Jonathan Ryan's Blog, page 55
July 10, 2016
Dark Devotional: Who is My Neighbor?
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with [Read More...]
July 7, 2016
When White People Worship Death, Black People Die.
How does a white person write about what’s going on in our country with the epidemic of the shooting of black men by police officers? With the latest shootings in Minnesota of Philando Castile and Alton Sterlingin Baton Rouge, I feel overwhelmed and inadequate to the task. How do I express my grief and [Read More...]
July 5, 2016
Richard Beck Would Like to Introduce You to the Devil
In his new book, Reviving Old Scratch: Demons and the Devil for Doubters and the Disenchanted, psychologist and professor Richard Beck describes a personal encounter with the devil: “I didn’t smell brimstone or see a horned shadow on the floor. But I do recall, in a way that haunts me to this day, love crashing [Read More...]
July 4, 2016
Interview with a Drunk Ex-Pastor
About a year ago, as I was growing more and more disillusioned with the reflection of Christianity in American culture, I discovered a podcast called Drunk Ex-Pastors. Christian Kingery and Jason Stellman both grew out of that American version of Christianity, which is, at its best, simple and shallow; at its worst, toxic. Stellman [Read More...]
June 30, 2016
Dark Devotional: In Search of a Mothering God
A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. thus says the LORD: Lo, I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent. As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms,and fondled in her lap; As a mother comforts her child,so will I comfort [Read More...]
June 29, 2016
Things Keeping Us Alive, June Edition
Time to set our sights on what is amazing, what gives us joy – however small – in our daily grind. This shouldn’t be so difficult. Yet ennui is real. And overcoming it, even temporarily, is necessary. Hence our monthly post, Things Keeping Us Alive. It’s a goofy list, yet it’s important for all of [Read More...]
June 26, 2016
Destroy the Walls: Modest Proposals for a Renewed Catholic (and Christian) Literary Imagination
A few weeks ago, a friend called me a “blue collar writer” and then backtracked a bit, thinking he’d offended me. I smiled and said I took it as a compliment. I do. I didn’t major in English, nor did I get my MFA. The model for my writing career is my grandfather, who [Read More...]
June 21, 2016
Adventures in Popular Piety: Confession
There has always been something unappealingly puritanical to me about getting up early. It’s so Midwestern.I’m a native of a strange territory, Southeastern Louisiana,where people like to stay up late and sleep past sunrise. Like my mother, I thrive in the late night and need a good 10 hours of unbroken sleep to function. Of [Read More...]
June 19, 2016
Weird Things Happened on the Set of The Conjuring
(As a part of The Conjuring coverage, we’re republishing this article from The Rogue about some of the weird stuff that happened on the set of the first movie.) One of the cool things that came out of the press junket is that some pretty weird things happened to the cast and crew of The [Read More...]
June 17, 2016
Dark Devotional: Grief as Treason
“On that day the mourning in Jerusalem shall be as great as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.” —Zechariah 12:11 While I was visiting my childhood church in Texas recently, I ran into an old friend. It’s been the year of family crises beginning with my dad’s cancer diagnosis last July, [Read More...]
