George Clooney Holding a Pug and the Best Things You'll Read All Week

by Ben Howard
 
Reads of the Week

1) I Am Damaged Goods by Sarah Bessey
"If true love waits, I heard, then I have been disqualified from true love."

2) Teenage Girl Blossoming Into Beautiful Object by The Onion
"According to Parker’s relatives, in the span of 14 months, the high school junior underwent a staggering metamorphosis from a young girl with thoughts, feelings, and aspirations into a truly stunning commodity."

3) Dan and Me: My Coming Out as a Friend of Dan Cathy and Chick-Fil-A by Shane L. Windmeyer
"Like most LGBT people, I was provoked by Dan's public opposition to marriage equality and his company's problematic giving history. I had the background and history on him, so I thought, and had my own preconceived notions about who he was. I knew this character. No way did he know me. That was my view. But it was flawed."

4) What It Will Really Take To Bring Down the Cult of Virginity by David Sessions
"I’m all for religious believers having a well-considered theological sexual ethic, and am happy to hear the crazy, often abusive virginity cult being questioned. But for all the talk about it and apparent desire to appear edgy, there sure isn’t much bold questioning going on."

5) The Quinoa Craze: The Occasional Problem with Buying Better Food by Jewel Evans
"But there’s a sad, little-known fact about this whole-food item: the people that grow the crop can’t afford to eat it anymore."

Honorable Mention

I Don't Believe in Grace by Lyndsey Graves

Why Some Churches Shouldn't Expect Volunteers by Amy Simpson

R.A. Dickey Helps Fight India Sex Trade via ESPN
  
Line of the Week

"Giroud then pulled a Gauloises out of his well-coiffed hair, donned a jet pack powered by his own ennui, and flew off to "bring a deeper knowledge of existence to those who suffer, through … eh, what is a word in your language that means 'not helping'? We have so many in my language."" - From About Last Night: Silence of the Nets

On Pop Theology Week in Review

Bad Music Theology: "Scream and Shout" by Will.I.Am (feat. Britney Spears)
An overly interpretive theological reading of the pop song that makes it out to be way deeper than you assumed.

On Perspective (or, Why It Matters That 200 Million People Won't Watch The Super Bowl)
Tomorrow I'll watch the Super Bowl with one-third of America and I have no idea what the other two-thirds will be doing.

The Fiction/Non-Fiction Divide, Part I: This Film is Based on a True-ish Story
It's a true story that never really happened. The Mythical Autobiography of Sebastian Faust.

The Fiction/Non-Fiction Divide, Part II: A Million Odd Cups of Tea and Consequences
If an author is discredited in a forest, does he still make a sound?

Song of the Week

"One Day" by Matisyahu

Peace,
Ben

You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology. 

Contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com.

The Week In Review and the Song of the Week: "Holy Blood" by Alabama 3

by Ben Howard

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!

Peace,
Ben

You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology.

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.
  

The Week In Review and the Song of the Week: "Justice Delivers Its Death" by Sufjan Stevens

by Ben Howard

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:

Peace,
Ben

You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology.

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

The Week in Review and the Song of the Week: "Topeka" by Ludo

by Ben Howard

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".

Peace,
Ben

You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology.

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.