Magic on Normal Street
Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street uses a combination of magic and realism that depicts real life far better than any other family television show I've seen.read more
View ArticleForce be with you
About 500 people—over twice the usual number—showed up at a Star Wars–themed service at the Zion Church in Berlin the weekend the new Star Wars movie was released. Some of the congregants carried...
View ArticleRedeeming Star Wars
"What was the point of that movie?" my son asked, without hostility. He knew that what he'd seen was about more than what he'd seen.read more
View ArticleLas bandas niños
Iglesia Hispana Emanuel has about 100 members. José Guillermo Salamea is teaching some 40 of them how to play an instrument.read more
View ArticleThe saint of Karachi
The title character of Mohammed Hanif's novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti is a Catholic nurse in Pakistan. Turning the other cheek is not her strong suit.read more
View ArticleHomily on football
Concussion, the movie about football players being repeatedly concussed, is not so much a sports movie or a medical thriller as it is a Christian homily, says Ian Crouch. The story is about Dr. Bennet...
View ArticleThe weave
The fifth-grade team had been coached since the Council of Trent by Mr. Torrens, whose idea of offense consisted of one utterly useless play.read more
View ArticleOut of sync
Rectify is unlike any series I've watched. Its slow burn reveals the viewer as well as the characters in the story.read more
View ArticleRural decline
Between 1990 and 2010, Iowa lost over 500 churches. The numbers reflect migration from rural to urban areas and the fewer number of people who identify with a faith community. The decline in churches...
View ArticleVirtual church on a snow day
I was concerned that this was a ridiculous idea that would result in a giant train wreck forever archived in cyberspace. I was wrong; it was awesome.read more
View ArticleComplicit all around
One might expect Spotlight to be fascinating because of the victims' stories. But it's the focus on clerical and legal institutions that grabs the viewer.read more
View ArticlePhone addiction
According to one study, there has been a 40 percent decline over the past 20 years in college students’ ability to empathize with others. This trend might be partly a consequence of attachment to...
View ArticleEmmett Till in Different States: Poems, by Philip C. Kolin
Americans are still processing the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till, the Chicago boy who was lynched while visiting relatives in Mississippi. These poems provide a wrenching retelling of the...
View ArticleBattling wills
In Jessica Jones, the superhero villain's control over people is chilling because we recognize it. It plays out in ordinary abusive relationships.read more
View ArticleA Danish girl's costly self-denial
The Danish Girl celebrates a young artist's gender transition. But the Oscar-nominated film goes farther than this—and not everywhere it goes is comfortable.read more
View ArticleGame-day violence
Reports of sexual violence at universities with Division I football teams increase 41 percent on game day for home games and 15 percent for away games. An upset victory results in even greater number...
View ArticleReal intimacy
This year, the Oscars honored three films that are poignant meditations on a person's agency in falling and staying in love.read more
View ArticleGentle touches
Spent all day and deep into the evening Saturday at a wedding, studying the ways and means and manners by which people gently touch each other, and so communicate this and that and the other thing.read...
View ArticlePrint rebound
Book retailer Barnes & Noble is planning to close eight stores by the end of this year instead of the 13 it had originally forecast. Due to increased sales of print books, partly swelled by the...
View ArticleThe joy of stuff
KonMari approaches clutter by asking just one question: "Does this item spark joy?" But this isn't always a simple question.read more
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