This essay is excerpted from The Bad Catholic’s Guide to Good Living (2005), which remains an excellent Christmas gift (hint, hint). If you think Mexican politics are raucous now, you should have been there in the 16th century. Before the Spanish arrived, the warlike Aztec Empire based in Tenochtitlan held the neighboring nations in … Read more
As we begin Advent, the Church confronts us with Jesus’ teaching about the Second Coming. His disturbing warning is well-known in our post-Protestant culture: As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and … Read more
I’ve been thinking a lot about the literature list and the categories I’d proposed, and I’ve come to a possible problem. See, in addition to what we’ve considered, there’s the whole problem of whether a work is: Christian in general (the Narnia series, Hind’s Feet on High Places), Catholic in particular (Lord of the Rings; The … Read more
Two years ago, Todd created a schema for discussing Christian Art that I’ve found very useful, even as I’ve made some adjustments to it. Todd originally suggested: Category one: Directly Christian works. This category comprises works of art that have the mysteries of the Faith as their direct subject; eg Christ the Lord or “The … Read more
About ten years ago, I mentioned to a Catholic friend that I was starting to work on a book critiquing the Left Behind novels. I explained that it would thoroughly examine premillennial dispensationalism, the unique apocalyptic belief system presented, in fictional format, within those books. Premillennial dispensationalism teaches that the “Rapture” and the Second Coming … Read more
Gov. Mike Huckabee will be a major player in the run for the GOP presidential nomination regardless of whether he finishes first or second in the Iowa Caucus. As in Iowa, Evangelical voters will undergird his efforts in Michigan (Jan 18), South Carolina (Jan 26), and Florida (Jan 29). Huckabee, however, will need Catholic voters … Read more