cinema and Reality Collide”

I’m presently working through a book by Sarah Irving-Stonebraker called Priests of History: Stewarding the Past in an Ahistoric Age. In it Irving-Stonebraker makes the case that that we (the modern West) are living in an “ahistorical age.” By ahistorical she means a time that is without a history and a time that is againstContinue reading “Priests of History and The Invention of Prehistory: Learning to Navigate an Ahistorical Age”

With each new church season we (my church) work our way through one of the Gospels. We are presently in the Gospel of Luke. This morning we looked at the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) The great thing about this practice is that each new season brings with it a fresh context, thusContinue reading “The Good Samaritan and Hope For The World: Seeing a Familiar Passage Through Fresh Eyes”

I was genuinely taken captive by Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book Between The World and Me, read from the vantage point of being a white male living in Canada. Yes, I am certain Coates has his detractors and his disagreements- comes with the politicized territory. But I found him to be a poignant window into a worldContinue reading “Coates, The Message, and the Power of A Word In a World of Misunderstanding”

James Monaco, in his book How To Read A Film, connects the development of film to the science of brain function. On a technical level, to tell a story on film requires understanding how it is that we process images, and the art of film, of creating on-screen storytelling methods which imitate movement in time andContinue reading “Film, The Brain, And The Art of Knowing: Building a Philosophy For Life”

“Film is difficult to explain because it is easy to understand… somewhere between lies the genius of film.” (P191 If film is distinguishable by its adherence to technology and technicalities, it is equally distinguishable by its esthetics. Understanding the technical dimensions (the science of film) can make us better readers of the films esthetics, orContinue reading “Does Art Still Matter: Film, Modernism, And The Need To Understand This World”

In a recent episode of the Bema Podcast, host Marty Solomon references Brad Gray, discussing one of the distinguishing factors of the Judeo-Christian narrative. I mentioned in a previous post on this site that memory is a concept indebted to the Judeo-Christian Tradition, at least in the way it utilizes it as redemptive act and concept.Continue reading “Backing Into the Future: The Memories That Make a Life”

He (Jesus) was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him (Luke 4:15) All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this (Luke 4:28) Separated by a meager 13 verses, the fourth chapter of Luke’s Gospel details these polarized responses by the “people in the synagogue” in Galilee, Jesus’ hometown. Which begsContinue reading “Luke 4: The Way of Holistic Redemption”