When you can’t outrun your past, one option is to face it with your own poetics. That’s the approach King Woman front woman Kris Esfandiari takes when confronting the Biblical archetypes branded on her psyche while coming of age in a Charismatic Christian family that practiced speaking in tongues and at-home exorcisms. On Celestial Blues, […]
Tag: Christianity
Posted inBlogs
The Christian indie-rock star who broke up with God
Jessica Hopper’s deep and dark profile of David Bazan.
Posted inNews & Politics
What does an ‘agnostic atheist’ believe?
“Humans don’t know shit from shit in the grand scheme of things,” Kelly Baron says.
Posted inBlogs
Jesse Jackson calls for solidarity with Syrian refugees ‘in the face of bigotry’
“You cannot worship a refugee on the run on Sunday and lock out refugees on Monday,” Jackson said.
Posted inArts & Culture
Colm Toíbín’s one-woman monologue gives the Madonna something new—a voice
The Testament of Mary finds a mother of God filled with fury and heartbreak
Posted inNews & Politics
This week’s Chicagoan: Derrick B. Wells, pastor and senior minister at Christ Universal Temple
This week’s Chicagoan is Derrick B. Wells, pastor and senior minister at Christ Universal Temple.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
The confessions of Richard Gibbons, recovering Catholic
In “Confession,” artist and architect Richard Gibbons gives voice to a lifelong struggle with Catholicism.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Silk Road Rising’s “Mosque Alert” enlists the global community
Silk Road Rising’s play in progress, “Mosque Alert,” crowdsources controversy.
Posted inBlogs
Talking to Joon Bai, the man behind the first U.S.-North Korean coproduction (part two)
The second part of an interview with the writer-producer of The Other Side of the Mountain, which screened in Chicago last weekend
Posted inArts & Culture
This week’s Culture Vultures recommend:
Chicagoans recommend Christopher Hitchens, Benny the Bull, and Purple Rain.
Posted inBlogs
In this week’s Reader: The misunderstood sex offender
What’s in the December 8, 2011, issue of the Reader.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Every Easter God Makes Headlines
Time asked an interesting question on last week’s cover: “What if there’s no hell?” Was this supposed to be one more thing to worry about? Easter is when the press gets metaphysical, finding matters to meditate on that we usually won’t touch with a ten-foot pole. Like a royal wedding, it’s an indulgence, and I’m […]
Posted inBlogs
A pastor’s take on David Bazan
Not that I’m blaming this Mr. Bazan for holding this view. He comes from a fiery Pentecostal background and that’s clearly the picture of God that he’s angry at. My pastor friend reflects on David Bazan. I also recommend his state and local political predictions.
Posted inMusic
The Passion of David Bazan
At the Cornerstone Christian rock festival, a fallen evangelical returns to sing about why he broke up with God.
Posted inBlogs
Savage Love vs. Christian love
If you found yourself a bit surprised at Dan Savage’s vehemence in the most recent Savage Love*, I’d recommend my friend Ben’s (a Lutheran pastor and longtime Savage Love reader) posts on the history of Christian sexual morality and Christian intolerance vs. atheist intolerance. Good, thoughtful stuff.