Critic Cal

early one morning Life surprised us, as promised; a second first day. The occurrence of the Resurrection ‘on the first day of the week’ (see, e.g., Matthew 28 ) suggests a parallel with the Genesis 1 creation account. Many Christians understand it as the beginning of New Creation, the ‘now and not yet’ fulfilment of God’s promise to deliver Israel and, ultimately, humankind. But although the promise can be traced throughout the Hebrew scriptures (which have been retrospectively interpreted with Jesus’ life and death and life in mind), that first Easter morning was not necessarily what those hoping and waiting had thought they were hoping and waiting for. Even Jesus’ disciples — whom he had explicitly prepared for the event (see, e.g.,  Mark 8:31 ) – were taken by surprise. As for me … Lent is never long enough, or I am never quite intentional enough in observing it, so that Easter always seems to come ‘too early’. Then again, I’m not sure that I ever could (or am supposed...

I watched in spellbound horror as the fragile thread by which this turbulent, treacherous, tormented, temporal world precariously dangles ... -snapped- ... and the whole thing came crashing down in a pandemonium of light, glitter, smoke, leopard print, automatic gun-fire, luggage, canine skeletons, and virtuosic violining. And then we went to Wagamama's. Kneehigh  theatre company's  Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and Other Love Songs)  [1] is an immense tragicomic rollercoaster of satirical mayhem, beautifully crafted with a searing, seamlessly genre-fusing score (dubstep, ska, metal, classical, you name it), superb musical and theatrical performances, and all manner of impressive choreography, puppetry and set work. It charts the fate of a town embroiled in the self-serving schemes of wealthy pilchard magnate Peachum and his malevolent genius of a wife (an hilarious stage turn by scene-stealer Rina Fatania). Not that the inhabitants themselves are innocent victims --...

I take great issue with the pseudo-scriptural aphorism "cleanliness is next to godliness". Whatever its original intent, it sounds too much like something a prim and disapproving well-to-do would utter disdainfully in the presence of a small, grubby child or a dishevelled 'vagrant'. Whereas, when you look at what the Bible actually says, there turns out to be a good deal more affirmation than there is reproach for such persons: And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. ( Mark 10 :13-16) Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs ...

[NOTE: I just stumbled on  this article  by physicist and priest  John Polkinghorne  which explains everything I'm trying to say below, but better and with all the right credentials...So go away and read that, and if you are at a loose end afterwards rejoin me for my attempts to prove that I am perfectly amenable to a spot of popular culture after all, if somewhat determined to drag it through a theological hedge backwards.] Old  Cliff 's old classic seemed creepy enough to me [1]  before I discovered (that is, was forcibly encouraged to discover) ' Dollhouse ' -- Joss Whedon's playfully poignant (prematurely cancelled) existential sci-fi about programming people to spec. The premise is pretty stirringly dark: a shady operation hiring out good-looking persons ('actives') who have been imprinted with designed-to-order psyches for all manner of purposes, ranging from romantic liaisons (of varying degrees of depravity) and complex criminal dealings ...