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Jane Lampman of The Christian Science Monitor writes today about what she calls “rapturist” theology, and she clearly grasps most of the subtexts as Christians debate how Jesus will return to Earth.
There’s an old saying that whatever is happening in contemporary Christian music is usually a photocopy of whatever was happening in the real world — mainstream music — a year or two earlier. I’m beginning to think that the same thing happens with the elite media and trends on the conservative side of the aisle in religion news.
There is nothing that can be added to this report, other than a massive cheer (and a sign of relief).
Imagine the better sense of goodwill that might now extend to The Passion of the Christ if Mel Gibson had talked even two hours per week in recent months with print journalists who know how to ask thoughtful questions. Diane Sawyer did about as well as one might hope for from a TV celebrity who’s famous for lobbing softball questions to people who are famous for being famous — or, in the case of Gibson, asking skeptical but poorly formed questions in an effort at being a tough interviewer.
After looking at the tape more carefully, I have a somewhat more nuanced view (cue: lofty NPR background music) of Diane Sawyer’s PrimeTime special with Mel Gibson. She did not wrinkle her nose in disdain nearly as much as I thought she did.
As I stated early on, Doug and I will try not to turn this into a blog about “The Passion of the Christ” in the next few days. However, this whole blogging thing has me curious about what interests readers and what does not.
It’s hard not to think of Dr. James Davison Hunter when reading the Los Angeles Times Magazine’s lengthy piece on Catholic traditionalists. Hunter is the sociologist who wrote “Culture Wars,” an influential book a decade or so ago that claimed to have found the dividing line in America’s moral and religious battles over sex and salvation and lots of other things.
Compared to Newsweek‘s cover story, Entertainment Weekly‘s “The Agony & the Ecstasy” is the very model of shoe-leather journalism. Author Jeff Jensen, denied access to a screening of The Passion of the Christ or interviews with director Mel Gibson and star Jim Caviezel, spoke with more than two dozen other people, both defenders and critics of Gibson’s film.
There is much to recommend in the “Who Really Killed Jesus?” cover story in the Feb. 16 Newsweek. It contains a wealth of information and weaves together the major themes in this media storm.
