Posts tagged "Downton Abbey"
Another Week Ends: One Way Love, Platonic Tennis, Curmudgeon Law, Downton Anti-Snobbery, Ecumenical Shipwrecks, Dr. Hook, House of Cards and Justified
Grace in Practice / Humor / Law / Music / Psychology / Religion / Social Science / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: One Way Love, Platonic Tennis, Curmudgeon Law, Downton Anti-Snobbery, Ecumenical Shipwrecks, Dr. Hook, House of Cards and Justified

by David Zahl on Feb 8, 2013 • 3 Comments

1. The hits just keep on coming. Spring Conference speaker and friend Tullian Tchividjian announced his next book this morning and the title will be familiar to some of you, One Way Love: The Power of Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World. Tullian, of course, is paying tribute to the definition of grace that PZ coined in Grace In Practice. If the rest of the book is at all like the intro (and I have a strong feeling that it is, wink wink), then this is something to be very excited about:

The good news of God’s inexhaustible grace for…

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Humor / TV

Downton Abbey for Super Nintendo

by David Zahl on Jan 31, 2013 • 2 Comments
Lady Edith Put to the Test: “I Don’t Think It’s Working”
Relationships / Suffering / TV

Lady Edith Put to the Test: “I Don’t Think It’s Working”

by Matt Schneider on Jan 15, 2013 • 3 Comments

Spoiler alert! This concerns the latest episode of Downton Abbey, Season 3: Episode 2.

As those who have been watching this season of Downton know, this past week, Edith’s big day finally came to be wed to the affable, albeit much older, Sir Anthony Strallan. (“Finally something is going on in this house that’s about me,” Edith says.) The scene I most want to highlight is the emotionally charged one that takes place between Lady Edith and her mother Cora (Lady Grantham). Lady Grantham is trying to comfort her distraught daughter after Edith is left at the altar by Sir Anthony…

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Now You’re Special To Me: Downton Abbey and the Adoption of Daisy
Grace in Practice / Relationships / Theology / TV

Now You’re Special To Me: Downton Abbey and the Adoption of Daisy

by David Zahl on Feb 28, 2012 • 17 Comments

Many of us struggled with the recently completed second season of costumed PBS/BBC megahit Downton Abbey. And for good reason. It zigzagged relentlessly, introducing subplot after ridiculous subplot, the bandaged Canadian stranger being the lowest blow, an understandable point of no return for some. Perhaps the culprit was the editing for US audiences, who knows, certainly a slower boil in the last few episodes would have gone a long way (though I’m not sure it could have saved the arc entirely).

This is not to say the season was without merit. Julian Fellowes may have been focusing a bit more on…

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Another Week Ends: More Linsanity, IMonk Grace, TechnoSabbaths, Defending Nic Cage, DFW on Corrosive Illusions, Cougarton Abbey and GNR Rumors
Film / Grace in Practice / Humor / Literature / Music / Religion / Sports / Technology / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: More Linsanity, IMonk Grace, TechnoSabbaths, Defending Nic Cage, DFW on Corrosive Illusions, Cougarton Abbey and GNR Rumors

by David Zahl on Feb 17, 2012 • No Comments

1. Just in case you haven’t overdosed on Linsanity yet, David Brooks offers a sympathetic big-picture perspective in his column in The NY Times, highlighting how the culture of achievement and glory in professional sports conflicts with ethical framework espoused by most of the major religious traditions. Some will certainly say that Brooks going overboard, but I’m not so sure. Of course, there are plenty of valid, non-religious ways to rationalize competition, but attempts to do so on the basis of Christianity have always struck this blogger as particularly unconvincing, ht TB:

The moral ethos of sport is in tension with…

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Another Week Ends: Indie Law, The New Marriage Killer, Futurizing Fear, Apatheism, Damsels in Distress, George Lucas and Downton Abbey
America / Film / Grace in Practice / Law / Music / Psychology / Relationships / Religion / Social Science / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Indie Law, The New Marriage Killer, Futurizing Fear, Apatheism, Damsels in Distress, George Lucas and Downton Abbey

by David Zahl on Jan 27, 2012 • 3 Comments

1. In his short article “The Pitfalls of Indie Fame” on Grantland, Chuck Klosterman captures something we have been trying to say on here forever. Don’t be put off by all the music jargon; he is using the critical success of the tUnE-yArDs debut record as an opportunity to reflect on the cruelty of the Law. Which may be particularly pronounced in the indie world (or any rarified/snobby setting for that matter), but the phenomenon is universal. The human relationship to righteousness is a troubled one, love/hate at best, and it finds expression in every possible arena. And while non-religious…

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The Year in Television 2011
TV / Year In Review

The Year in Television 2011

by David Zahl on Dec 21, 2011 • 5 Comments

Another banner year for the small screen! Comedy and drama, network and cable, domestic and abroad, great work flooded the airwaves. We’ve had a lot of fun commenting on and cataloging it all. Here are my favorites of the year:

Top Eleven Television Series of 2011

11. Portlandia. Put a bird on it, indeed. Can’t get enough of Fred Armisen.

10. Luther. The first of three absolutely gripping dramas produced by the BBC this past year, this one features Idris Elba AKA Stringer Bell in a career-making performance as TV’s first ever black cockney Sherlock Holmes-by-way-of-Jack Bauer serial killer detective. Forever skirting (and…

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Another Week Ends: more Tiger Mom, Rex Ryan, Taco Bell, Dawn Treader, Downton Abbey, River Baptisms
Children / Food / Humor / Music / Psychology / Sports / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: more Tiger Mom, Rex Ryan, Taco Bell, Dawn Treader, Downton Abbey, River Baptisms

by David Zahl on Jan 21, 2011 • 2 Comments

1. The Tiger Beat goes on! David Brooks had some insightful things to say in The NY Times this week, calling Amy Chua a wimp:

Practicing a piece of music for four hours requires focused attention, but it is nowhere near as cognitively demanding as a sleepover with 14-year-old girls. Managing status rivalries, negotiating group dynamics, understanding social norms, navigating the distinction between self and group – these and other social tests impose cognitive demands that blow away any intense tutoring session or a class at Yale.

As a counterpoint, there’s this post from Claire Potter…

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