Here are this week’s links, and one or two I accidentally left off last week’s list.
- Yeah, I know. Three links to Dictionary of Christianese in six weeks. But how I could pass when the word was narthex? Meet you in the narthex when you’re done reading the rest of the list.
- A trailer is out for a movie celebrating 40 years of England’s Greenbelt Music & Arts Festival.
- Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love is an all-time Christian fiction bestseller. Now, word that after many years, Bridge to Haven, a new title, will release in spring 2014.
- Essay of the Week: A Facebook fast isn’t fasting. Actress and writer Hannah Rivard guest posts at The Rebelution, the blog of Alex and Brett Harris.
- A Tennessee judge rules you can’t call a child Messiah.
- The above item reminds us of a story we did a few months ago: In New Zealand you can name a kid Faith, Hope or Charity, but not Justice. (They turned down two Messiah’s there also.)
- On my own blog this week: A weekend farm tour reminds us that in preaching, genuine passion plus extensive knowledge doesn’t necessarily guarantee audience engagement.
- Because your kids’ picture Bible storybooks tend to be family friendly, odds are that these five stories didn’t make the final edit.
- Related: A serious management feasibility study on how Noah got all the animals to fit inside.
- Also related: Is it possible that some aspects of Sunday School stories, as they are taught, do more harm than good? One writer suggests mis-taught narratives are destroying our children.
- At Stuff Christians Like, a few lines of dialog that even your adult Bible is missing.
- The best articles on Bible translation are always written by people who actually do Bible translation.
- Despite being on record as not wanting to speak to certain topics, it turns out that C. S. Lewis actually did address homosexuality.
- Investigative blogger Bene Diction offers a follow-up piece on the huge credibility gap with Tony Anthony’s book Taming the Tiger, which has culminated in the closing of his ministry.
- A rapidly circulating email leads to rumor-verifier Snopes.com creating a page on the spiritual beliefs of actor Sylvester Stallone.
- You’ve heard him on radio, now meet the face behind the voice: Christian financial planning expert Dave Ramsey takes to video.
- If we believe in the priesthood of all believers, does that by definition diminish the need for structured leadership?
- Another outdoor concert stage collapse, this time involving Christian bands MercyMe and The Afters at the Cleveland County fairgrounds.
- The names have been changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty: A tale of two pastoral transitions.
- We may be on a journey to eternal life, but a Pew Research survey claims that only one in three of us want this life to last eternally.
- David Hayward aka The Naked Pastor is the latest Christian blogger to try the podcast thing.
- Confession isn’t just good for the soul, it’s necessary for taking steps toward a holy God.
- In the Assemblies of God denomination, growth is taking place, but their trademark distinctive, speaking in tongues, is on the decline.
- Is it blasphemous or just plain vulgar? A UK vicar claims the former Archbishop of Canterbury rode in her car and wasn’t disturbed by her edgy and controversial bumper sticker. [Content advisory]
- Related: Describing her book as “a messy profanity- and prayer-laden theological memoir,” the Sarcastic Lutheran aka Nadia Bolz-Weber introduces Pastrix. No wonder reviewers like myself aren’t being given advance copies. Here’s a video trailer. [Much stronger content advisory: NSFCO (Not safe for church offices)]
- In your local church, do you have the gift of diapers or the gift of chairs?
- Hoping to flee what they consider U.S. government interference in religion; a family ends up lost at sea.
- Pentecostal writer J. Lee Grady notes the dark side of the doctrine that wives submit to their husbands.
- I never know how to end the list each week, but the Canadian in me is drawn to this.
Paul Wilkinson writes from Canada, where it’s summertime and the livin’ is easy and the kids won’t be back to school until after Labor Day, the way God intended it. Follow him daily at Thinking Out Loud and Christianity 201.
