Religion Dispatches
…r own fantasy version of an ancient past (and Wood even notes that ISIS recruitment videos utilize scenes of medieval warfare skillfully edited from contemporary movies) but no group, liberal or reactionary, can escape their own time period. To designate them as “medieval” is to merely engage in an outmoded school of historical critique that has more to do with our own constructed pasts and our own prejudices than it does reality. The modern world…
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…JFK Jr. was in hiding, warring against the Deep State, and would return to run as Trump’s vice president. Protzman makes prophecies based on three particular strands of QAnon (and outside) thought: English Gematria, originally a Jewish numerological system in which Hebrew letters are substituted for their corresponding numbers, but English in this case; a complex genealogical narrative that Lincoln is descended from Jesus and is also the ancestor—…
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…nt for the welcoming spirit in the old European abbeys, and we try to model after that at Fremont Abbey. Abbeys were really places for community gathering, feasts, live music, and good stories. We need new abbeys in America, and I hope they continue to grow and empower the creation of more beautiful and profound art and music….
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…cate guitar work, and exact diction—the kind (as Nate Chinen writes in the New York Times) that makes poetry seem like plain speech? The languid, almost unbearable restraint of the music, particularly on this latest recording, constantly strains against the mythically dark stories of the characters’ individual lives. The understated, even mannered, songs tell hyperbolic character tales. In “Tennessee,” a girl-gone-wrong song, a gentle guitar and s…
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…stood for.” The article explains: At 16, unable to obey his parents’ basic rules (like not bringing drugs in the house), he was escorted by police from his home. He dropped out of school and spent the next five years partying on South Beach, trying to pick up girls and getting high. “I was a wild man. I lived a no-holds-barred lifestyle,” Tchividjian said. “If I believed it would bring me maximum pleasure in the moment, I did it, no matter what it…
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…lfire streak. Many people really thought that the earthquake meant the End Times were almost here and it was time for them to spread out around the world and save not just souls but entire nations. Many people are broadly aware of the rise of Pentecostalism, yet know so little of its origins. While writing the book, I went to Los Angeles a couple of times and stayed downtown right near Azusa Street, which is considered the birthplace of the moveme…
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…ty to a higher standard. Transitioning to the historic Riverside Church in New York City, he will focus on building bridges between the mainline Protestant and evangelical worlds. One part of his vision he hopes to advance: bringing church policies out of the shadows. Ambiguous church policies hurt congregants, George argues. For example, most churches claim to “welcome everybody,” but quietly hold policies that exclude particular communities. For…
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…escapism, where I’m like ‘let me just go catch some Pokémon and ignore the news.’” What news is she talking about? The murders of Sterling and Castile and the Dallas police officers. She is referring to the news of death. But in a matter of days Pokemon Go has changed our relationship with death. This is new territory. For years now we have been able to escape our physical spaces with our phones. But Pokémon Go doesn’t just allow us to avoid a “re…
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…se by the churches under their direction. It could not be published in the New World colonies, which required copies to be imported from England. For these reasons, and more, the KJV did not secure its literary reputation as one of the singular achievements of English letters until the 19th century. And in the U.S., this Bible was not upheld as a testament to English literature, but rather as a monument to Protestant (and primarily evangelical) th…
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…y of the Oculus’s sparkling-white interior has little in common with other New York public transit spaces. Grand Central Terminal, for example, with its lovely chandeliers, constellation ceiling mural, and central clock visible to all, is a welcoming hub of transportation in a diverse and vibrant city. There’s no clock in the Oculus; the closest thing you’ll find is a Rolex store. The Oculus alienates all except the wealthiest of visitors. The gia…
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