Jonathan Ryan's Blog, page 76

Ghost Bear Ramblings: Finding the Wolf

(In celebration of the beauty of creation, I’ve asked my friend, world renowned environmentalist, Simon Jackson nd his fiancee crazy talented wildlife photographer, Jill Cooper,  to share some of their amazing wildlife experiences here on The Rogue. This will be a weekly feature. Enjoy!) I think I’m crazy. Certainly Jill thinks I’m nuts. My parents [Read More...]

Slender Man and the Need for Sacramental Horror

(Yesterday, the nation was horrified at the near murder of a young girl by her twelve year old companions. The girl stumbled out of the woods with fifteen stab wounds. When the police arrested the two culprits, they told the officers that “they wanted to become servants of Slender Man ”.  As you might expect, this sent my fellow [Read More...]

Fangirl Rave: An Homage to The Hollows by Kim Harrison

Warning!  Raving fangirl sentimentality incoming! Ten years.  Has it really been?  A decade ago, I was cruising the aisles of my local brick and mortar bookstore, waiting for something to jump out at me, when a single, lonely copy of a book by an author I had never heard of caught my eye.  Kim Harrison’s [Read More...]

Death Comes to us all: Interview with David Ury

(David Ury is an actor, writer and magna specialist. His most famous role was being crushed to death by an ATM on Breaking Bad. We here at the Rogue loved that show, so we jumped at the chance to read Everybody Dies, the book he wrote with Ken Tanaka (are they the same person? Hmmm). Yeah, it’s [Read More...]

The Gospel Fragmentation: Evangelical Rebels without a Clue

Recently, the Protestant word has been rocked with controversies involving a number of significant figures. Mark Driscoll, de facto leader of the “young, restless, and reformed” crowd, has been caught plagiarizing, buying book sales, and being a questionable leader in his church. Over at the Gospel Coalition, a horrendous public split is taking place between Tullian [Read More...]

The Most Underappreciated Work of Fantasy Ever – THE SILMARILLION – Part 3 of 4

There’s a Silmarillion movie in this post…  What?  A Silmarillion movie?? Read on, Middle Earth wayfarer… In Part 1, The Silmarillion was praised and placed in its rightful place as one of the great works of literature. In Part 2, Lord of the Rings fans were tantalized with some of the deep back stories that [Read More...]

Living in a World Where “Nobody Says Hi Anymore” – A Review of J. Shepard Trott’s Novella

I hear feet. Sprinting feet. They are coming down the main street, they haven’t seen me…They are naked. They are dirty everywhere but around their mouths, where their tongues clean a circle. The only mess around their mouths is blood, which is mostly between their teeth with small flecks like freckles on their faces…Their bodies [Read More...]

Joy in a Game Show: Interview with Jeff Foxworthy and Kirk Franklin

When I first started church ministry, I wore a tie to work. My elders and I wanted to convey to people that “I was a serious theologian doing serious things for Jesus”. My time as a Presbyterian minister was defined by that ideal. This attitude led to self righteous pomposity taking root in my soul. [Read More...]

Brain Massage: The Mysterious Phenomenon of ASMR

Imagine this, if you will. I’m in a first grade class. We just did a bunch of math problems and the teacher sends around one student with an answer key and red pen to check everyone’s work. As the student reaches me, she picks up my sheet, which makes a light crinkling sound. I don’t [Read More...]

Sci-Fi Gospel: Pope Francis, Aliens and Jesus.

The media world exploded yesterday when Pope Francis announced the Catholic Church would baptize aliens, if any ever asked.  Reaction ranged from the amused detachment of the Daily Mail to subtle mockery from the Internet news site, The Daily Beast. It is important to note that Pope Francis used aliens as a funny illustration. He [Read More...]