essays

[Today's Christian, November-December 2003]

Q. I'm a new Christian, but I still have some sins in my life that I am having a hard time getting away from. I keep trying but I feel like a failure to God and to myself every time I stumble. How do others in my situation handle this' How does God look upon people who love him and know better, but still trip along the way' --

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[Our Sunday Visitor, October 26, 2003]

When a movie is set in South Carolina and involves a racial theme, I get my dukes up. I grew up in Charleston, and I'm well aware of sad history, but I've seen too many stories in which every character with a Southern accent is turned into a cloven-hoofed monster, for the sake of dramatic tension.

My dukes got mighty tired during the course of 'Radio,' as almost every character with a Southern accent treated Cuba Gooding's character with respect, affection, even big bear hugs.

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[Today's Christian, September-October 2003]

Q. May Christians participate in state or private lotteries? Will such an act bring dishonor to Jesus Christ? --M.J.K., Republic of Seychelles

A. Lotteries raise a host of related questions. Should Christians ever get involved in something decided by chance? Do you buy a lottery ticket, hoping to win the Daily Million' What about tossing a coin to see if you should take that job in Chicago? Is it OK to play bingo, if it's sponsored by a church?

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[Essay included in "The Church in the Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives,"
Leonard Sweet, editor (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003)]

This book contains five essays on the question of the Church’s engagement with culture, and to what extent we should change, or preserve, its message and its method. This essay was my contribution.

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Why is this essay written in question and answer format?

It is intended to reference the penultimate section of James Joyce’s "Ulysses." This section, called "Ithaca," concerns a late-night conversation between Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus. It is cast in the form of a series of objective, impersonal questions and answers, for example, "What seemed to the host to be the predominant qualities of his guest?"

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[Our Sunday Visitor, October 26, 2003]

School of Rock

Take a good look at those rolling eyebrows'you're going to be seeing them for a long time. In 'School of Rock' Jack Black inhabits his character, Dewey Finn, with such appealing manic energy that there's no question a comic star is born.

What makes Black such a winner' Probably his startling lack of self-consciousness.

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