theology

In this podcast, I speak with Dr. Reg Grant, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, published novelist, actor, and apparently tap-dancer. In this part, Reg shares how two films affected his life (good timing with November's Artuality on movies!), and we begin our discussion of the artist's pursuit of truth.

Dr. Grant taught me about story structure and arc and character development.

This podcast runs four and a half minutes.

"Troubadours are more important and influential than theologians and bishops."
Brennan Manning, in Ragamuffin Gospel

There is the theology of art and theology in art.

The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor sets secularism against religious destiny.

Today's Artuality day! Our theme this month is movies. How have movies or a movie inspired you artistically or spiritually?

This is the fourth and final part of my interview with Dr. Glenn Kreider of Dallas Theological Seminary. In this conversation, we talk about the importance of the physical redemption of the earth to our theology of art.

This video runs under four minutes.

This is the third segment of my interview with Dr. Glenn Kreider, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, about art and Christianity. In this part, we talk about facing the evilness in this world and bringing in the hope of the day when God will set everything right.

And we talk for a moment about Sweeney Todd, my favorite musical!

The podcast runs under 6 minutes.

At seminary, while I learned much from my systematic theology classes, I probably learned more theology through my cultural anthropology and missions classes. I realized in those classes that theology is not static. Previously, I thought you learned theology then applied it to your life. As I studied the history of the Church, missions, and the global Church, I realized that theology is a conversation between God and humanity, and because humanity changes and is limited by culture, the shape of the conversation changes.

Burn After Reading: I realize this got mixed reviews at best, but I liked this film. I laughed out loud. Some say it's making fun for the sake of making fun. There are no sympathetic characters. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.*

Well I say phooey on them.

There's one sympathetic character, although, yes, maybe he's a bit delusional and crazy. And another who plays a minor role.

And there's a slew of half-sympathetic characters.

My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok is a book I could read over and over and over again. There are so many levels. I can read it as a Christian in regards to living out my faith. I can read it as an artist in regards to working out my art and faith.

I'm up today at Tapestry. My blog entry is Beyond Relevance.

"About a decade ago, the catchword became relevance. "But is the ministry relevant?" we all asked. It was--and is--a good question. After all, Jesus became man in order to be relevant. The man knew his communication theory.