essays

[Included in The Sacred Way by Tony Jones, Zondervan, 2004]

The first thing we sense about an icon is its great seriousness. Compare an icon in your mind a great Western religious painting, one that moves you to deeper faith or even to tears. You’ll notice that there is a difference in the *way* it moves you, however. A Western painting—which is undeniably going to be more accomplished in terms of realism, perspective, lighting, anatomy, and so forth—moves us in our imaginations and our emotions. We engage with it like we do a movie or a story.

Click to read more ...

[National Review Online, November 22, 2004]

A few years ago I was browsing in a thrift shop and came across a curious volume titled "Ideal Marriage: Its Physiology and Technique." What's that got to do with "Kinsey," the new film about sex researcher Alfred Kinsey? We'll get to that in a minute.

First, let's look this specimen over merely in terms of its cinematic qualities, and set aside the sexual content. If this was a biography of any research scientist, we'd surely give it a solid A for visuals: costumes, lighting, props, cinematography, all contribute to a rich sense of environment and mood.

Click to read more ...

[Today's Christian, Nov/Dec 2004] 

Q. The Bible tells us to serve. I have a friend who is having some difficult times. How do I know when to help and when to let God teach her through the circumstances?

Click to read more ...

[National Review Online, November 18, 2004]

Somebody, somewhere, hates imagination. In some Dickensian institution where children wear lace-up boots and stare glumly at their porridge, a wicked, wrinkled figure reflects gleefully that they will never hear of talking animals and flying ships. We know that such a killjoy must exist, because "Finding Neverland" is so heroically opposed to him. Throughout the film beautiful figures keep imploring us to welcome the liberating power of imagination, and they must be talking to *somebody*. I attended a screening for movie critics, and these tend to be more hard-boiled than most, but I still didn't spot anyone shaking his fist at the screen like Snidely Whiplash. I did eventually hear someone gently snoring.

Click to read more ...

[National Review Online, November 9, 2004]

If you're of a certain age, when you hear the name "Alfie" a song immediately starts up in your head. You might even be able to sing mentally through the entire theme (though for some of us it veers into a part where Tom Jones is going "wo, wo wo," and then there's a verse about Georgy Girl). But the line you remember for sure is, "What's it all about, Alfie?" In other words, What is the meaning of life? Is it only about pleasure? Does "life belong only to the strong"? What about that "old Golden Rule"? Wo, wo wo?

Click to read more ...

[National Review Online, November 8, 2003]

How do you make a kids' movie that adults can stand to watch - and watch over and over again, once it comes out on video? One approach is to load it with references to pop culture, so everyone can feel fashionably knowing. But five years later those same refs will be unfashionable, and in a couple of decades incomprehensible. Or you could go for plenty of gross stuff, bathroom jokes and double-entendres. That might amuse the less mature segments of the grownup audience, but it wears mighty thin on repetition, and makes responsible parents uncomfortable.

Is there any solution? Well, how about an enthralling plot, compelling characters, genuine humor, and a stirring message? It's so crazy it just might work.

Click to read more ...