Faded Bit of Papyrus Refers to Jesus’ Wife. Trust me, TLC is going to have a field day with this; I can already envision the two hour special. “The notion that Jesus had a wife was the central conceit of the best seller and movie “The Da Vinci Code.” But Dr. King said she wants nothing to do with the code or its author: “At least, don’t say this proves Dan Brown was right.”
A Coach, His Quarterback, and Painkillers. This article examines some of the dirty underside of college football; a culture that celebrates toughness and winning at all costs. It also highlights the levelheadedness of Missouri QB James Franklin and his family.
“Guys are medicating themselves and running into 300-pound people, and now your body is numb to it, and then after your career is over it comes back at you and you can’t even spend time with your families because your body’s breaking down,” said Willie Franklin. “So one of the things we want to do in our family is look after ourselves, stay healthy. It’s self-preservation. There is life after sports. One day you want to have a family and enjoy your kids so you look after yourself. You take care of yourself. So any decision he makes, I support him 100 percent.”
The Christian Celebrity Phenomenon. Tim Challies has some interesting critique here.
Christian celebrity comes when we assume that the songwriter must be a noteworthy teacher, that the YouTube phenom is worthy of our pulpit, and that the guy who sells so many books must be able to craft a sermon on any topic or any text. Merit in one isolated field convinces us that this person has earned the right to every other platform. When we do this we have elevated not on the basis of merit, but of celebrity.
The American Propensity to Celebrity Culture. Following the death of John Stott, Carl Truman wrote about the celebrity culture within evangelical Christianity. In light of Challie’s contribution above, we are well to consider Truman’s critique:
critical appreciation seems to be a lost art these days. My suspicion is that this derives from the rather effeminate nature of modern culture where we regard any criticism as deeply personal and a fundamental attack on character. Add to this the American cultural proclivity of investing unreasonably huge amounts of hope and expectation in single individuals and you have a powerful sedative which will dull the senses to matters of real concern.
