Kathryn Lofton

Carlin needed a God, wanted a God, but how could the Almighty be all-powerful if “everything he ever makes… dies”?

Was Michael Jackson a supernatural magician or an icon of self-immolation? Both? The physical body is gone, the musical productivity has ceased, the capacity to speak for himself is no more, so now MJ is a wonderfully ambiguous figment of our imagination. Three religion scholars discuss the life, legend, meaning, and myth of one of the world’s most talented, successful, and perhaps tortured performers.

The Rev. Wright controversy begs the question: Has “The Black Church” outgrown its usefulness?