Beauty for Ashes: The Hope of Beauty After Suffering
By the time my grandmother died, she was nothing more than a curled-up reminder of a person, lying in a hospital bed. She was shaped like a question mark as she lay on her side, waiting to be flipped...
View ArticleLena Dunham & Jill Duggar: Baring It All for Us
Lena Dunham has a problem. She has lots of problems, actually, which she doesn’t mind sharing with us. From traumatic encounters with puppies (in the The New Yorker) to struggling with...
View ArticleOn Listening to Serial, and Finding Myself Guilty
Guilty or not guilty. It’s the crux of the matter. It’s why five million (and counting) listeners of the Serial podcast anxiously await each new installment. Serial tells the story of a crime that...
View ArticleFranco and LaBeouf: The Wizards of Oscillation
For those of you keeping score in the art-off between James Franco and Shia LaBeouf, Shia LaBeouf is winning. Lately it has been one triumph after another for Shia, from his stint as a performance...
View ArticleThe One-Dimensional Humanity of ‘Downton Abbey’
It is a truth universally acknowledged that winter in New England, where I live, can be cold and long and dark. This is why, for the last four Januaries, I have looked forward to the return of Downton...
View ArticleHoly Relics: The Choir Robe
Every Wednesday in Holy Relics, Martyn Jones explores artifacts unique to Christian subculture. Except this Wednesday. This week, S.D. Kelly is the Holy Relics Guest Writer. The choir robes at my...
View ArticleMoral Clarity in ‘Grantchester,’ Or What’s Oprah Got to Do with It?
Nothing is more off-putting than moral certitude. What we used to know for sure about right and wrong has been reduced to a handful of proscriptives—ones related to social ills, mostly. The exception...
View ArticleSo Much Stuff, So Little Time: How Do We Keep Our Possessions from Possessing...
I have a lot of stuff. I have less stuff than many of my fellow Americans, so at times, I feel self-satisfied. But then I realize I have a lot more than I need, so my sense of self-satisfaction...
View ArticleRemembering the Goodness of Gilbert Blythe and the Magic of ‘Anne of Green...
When I heard that Jonathan Crombie died last week, I let out an involuntary gasp, as did a good portion of the middle-aged North American female population. We’re the ones who watched the CBC version...
View ArticleLive by the Screen, Die by the Screen: The Perils of Reality TV
It’s been a rough couple of weeks in the world of Reality TV. Bethenny Frankel is back on the Real Housewives of New York, inciting botox-compromising levels of rage in her fellow housewives. She even...
View ArticleCool Takes: Of Blood Moons, Papal Visits, and the End of the World
Every Wednesday in Cool Takes, S. D. Kelly offers a fresh reflection on hot topics by exploring the intersection of faith with high and low culture. I see rising a super world church. I see the...
View ArticleCool Takes: For the Love of Trump and Money
Every Wednesday in Cool Takes, S. D. Kelly offers a fresh reflection on hot topics by exploring the intersection of faith with high and low culture. I know Donald Trump’s campaign will deflate at some...
View ArticleCool Takes: Back for More Gilmore
Every other Wednesday in Cool Takes, S. D. Kelly offers a fresh reflection on hot topics by exploring the intersection of faith with high and low culture. Last week the world learned that the Gilmore...
View ArticleCool Takes: Life and Death on the Internet
Every other Wednesday in Cool Takes, S. D. Kelly offers a fresh reflection on hot topics by exploring the intersection of faith with high and low culture. What is small enough to fit in the palm of...
View ArticleCool Takes: In Praise of Family, the Holidays, and Khloe Kardashian
Every other Wednesday in Cool Takes, S. D. Kelly offers a fresh reflection on hot topics by exploring the intersection of faith with high and low culture. And now comes the lull between the two biggest...
View ArticleStations of Home Alone: Where the Wilderness Meets Civilization
On this 25th anniversary of the classic Christmas film, the Stations of Home Alone are theological meditations on iconic scenes from the story of a boy forgotten by his family and left to survive on...
View ArticleJae Jin’s ‘Kairos': Seizing an Opportune Moment, Free for CaPC Members
Do you remember the worship leader from season two of Netflix’s House of Cards? That’s Jae Jin. Landing the small role in such a powerfully intimate scene of a major internet and television phenomenon...
View ArticleCool Takes: Ricky Gervais & Donald Trump Speak Truth to Power
Every other Wednesday in Cool Takes, S. D. Kelly offers a fresh reflection on hot topics by exploring the intersection of faith with high and low culture. Ricky Gervais, who hosted last Sunday’s Golden...
View ArticleCool Takes: The Snowpocalypse of Privilege
Every other Wednesday in Cool Takes, S. D. Kelly offers a fresh reflection on hot topics by exploring the intersection of faith with high and low culture. This week in whiteness: a huge storm pummeled...
View ArticleIf We Live in the Future, Why Do We Dress Like the Past?
Now that we are in the throes of the digital age, it is safe to say that (at least for now) this is what the future looks like. Doctors conduct arthroscopic surgery using tiny cameras, scientists grow...
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