entertainment as religion
"Media consultant Michael Wolfe said recently in the new Yorker, "I really believe entertainment in a lot of ways has become… a replacement for religion; in the same way people used to quote scripture, they’re now quoting Seinfeld."
from The Culturally Savvy Christian: A Manifesto for Deepening Faith and Enriching Popular Culture in an Age of Christianity-Lite by Dick Staub (p 4)
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Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
In an increasingly secularised society few people have a good working knowledge of the Bible. Yet a great deal of our culture is built on stories or ideas that come from the Bible. Literature, art, music, language and even the fabric of our society - such as our justice system - are built on Christian concepts and biblical references. The Writing on the Wall provides a fascinating introduction to the Bible's best-known, and most influential, stories. Each chapter gives some background to the text of the Bible, and shows how the stories have become enmeshed in Western culture. Adam and Eve, the ten plagues of Egypt, The Prodigal Son and Mary Magdalene all feature - along with how the Bible has influenced everyone from Shakespeare to Monty Python, and Caravaggio to Banksy. 
Giving It Up explores the Lenten idea of 'giving up', taking it beyond the traditional idea of simply abstaining from something, and suggesting instead that what we need to give up is our existing ideas about God. With a daily readings for each day of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, it follows the heroes of the Bible who had to give up their own too-small ideas about God.
This is Maggi’s bestselling book of daily readings for each day of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Advent is the beginning of the Church year, and marks the anticipation of the coming Messiah. These readings explore how beginnings and endings in our own lives are illuminated by the different Gospel narratives of Christ's coming.
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Is your picture of the Archbishops from their Cambridge visit? That looks like a dog collar Sentamu is wearing. And Mugabe is still president of Zimbabwe. What happened? Surely Sentamu hasn’t gone back on his public pledge not to wear a dog collar?
Hi Peter, top marks for eagle eye! this photo pre-dates the visit; the ABY is not currently wearing his collar. I am awaiting a download of the official AWTBI photos…
Excellent initiative, Maggi. (Hope you are well, btw. Long time no contact). I’ll do something on my blog and on Ekklesia about this, with links to yours.
On the issue: non-thought and knee-jerkery remain an inherent feature of modern life. Blogging reflects that. It also gives space for fresh voices, fresh perspectives and much thoughtfulness that would otherwise go unnoticed. My approach is to take the crap for granted, and try to focus on the blessings.
Old media types are still getting their knickers in a twist about blogging, Web 2.0 and beyond. But what is much more worrying to me than vitriol and junk in the blogosphere is the degeneration of standards of fairness and accuracy in the general media. Blaming it on “the need to be fast and first” won’t do. The problem is that large numbers of editors, in the words of one I pointed out a rather serious misrepresentation to recently, “don’t give a toss”. I value my NUJ membership, but I am sometimes despairing at the profession…