A year and a half ago I wrote a post on Mockingbird about Thomas Kinkade, the prosperous “Painter of Light,” mostly responding to a then recent article highlighting his death due to a drug and alcohol overdose. I attempted to offer a thoughtful interpretation of Kinkade, his art, his unfortunate demise, and the Evangelical embrace of his […]
The Duality of Lance Armstrong: Simul Jerk et Humanitarian
I have been in mourning over the revelation of cyclist Lance Armstrong’s guilt for several months now since the preponderance of evidence seemed to point toward his having indeed doped (using banned performance enhancing substances) during his seven-year Tour de France reign. Of course, the man himself finally confirmed his guilt last week during a […]
Lance Armstrong Redeems...Lance Armstrong?
As I write this (Wednesday, January 16), Oprah Winfrey has confirmed that, in an exclusive interview taped on Monday to air on Thursday, Lance Armstrong has admitted to the use of performance enhancing drugs. At this point, this is a total snore. With the baseball writers’ recent decision to not vote a single player into […]
Another Week Ends: Horton on Legalism, Atheist AAs, Oprah, Irene Relief, Star Wars, Beach Boys, John Luther & Teenage Wastelands
1. Hopefully you got a chance to read our recent e-newslettter. We made a number of announcements about upcoming events and projects, including our next Spring Conference in NYC, which will happen from April 19-21, 2012, and at which none other than Michael Horton has agreed to be our keynote speaker! Needless to say, we […]
Do You Have a Zombie Plan? Part VII
We move in this installment from the fear of others to the fear of what is actually in our own hearts. Oprah had her last show the other day and, while I didn’t see it, my wife told me about it. She said she had to turn the show off because Oprah’s insistence that the […]
Suffering and Redemption in the Church of Oprah
Having only caught glimpses of the Oprah finale, I’m not really qualified to comment at much length. Numerous accounts have assured me, however, that the show boasted a surprising amount – even for Oprah – of religious references and allusions, more than a handful of which were explicitly Christian. For example, when asked about the […]
Women, Food and God (and Oprah)
Oprah Winfrey recently announced that she’s never dieting again. Her decision was apparently prompted by reading the book Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth. I tend to tune out Oprah when it relates to anything religious or self-esteem-y, so I was definitely surprised to find some powerful (even familiar) ideas at work here, and […]
