The latest movie with a Christian message, “Soul Surfer” debuted over the weekend with $11.1 million, beating out the star-studded film “Your Highness.” Though fourth at the box office, the inspirational film based on the true story of Bethany Hamilton had a higher per screen average than the weekend’s number one movie, Warner Bros.’ “Arthur.”... Continue Reading

Book Review: Vampire Defanged, The: How the Embodiment of Evil Became a Romantic Hero, Susannah Clements, April 1, 2011, Brazos Press Clements’ analysis requires an active reader who doesn’t mind thinking. This comes out further in that her conclusions are inevitably controversial….But for active, curious readers, Clements may be the most lucid, readable critic to... Continue Reading

If you’re looking for a man to be cast as the lead role in an action-packed Hollywood thriller don’t expect him to be an American, says Amanda Fortini. Because Americans raise weak and wimpy men Hollywood producers have no other choice than to look for Europeans or Australians. In a recent Details Magazine article titled,... Continue Reading

Radical by David Platt is one of the books that has been enjoying lots of word of mouth among American Calvinists since its release. When I had the opportunity to get a review copy, I took it. I wanted to read it to see what the buzz was about, and the topic interests me. “I... Continue Reading

I confess I read this book because of all the hoopla on the internet. John Piper hates it, Mark Driscoll wants to say how much he hates it but is tired of launching his enemies onto the New York Times bestsellers list so he talks about it without talking about it. People everywhere are talking... Continue Reading

If it’s true that a book takes on a life of its own, then each has a life story waiting to be told. So let the telling begin–starting with books that have sought the divine and rocked history, one soul at a time. That’s the ambitious idea behind the new Lives of Great Religious Books... Continue Reading

If you are looking for something new and trendy, this book isn’t it. Evangelism is as serious as the Gospel and as practical as a conversation. Dr. J.D. Payne is the Associate Professor of Church Planting and Evangelism and Director of the Center for North American Missions and Church Planting at SBTS. He was brand... Continue Reading

Hollywood has been hamstrung over the years trying to figure out how to portray faith in film. They appear to be successful only when the movie is set in the past, as with “Amazing Grace,” “Chariots of Fire,” or “A Trip to Bountiful.” There have been a few exceptions. Bethany Hamilton has an extraordinary story... Continue Reading

So, it’s the late fourth century, and you’re a British monk named Pelagius. You travel to Rome and are appalled by the low moral standards of the place. Maybe you’re stuffy, but you attribute the general air of laxity to Augustine, who believes man can attain perfection only through divine grace, not human effort. This... Continue Reading

The Adjustment Bureau, the film starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, presents an image of a world with a curious religious perspective that will annoy many and presumably inspire some. The film presents a world that functions much as Deism would suggest: one in which the plan of a very distant and normally uninvolved god... Continue Reading