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Liturgical Year Star Trek

Advent Antiphons in a Sci-Fi Key: Key of David (December 20)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine held viewers today accountable for working to make sure its vision of the future came to pass.

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Books Liturgical Year Movies

Advent Antiphons in a Sci-Fi Key: Flower of Jesse (December 19)

The Fremen longed for their Kwisatz Haderach. God’s people longed, and long, for a Savior. Will we welcome the unexpected Savior we receive?

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Books Liturgical Year

Advent Antiphons in a Sci-Fi Key: Lawgiver (December 18)

Isaac Asimov gave the world the Three Laws of Robotics. In Christ, God again gives us divine instruction for our lives.

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Liturgical Year Star Wars

Advent Antiphons in a Sci-Fi Key: Wisdom (December 17)

Obi-Wan Kenobi epitomizes “wisdom from on high” and prompts us to consider what truths to tell, when.

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Batman Television

Watching Animated Batman 30 Years Late: “On Leather Wings” (S1E1)

It’s a shame for a self-professed comic book superhero fan to confess it, but I’ve never watched Batman: The Animated Series. I think I saw at least part of one episode during the show’s original run, but it likely was not “On Leather Wings.” When the animated Batman series debuted 30 years ago, I was […]

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Worship and Preaching

The Monster at the Manger (Revelation 12)

Image: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/kan65hpg I’m convinced, among the other words it has to offer us, Revelation 12 has a powerful word to speak to us about “the Christmas story.” This year, I revisited John’s vision of a woman, her son, and a dragon for the third time. (I preached on this text for Marple Presbyterian Church a […]

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Books Star Wars

Book Review: Secrets of the Force

The first movie I ever saw in a theater was Star Wars, at some point during its original, nearly year-long run (in some places, even longer). My parents took me for what might have been my fifth but what was more likely my sixth birthday, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Though my attention […]

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Movies Star Trek

Star Trek II Minutes 4-7

I remember reading, in one of those old Best of Trek paperback volumes, a fan expressing his or her displeasure with the martial atmosphere of Star Trek II. “What terrible disasters must have happened,” this fan asked, “to have caused Starfleet to become so militaristic overnight?” I’m paraphrasing the question (my Best of Trek books […]

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Movies Star Trek

“We Encoded Four Minutes” – Star Trek II, Four Minutes at a Time

In 2012, I blogged a short series for The Sci-Fi Christian called “Thirty Things to Love About Star Trek II.” It “counted down” to the 30th anniversary of the release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, still my favorite Star Trek film and one of my favorite movies overall. Next year, a decade […]

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Books Mythology

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

Everything I remember about the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur comes from the hours I spent in middle school playing the board game By Jove (apparently long out of print and, when in nicer condition than the set I still own, worth quite a bit of money).  In that game, the Labyrinth is a […]