by Ben Howard I've been ridiculously busy over the last two weeks. As a result, some things have fallen through the cracks and I apologize. Next week, I'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming and I'll make sure to get the podcast out tomorrow as well. Today I'm holed up in the lovely, rustic Rockport Inn & Suites in beautiful and scenic Rockport, Massachusetts for the a writer's retreat with some wonderful people. It's freezing cold outside, but it's the kind of cold that's crisp and refreshing. In honor of that refreshing, crisp New England chill this week's Song of the Week is "January Hymn" by The Decemberists. I hope you enjoy and I look forward to telling you all about how I learned to be a better writer next week!
You
can download and subscribe to the On Pop Theology podcast in the iTunes
store by searching, "On Pop Theology" or download the most recent
episode here. Also, you can
subscribe via email or RSS feed on the top right hand corner of the page.
If you have any
comments, questions or if you're interested in writing for On Pop Theology please email us at onpoptheology [at]
gmail.com.
Welcome to the weekend everybody! I hope you've had a great start to the weekend. Just a few bits of news before we move onto the week in review and the Song of the Week. As you may have noticed, I've been writing a bit less over the past few weeks. Part of that is attributable to the holidays, but I've also decided to cut back on the everyday writing so I can work on some other projects behind the scenes.
As a result, I will be posting new articles on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the foreseeable future. I'm working on a couple different ideas for content on Tuesday and Thursday right now, but those aren't quite at the announcement stage yet. Anyways, on to the Week in Review. Monday - Notes From A Coffee Shop
"There’s
a picture next to me on the wall. It’s not my wall, and it’s not my
picture, but it is next to me and now it is in my mind. It’s a picture
of a woman. An Ugandan woman I learn by way of the caption. She is tall
and dark and beautiful. Her hair is cut very short. It’s almost shaved.
She is wearing all black and looking slightly to her left and down. She
is smiling. It is a beautiful smile."
Tuesday - Lightning In A Bottle: What The Hobbit and Arrested Development Mean for the Church "So now you know that I wanted to be a fan, but even with my
fan-boy glasses on, The Hobbit was only okay. It felt like the first of the
Harry Potter films. You know, the one where they’re all going through
wizard-puberty and you don’t actually care that much. It all felt kind of
cartoon-y.
It just wasn’t the thing that I loved the first time around."
Wednesday - Nine Theological Questions About the National Championship Game "Since every sportswriter in the country
is writing about this game, I thought I'd join in. However, since
I've made it my mission in life to juxtapose the entire world one
non-sequitor at a time, I've decided to explore nine theological
questions about the National Championship game."
This week's Song of the Week is "Holy Blood" by Alabama 3, which contrary to their name is from England. Hat tip to Sebastian Faust for this song.
You need to listen to this. It's that good.
Have a great weekend everybody and remember to check out the On Pop Theology podcast. Episode Four will be dropping tomorrow!
You
can download and subscribe to the On Pop Theology podcast in the iTunes
store by searching, "On Pop Theology" or download the most recent
episode here.
Also, you can
subscribe via email or RSS feed on the top right hand corner of the page. If you have any
comments, questions or if you're interested in writing for On Pop Theology please email us at onpoptheology [at]
gmail.com.
Happy almost New Year everybody! After taking the week off I'm feeling rested and rejuvenated. Tomorrow, we'll release Episode 3 of the On Pop Theology podcast and I'll be back to the regular posting schedule on Monday. Since it's almost the end of the year and since everybody seems to be making lists, I thought I'd put together a list of my most popular posts since I started the blog in May. #10. A Sermon on Hellbound by Adam Graham Adam takes his wonderful sermon-style approach to the new documentary Hellbound. #9. Sons of Thunder This was the first real popular post I had on the site. It explores how Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant represent different styles of Christianity. #8. Marriage and Chick-Fil-A I wrote this in the immediate aftermath of Dan Cathy's comments regarding homosexual marriage, but before the Mike Huckabee-fueled backlash. #7. Christian Books...and Zombies Every novel seems to have had some weird zombie/monster adaptation, so with the help of James K.A. Smith's twitter feed I gave the same treatment to some Christian classics. #6. An Evangelical Interpretation of Call Me Maybe by Jonathan Harrison Jonathan went mildly insane and did his best to read Jesus into the earworm that was Call Me Maybe. He also called Carly Rae Jepsen a Norse God which is probably accurate. #5. God Is... My entry into the #progGod contest from Tony Jones and Patheos. This was harder to write than I imagined it would be. #4. Ctrl by Derek Webb My review of Derek Webb's challenging new album Ctrl. #3. Theologians Are Like Rappers The post where I questioned my sanity and paired a bunch of theologians with their rap counterparts. This post was half tongue-in-cheek and half mildly serious. #2. Ten Terrible Lessons I Learned From Super Mario Brothers The list of the ten horrible life lessons I learned from the beloved video game Super Mario Brothers. #1. Christian Denomination Are Like...NFL Teams Easily the most popular post of the year (about as many views as every other post on this list combined). I do my best satirical take on why Christian Denominations are like NFL teams. Thank you all for being part of such a wonderful year and I look forward to writing and posting more in the year to come! Your Song of the Week this week is "Transcendental Blues" by Steve Earle, who should probably write and perform all the music from here on out because he's so amazing. Seriously, get this whole album. Now. It'll make you better at life.
You
can download and subscribe to the On Pop Theology podcast in the iTunes
store by searching, "On Pop Theology" or download the most recent
episode here.
Also, you can
subscribe via email or RSS feed on the top right hand corner of the page.
If you have any
comments, questions or if you're interested in writing for On Pop Theology please email us at onpoptheology [at]
gmail.com
Merry almost-Christmas everybody! I hope you're having a wonderful pre-Christmas weekend and that you're safe traveling wherever you might be going for the holiday. Say "Hi" to your parents for me! Remember that the second episode of the On Pop Theology podcast will be out tomorrow, you can stream it from the site or download it on iTunes. If you do download it from iTunes, please take the time to rate and review us, I'd appreciate it greatly. This Week At On Pop Theology
Monday - When We Ask "Why" "In our quest to answer, “Why?” we will draw from psychology,
philosophy, religion, sociology and our own personal experience of life and we
will overlook that our cry was not a question, but a lament."
Tuesday - Bad Christmas Songs and Why I Don't Care If Christmas Is Historically Accurate "Here’s the secret though if you really want to 'get'
Christmas and 'the reason for the season,': It doesn’t matter what actually
happened. It’s shocking, I know, but when it comes to the historical accuracy of
the birth narrative, or Christmas traditions, or what day we celebrate the
Incarnation, I really don’t care and you probably shouldn’t either."
Wednesday - On Sports Movies and Winning "I’m a sucker for sports movies. This probably isn’t that
shocking since I’m a guy who enjoys sports and has an overly romanticized view
about the power of communal bonding. Then again, who doesn’t love Remember the
Titans and Rudy and Hoosiers?"
Thursday - On Twinkies and Hobgoblins "I remember Twinkies being delicious. I remember wanting to
eat tons and tons of Twinkies. So on this occasion, my spirits were high,
floating along, thinking about the halcyon days of snack cake yore. Then I ate
the Twinkie…and I was depressed."
Friday - Thank You (My Christmas Letter) "This is the time of year where responsible people send out
Christmas cards or even Christmas letters. They tell you about their year,
remind you that they care, and in some cases simply remind you that they still
exist. Since I am in no way a 'responsible person' and only an 'adult' by
technical definitions of the term, I don’t do any of these things."
This week's Song of the Week comes from the massive Christmas collection released by Sufjan Stevens this year. Hat tip to Charlie Seaton for sending me the song. It's perfect for the last few days of Advent this year. I hope you enjoy it! Here's "Justice Delivers Its Death (Silver & Gold)" by Sufjan Stevens:
You can download and subscribe to the On Pop Theology podcast in the iTunes store by searching, "On Pop Theology" or download the most recent episode here.
Also, you can
subscribe via email or RSS feed on the top right hand corner of the page.
If you have any
comments, questions or if you're interested in writing for On Pop Theology please email us at onpoptheology [at]
gmail.com
Happy Saturday everybody! I hope you're all having a good day. Personally, I'm pretty excited since today is the day I officially graduate with my Master's in Theological Studies! However, since I'm not big on sitting in a crowd for hours waiting to hear my name, I'll be spending that time in the studio working on future podcast episodes. Which reminds me, tomorrow will mark the release of the On Pop Theology podcast with my wonderful co-hosts Leigh Bonner and Sebastian Faust (and various other guests in the future). We did get approval from iTunes so it will be available in the iTunes store for download and subscription. I'll also have links up if you want to stream it directly or download it outside of iTunes. Now for the week in review. The Week in Review Monday - On Selling Out and Redemption
"I was grieved because in the piece
K’Naan details the advice that led him to change his latest record in the
search for a wider audience and more success. He laments how the changes robbed
his latest album of the soul and grit of his earlier works, and how he feels
like he has lost his voice in a search for success." Tuesday - Why I Don't Understand Anger and Bitterness "Yesterday I discovered this amazing Twitter feed. Its handle
is @avoidcomments. It’s pretty simple. Once a day or so it tweets out a
friendly reminder that you should never ever read the comments online. The
comment section is a dark place full of misunderstandings and anger and
terrible monsters with nasty, big, pointy teeth." Wednesday - Ten Actors Who Should Play God (In a Movie) "I think it’s a given that Morgan Freeman is the voice of
moral authority in my generation. Perhaps he’s not the personification of it,
but certainly the voice. He’s played the wise President in Deep Impact, the
wise inmate in The Shawshank Redemption, the wise narrator in March of the
Penguins, and most importantly to our discussion today he played God. Twice." Thursday - On War and Football by Lyndsey Graves "To reconcile these two – to discern the time for laughter and the
time for mourning – takes more wisdom than I have. All I can really do
is put more words to this state of affairs. When you major in theology
there is this phrase you hear a hundred times, and I should be tired of
it but I never will be. I feel like I can carry my hope and longing and
gratitude all in this six-word phrase when I borrow this description of
life on Earth: here we live in “the already and the not yet”. Friday - Lord of the Rings and Anti-Semitism in the Church by Carlee Beatty "I know that Tolkien himself compared the dwarves in the Lord
of the Rings series to the Jewish people, but as I generally try not to fall
prey to intentional fallacy, I would argue that isn’t
the case. I would argue that there is only one Jewish character in Lord of the
Rings, and that is Gollum."
The song of the week this week is from a pop-punk band named Ludo. It randomly showed up on Pandora for me earlier this week and it's been stuck in my bed all week. I hope you enjoy "Topeka".
Welcome to the weekend everybody! I hope you had a great week and I hope you have a relaxing weekend. Also, I wanted to take a moment to say that I'm always looking for guest articles, ideas for posts, feedback on posts, anything at all to help make this site better and make the conversation richer. Feel free to email me, find me on Twitter, or make a comment below and I'll be in touch. The last week was Twilight week, or at least Twilight Monday through Thursday because I couldn't bring myself to write about it for five straight days. Instead, Jonathan filled the void with his semi-grinchified list of reasons why he doesn't hate Christmas. Here are the links to this week's posts. If you happen to like one, Tweet it, share it on Facebook, email it to your mom. I promise not to share any embarrassing stories if your friends come over and hangout. This Week at On Pop Theology Monday: Ten Terrible Lessons I Learned From Twilight "9) People in love are
always very serious and whisper a lot to show how super serious they are.
Bella, I need you to speak up. I can’t hear your sadness."
"I think this resonates with a view of
Christianity that understands that there is a darker side to
humanity, but that this darker side does not overshadow the essential
goodness of humanity. Occasionally we may be monsters, but even
monsters can occasionally be good."
"Mike Newton’s fatal flaw is that he isn’t interesting, or at
least, he isn’t spectacularly interesting. He’s routine and functional. He’s
normal. Jacob and Edward on the other hand are full of spectacle. They are
mythical beasts of yore!"
"Perhaps in my efforts to be a
progressive 21st century man who wants to see strong empowered
women, I had started seeing oppression where there was just preference. Maybe
there was no 'there' there."
"Look.
I know what you're thinking. This hipster is going to write about the
"evils of commercialism" in 3000 words and talk about how he loved
Christmas before Black Friday. Blah, blah, blah. Well, you're wrong.
I love commercialism. Commercialism is great."
For this week's Song of the Week we have "When They Really Get To Know You They Will Run" by Pedro the Lion (performed alone here by Pedro the Lion frontman David Bazan). I want to thank Stephanie Drury of Stuff Christian Culture Likes for accidentally getting this song stuck in my head yesterday. Also, you should definitely check out Bazan's website and follow him on Twitter @DavidBazan.
Enjoy this beautiful, thoughtful look at who we really are and who we try to make ourselves out to be.
Peace,
Ben
You can
follow Ben on Twitter @BenHoward87
or email him at benjamin.howard87 [at] gmail.com.
You can subscribe to On Pop Theology via RSS feed or email on the top right
corner of the page.
Hey everybody, I hope you had a great week! It's been a busy one for me personally, but I guess that's better than being boring. This Week at On Pop Theology: Monday - Top Chef and Whole New Worlds
"We can and should be inviting people to participate not just in one story, but
in a world full of stories; a world with its own language and its own symbols
and its own history." Tuesday - Justin Bieber and King David
"Justin Bieber is King David reincarnated. I’m not joking. Not even a little bit. Well, maybe a little
bit." Wednesday - On Growing Up
"It’s the first time I remember feeling like I was on my
parent’s level and with that realization came another and more startling
realization, one that becomes more and more obvious as I continue to mature:
Everybody is making up life as they go along." Thursday - On The Things I Didn't Feel
"Friends of mine would change their entire lives and move to foreign countries
to keep doing that kind of work and they felt so much passion for it. I felt so
proud of them and glad that they had something they loved so much, but then
they’d ask me what I felt and I still felt the same." Friday - Waiting on Emmanuel
"What if in the Incarnation we are not being provided with a
picture of a creator bending down to meet his creation, but of a creation
rising up to meet its creator? What if God became man to show us that man could
become God by embracing what humanity was created to be?" I'm hoping to hear your thoughts on all of these posts. Do you agree, disagree? What did they make you think? Am I as crazy as I appear? Also, if you have an idea for a future post or if you want to write a post in the future, just email me. I'd love to hear from you. This week's Song of the Week is "An Introduction" by David Ramirez. Hat tip to Mary Reynolds for suggesting this guy a few weeks ago. David is an indie/folk artist out of Austin, TX and this song has been blowing my mind for the past few days. I'll post the lyrics after the video. Peace, Ben
An Introduction by David Ramirez
I've stood in Roman cathedrals Prayed in Southern Baptist chapels I've never heard a voice so I ain't paying a penny more Tell me where to find the Lord They raised me on doughnuts and coffee Under fluorescent lights we watched outdated movies It smelled like a hospital but no one was being cured Tell me where to find the Lord Tell me where to find Tell me where to find the Lord How the hell am I supposed to knock on Heaven if I can't even see the door Tell me where to find the Lord So I traded in my pew for a bar stool Trying to find redemption in the mind of the youth We'd sit tall with our cigarettes and disheveled uniforms Oh I never, no I never saw the Lord My biggest fear in the world Is introducing myself in the grave After all my years living free I don't have much to say Oh the longer I live the more I know I'm gonna die And the more questions I have the less I want to try Time was winning so many times I stopped keeping score Tell me where to find the Lord You can find David Ramirez on Twitter @ramirezdavid and his website is www.davidramirezmusic.com. You can
follow Ben on Twitter @BenHoward87
or email him at benjamin.howard87 [at] gmail.com.
Also, you can subscribe to On Pop Theology via RSS feed or email at the top
right of the page.
The Song of the Week this week comes from a group that performed on the Tokens Show last Sunday night at the Ryman Auditorium. The band Johnnyswim is made up of the husband and wife team of Abner Ramirez and Amanda Sudano. Last Sunday they performed their song "Make" and it brought a tear to my eye and a hush over the audience. Here for your listening pleasure is "Make" by Johnnyswim.
Peace, Ben
You can find more info on Johnnyswim at their website and you can follow them on Twitter @JOHNNYSWIM.
You
can follow Ben on Twitter @BenHoward87
or email him at benjamin.howard87 [at] gmail.com.
Also, you
can subscribe to On Pop Theology via RSS feed or email on the top
right corner of the main page.
Happy weekend everybody! I hope you're all doing well and you're enjoying the last weekend before the official start of Holiday season. A few quick notes before we get to this week's Song of the Week. If you're in Nashville, or anywhere close to Nashville check out The Tokens Radio Show from the Ryman Auditorium on Sunday night. The show will include special guests Vince Gill, Brian McLaren, the Nashville choir, and a bunch of other people being all southern and radio-y. You can go here for tickets and more details. Here are the links to this week's articles as well:
Happy weekend everybody! I hope you're enjoying the beginning of November. In case you need to catch up this week, I've written about Ohio State and the Championship Myth, the NBA and why it's too easy to be critical, the great show Community and why the church should be weirder, sex and why the word "biblical" is dangerous and misused, and finally a piece on images of God including some images I've dismissed to my detriment. I hope you'll check those out and also I want to thank everybody who reads this blog. Some point today will mark the 50,000-pageview mark. I'm not sure what that means in context, but I appreciate all of you for reading this and I hope you've gotten something from it. It's easily been one of the most enjoyable and interesting experience I've ever had and I look forward to what will happen in the future. With further ado, this week's Song of the Week is Leonard Cohen's beautiful haunting masterpiece "Hallelujah" performed by four Swedish singers. Their names are Espen Lind, Askil Holm, Alejandro Fuentes, and Kurt Nilsen. It's a beautiful song, but this arrangement and these singers push it to a different level. You are in for a treat. Peace, Ben
You
can follow Ben on Twitter @BenHoward87
or email him at benjamin.howard87 [at] gmail.com.
Also, you
can subscribe to On Pop Theology via RSS feed or email on the top
right corner of the main page.
Happy weekend! It's the weekend before Halloween and that means everybody will be dressing up and going to parties. There will be lots of candy, someone will undoubtedly play the Monster Mash, and some girl you know will where a skimpy outfit with fake ears attached and call herself a cat. It'll be fun times everybody. In honor of this celebratory weekend, the Song of the Week is Tracy Jordan's hit novelty song "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah." In case you're totally confused, this is a throwaway gag from 30 Rock except Tracy Morgan and Donald Glover actually recorded an real version of this song. It's weird, it's funny, you'll enjoy it. One tip, they didn't film a new video for the song, so just ignore the visuals and listen to the words. Werewolf Bar Mitzvah. Spooky. Scary. Boys becoming men, men becoming wolves!\ Peace, Ben
You
can follow Ben on Twitter @BenHoward87
or email him at benjamin.howard87 [at] gmail.com.
Also, you
can subscribe to On Pop Theology via RSS feed or email on the top
right corner of the main page.
Happy weekend everybody! I've been experiencing a rap phase over the past two weeks so that's where we're going for the Song of the Week. This week's song is "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore from the new album The Heist. "Thrift Shop" is a ridiculous song (and video) about...well, it's about going to a thrift store. Good stuff. But Macklemore isn't a joke guy. After watching "Thrift Shop" check out "Same Love", "A Wake" and "Otherside". These are some of the best, most insightful and introspective lyrics I've heard in a really long time. These songs are worth your time and money. Peace, Ben
You
can follow Ben on Twitter @BenHoward87
or email him at benjamin.howard87 [at] gmail.com.
Also, you
can subscribe to On Pop Theology via RSS feed or email on the top
right corner of the main page.
by Ben Howard Good weekend everybody! I hope you've all had an awesome week because I know I have. This week we talked about the movie Pitch Perfect, as well as baseball, reality TV, and the documentary Hellbound. Then yesterday I introduced you to our series for next week about American and Christian identity, "Who We Are Instead". I hope you'll check out all the posts from this week. I'm Too Cool to Like Happy Things by Ben Howard Life is Like Baseball (and That Sucks) by Mitchell Richards Making Up Reality by Ian McLoud A Sermon on Hellbound by Adam Graham Who We Are Instead: An Introduction by Ben Howard This song of the week is "Give A Little Love" by Noah and the Whale from their album Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down. I first encountered this song in a montage on the show Cougar Town and it was just so beautiful and powerful that I've listened to it at least once a week for the last year or so. I hope you enjoy! Peace, Ben
You can follow Ben on Twitter @BenHoward87 or email him at benjamin.howard87 [at] gmail.com.
Also, you can subscribe to On Pop Theology via RSS feed or email on the top right corner of the main page.
Happy Saturday! I hope you've had a good week and I hope you're starting a good weekend.
I spent the first four days of this week going through all of the reasons you should or shouldn't vote and I hope that series has been useful and enlightening for you. I know I've learned a lot putting it together and it's really helped me gain perspective on the election.
We are always accepting submissions for On Pop Theology. Submissions should be 500 to 1000 words and we recommend that you write about any topic you actually enjoy. If you have any questions, you can follow Ben on Twitter @BenHoward87 or email him at benjamin.howard87 [at] gmail.com.
