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Select a Category christmas Culture humor interviews Lists long reads movies we need news Podcasts Reviews story of God Uncategorized Weekend Read

Select a Month October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016

September 2017

September 10, 2017

Christian Movies Need More “Blue Like Jazz” and Less “God’s Not Dead”

Whenever people find out that I'm a Christian and a film critic (but not, I...

August 2017

August 31, 2017

Christians: Read the Room

If God has a PR person, they should be fired after this week. At a time...

June 2017

June 06, 2017

Great news! You can now watch “Step Brothers” at church!

Today, it was announced by Yahoo that Sony is going to make "clean" versions of...

April 2017

April 11, 2017

Crashing: Christian in the wild

HBO's new series "Crashing" finished its first season on Sunday. As with many of the...

March 2017

March 20, 2017

“Beauty and the Beast” and the backfiring of outrage

So, my piece a few weeks back on the outrage over Disney's choice to include an "explicitly...

February 2017

February 25, 2017

Goodbye, Family Christian Stores

This week, it was announced that Family Christian Stores — one of the world's largest Christian...

January 2017

January 20, 2017

The Story of God: Heaven, hell, hope and justice

Season two of "The Story of God with Morgan Freeman" airs Mondays at 9 p.m. (8...

January 10, 2017

Return to “The Story of God” on Jan. 16

One of the highlights of last year was writing about National Geographic's "The Story of...

January 02, 2017

Blog Goals 2017

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year. I'm sure that, for many, it was...

November 2016

November 17, 2016

To everyone telling me to be quiet and trust God after this election

Again, apologies. I know: I'm the movie guy. And trust me, next week, you're going...

November 10, 2016

Losing my evangelical home

I promise we'll get back to movies shortly. Given the events of this week, I...

October 2016

October 14, 2016

5 pieces of pop culture to help you endure the election

The election. I know, I'm sick of it, too. But take heart: November 8 is...

October 09, 2016

Trump, the image of God, and righteous anger

**Yes, I know this is an entertainment blog. But there are matters that transcend entertainment...

September 2016

September 24, 2016

Thank you, Jim Henson

Life's like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending... It was 2009....

September 02, 2016

Is the Internet the Antichrist?

When my dad bought our first computer with a modem and America Online shortly after...

August 2016

August 24, 2016

The BBC 100 Greatest Films list presents a learning opportunity

I love lists. I know that's not the critically correct thing to say — most critics...

August 23, 2016

Jesus VR, the Ark Encounter and fetishizing authenticity

Next month, visitors to the Venice Film Festival will have the opportunity to view the...

July 2016

July 24, 2016

The joy of disconnecting

This past week, our world tiptoed closer to dystopia. A fear-mongering bully officially became...

July 03, 2016

Popcorn in the pews

When I was in my twenties, my friends referred to the movies as my second...

June 2016

June 14, 2016

The strange love affair between Christians and guns

This isn’t the first time I’ve addressed this, and I hate that. This post, in...

June 12, 2016

Orlando: Death in our safe spaces demands love across the lines

Earlier this evening, in response to the horrific shooting at a gay nightclub Orlando that left...

June 07, 2016

The Small God of Christian Subculture

A recent article by Leah Libresco at FiveThirtyEight revealed that the number of positive words and concepts...

May 2016

May 12, 2016

The rainbow disconnection: Goodbye, “Muppets”

You'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger Muppet fan than me. As soon as my...

May 10, 2016

5 ways to save Christian movies

It's the best and worst of times for Christian movies. I can't remember a...

May 03, 2016

Why I don’t expect a miracle

This post is part of a weekly series focused on the National Geographic Channel’s documentary...

May 01, 2016

The rock star, the pastor and the Psalms

The following video has been making the rounds this week, but I just had the...

April 2016

April 26, 2016

We loved “Breaking Bad” because we are badly broken

This post is part of a weekly series focused on the National Geographic Channel’s documentary...

April 19, 2016

My evolving views on Creation

This post is part of a weekly series focused on the National Geographic Channel’s documentary...

April 12, 2016

Who is God?

This post is part of a weekly series focused on the National Geographic Channel’s documentary...

April 05, 2016

Leaving Rapture Culture Behind

There's a smug satisfaction evangelicals get from Rapture narratives. Not only do the bad guys...