Arts+Culture

Arts+Culture

We Are the Eighth Day, © Melanie Weidner

Music

Up Like the Clouds

by Dubl Handi

Up Like the Clouds by Dubl Handi

May 09, 2013 reviewed by Steve Thorngate

Banjo player Hilary Hawke has displayed her fine chops and deep folk foundations in several ensembles. Here she pares things down to a duo, but the sound isn’t all that spare.

On Art

A Mind of Winter, by Madeleine Avirov

May 09, 2013 reviewed by Lil Copan

"I am not strictly a realist,” says Los Angeles artist Madeleine Avirov. “Where traditional oil painting is mostly about exteriors, speaking to us by way of what it refers to rather than by the way in which it envisages, I have, since childhood, been driven by a faith in the mysterious forces that allow me to enter my subjects. To be present, in other words, to other modes of being. The goal is not only to show  ‘things,’ but also the soul of the thing, whatever it is in the middle ground that makes us go toward this thing and not that. Some of the works read like hallucinations—real and unreal together, some elements way out of normal scale.”

In the World

The other reason people are ignoring Jason Collins's faith

May 08, 2013 by Steve Thorngate

I keep seeing T. F. Charlton's Jason Collins post everywhere, and with good reason:

Tim Tebow is an example of how the public face of Christian athletes, like the public face of American Christianity in general, is overwhelmingly white—despite the fact that black Americans are the racial demographic most likely to identify as “very religious.” A recent Barna poll found that Tebow is by far the most well-known Christian professional athlete in the U.S. (with 83% awareness from the public), with retired white quarterback Kurt Warner a distant second at 59%. Robert Griffin III (RGIII), a black quarterback who’s had a far more successful season with the Redskins than Tebow’s had with the Jets, trailed at 34%.

It's a good point, but I don't think it's the whole story.

Then and Now

Followers, friends and faith in the digital age

May 08, 2013 by Edward J. Blum

The digital age is changing not only the words we use but also their meanings. Have you noticed, for instance, that “Christ follower” is replacing “born again” and “evangelical”? Take a moment to peruse the list of who Rick Warren follows on Twitter.

Books

Flight Behavior

by Barbara Kingsolver

Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver

May 06, 2013 reviewed by Trudy Bush

On her way to a desperate assignation, an unhappy wife and mother is stopped in her tracks by a miracle: a mountain ablaze with color and motion, a fire without heat or sound. “Unearthly beauty had appeared to her, a vision of glory to stop her in the road.” Dellarobia thinks that “the burning trees were put here to save her.”