popular culture

It’s spooky season again, the time of year when we’re drawn to horror ; when The Great Pumpkin arrives to teach us how to live with the blockheads ; when the pagan outrage machine is fired up; and…

In the fall of 2014, Mark Driscoll resigned from his position as pastor of Mars Hill Church, a multi-campus megachurch in and around the Seattle area. Boasting membership in the thousands, Mars Hill…

The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, a Christianity Today podcast hosted by Mike Cosper, begins with the query—”Who Killed Mars Hill?” This first episode ends by answering its own question, “we all did it…

Willa Cather is so associated with the Nebraska prairie’s expanse, depicted in novels like O Pioneers! and My Ántonia, that it’s disorienting to imagine her living in hilly industrial Pittsburgh at…

This year marks the tenth anniversary of The Book of Mormon the musical on Broadway. If this show were an actual Mormon, a tenth is what would be given away as a tithe to God. Thanks to the pandemic…

Everyone knows Britney Spears. Her talent, popularity, and struggles with mental illness are ubiquitous. A widely celebrated artist dubbed “The Princess of Pop,” Spears has five No. 1 singles and six…

If you’re a progressive American who strives to keep up with the world of news and punditry, I’d wager real money you’ve never thought to yourself, “You know what sort of writer the New York Times…

Still looking for a fun and exciting summer activity? Have you thought about ghost hunting? I earned my PhD studying ghost hunters in the contemporary United States. Ghost hunters are people, often…

It is perhaps not too much of an exaggeration to say that after Michael Jerryson no one will ever look at Buddhism the same way. Others have written about Buddhist violence and warfare, of course, but…

“A big problem with all this over the years is that pilots and others have seen things which just don’t add up, but have been afraid to share that information for fear that they would be laughed out…