From “The Orthodox Way”
Our aim in the life of prayer is not to gain feelings or “sensible” experiences of any particular kind, but simply and solely to conform our will to God’s. “I seek not what is yours but you,” says St...
View ArticlePoor Little Rich Christian: Hulu’s Intermittently-Insightful “Rev.”
“First let’s say morning prayer. But let’s say it quietly, in case somebody here has got a hangover.”That’s from the first episode of Rev., a Hulu series about an Anglican vicar in a tough London...
View ArticleMusical Rosary #6–Agony in the Garden
He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.”This one’s really short and straightforward...
View ArticleMusical Rosary #10–Crucifixion
But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.I don’t really know how other Catholics do it, but I am a...
View ArticleI Used to Live Here: Old Interview w/John Darnielle About “The Life of the...
w/various things about his religion, but this was the part which struck me the most:Pitchfork: “Genesis 3:23″ is about breaking into a house where you used to live. Is that something you’ve ever...
View ArticleMusical Rosary #12: Ascension
Then he led them [out] as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with...
View ArticleFra Angelico and the Sex-Hating Church
A really rambling post.Now that my book is out I’ve been doing a lot of interviews, and in many of them I’ve been asked to tell my conversion story. A huge part of my conversion involved realizing that...
View ArticleWhere Are the Lady Mountain Goats?
A cri de coeur! Where are the women who write weird, metaphor-laden personal songs about their fraught relationship with the Lord? Are there Sufjanes out there? I would really like music by women, in...
View Article“Indie Music’s Christ-Haunted Women”: I’m at AmCon
with some answers to a question I asked here recently:I listen to a lot of what you could call “Christ-haunted” music. Your Mountain Goats, your Weakerthans. Not music made by believers necessarily...
View Article“On Abstaining from Communion”: Poignant, Funny Post from Max Lindemann
on a recurring theme here:…As the episode with the baffled usher illustrates, some people simply aren’t used to non-communicants. During one early-morning Mass at St. Paul the Apostle Church in...
View ArticleThe Three Theological Virtues And How They Will Help You Cope With Turning...
more riffing on The Lobster from me: Last week I saw The Lobster, an extremely sad and violent romantic comedy about a world in which, if you don’t find a romantic partner within 45 days, you’ll be...
View ArticleSad Bible Songs: I review Harrison Lemke’s “Fertile Crescent Blues”
at First Things: “Christian pop is unrelentingly cheerful.” That was Leah Libresco’s conclusion when she analyzed the frequency of positive and negative terms (“grace” vs. “sin,” for example, or “love”...
View ArticleNun on the Run: Check out Zach Clark’s great new indie charmer, “Little Sister”
I wrote it up for AmCon: The summary for Zach Clark’s new indie flick Little Sister walks a razor’s edge of “could be great, could be awful.” Addison Timlin stars as ex-goth, now aspiring nun C0lleen,...
View Article“Escape from Enlightenment”: I’m at First Things
reviewin’: For over twenty years Will Allen was the in-house videographer for the Buddhafield—a religious group, eventually numbering over a hundred members, that mixed meditation, ecstatic experience,...
View ArticleMaybe Stop Seeking?
“A short story says, ‘I looked for x, and didn’t find it,’ or, ‘I was not looking anymore, and then I found x.’ A novel says, ‘I looked for x, and found a, b, c, g, q, r, and w.’” -Etif Batuman So...
View ArticleGod and Other Strangers: Short movie reviews
Best one first! Ushpizin: A poor, childless Orthodox Jewish couple in Jerusalem have no idea how they’ll afford to celebrate Sukkot (the Feast of Booths, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt), let alone...
View ArticleSilence as Humility vs. Silence = Death
In Catholic spirituality silence is associated with humility and reverence. Silence is the abyss in which we encounter God; it is a form of poverty, in which we cede the right to be heard; it is a...
View ArticleGods of the Lost: Three short book notes
It can be hard to tell gifts of the spirit From clever counterfeits… —Mountain Goats Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory. I’d read this before (of course?) but didn’t remember it well. It took me a...
View ArticleI’d Sell My Soul for Total Control: Staying Gay in the Church of...
I recently read John Wigger’s PTL: The Rise and Fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s Evangelical Empire. It’s a gripping story which goes beyond one ministry to encompass the rise of televangelism–and...
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