Jun 14, 2005

Now concerning the love of brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another . . .
                                  1 Thessalonians 4:9

I remember the quiet summer night when things changed between my neighbor John and me. We were sitting on his front steps, having a beer, watching our children run up and down the sidewalk, which was our usual routine as we waited for our spouses to come home. We were sitting there talking about nothing, when he ventured into new territory.

Like any Catholic college, mine boasts an ethic of sexual abstinence for students, does not allow any form of birth control to be distributed on campus, and has same-sex residence halls that post visiting hours for members of the opposite sex. Yet most students will tell you, if asked in the right setting, that there is a gap between the ideal and the reality when it comes to sex.

Theology geeks with whom I’ve discussed the NBC miniseries Revelations are usually indignant that it does not engage in a scholarly, historically aware study of the book of Revelation.

Thousands of medieval Christians answer the spiritual call of the pope, take up arms, and travel to the Holy Land to defend the faith against a barbaric and militaristic Muslim foe. The war is bloody, and over time Jerusalem is won, then lost again—but the spread of Islam into Christendom is halted.

We all know the story of the Crusades. Or do we?

In creating Revenge of the Sith, the third (chronologically) and final (cinematically) installment in the six-film Star Wars saga, George Lucas confronted a writing challenge unprecedented in movie history. Not only was he required to answer the questions and resolve the problems raised in The Phantom Menace (1999) and Attack of the Clones (2002), but he had to conclude the film in such a way that it could lead seamlessly into the first episode of the original trilogy—a film that was released 28 years ago.