a review of religion and media
Rowan Moore Gerety Few countries offer more fertile ground for a gospel of health and wealth than Mozambique, a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Brazilian media tycoon Edir Macedo and his pageant-loving preachers. Continue Reading →
On Wednesday, May 25th, Oprah ended her daytime television show after 25 years. No gifts nor guests graced her final broadcast. God and Jo Piazza were watching.
by Jo Piazza
For an hour last Wednesday afternoon Oprah Winfrey stood center stage in her Chicago studio, no guests, no surprises, no free cars—just Oprah.
If you’ve ever doubted that Oprah has spent the past 25 years cultivating a ministry of O, Wednesday’s finale of her long running talk show should have convinced you otherwise.
“Everybody has a calling. Everybody is called. My great wish for all of you is that you carry what you are supposed to be doing forward. Start embracing the light that is calling you and use your light to serve the world,” were among the sentiments Winfrey preached, heavy on the eye contact, in what can only be described as divine lighting that can make a 57 year old woman’s skin look so smooth. “You’re responsible for the energy you create for yourself and the energy you give to others.”
I was perhaps more sensitive to looking at Oprah through the lens of religious experience than I would have been on an average Wednesday, having recently finished Kathryn Lofton’s Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon. Continue Reading →
On Wednesday, May 25th, Oprah ended her daytime television show after 25 years. No gifts nor guests graced her final broadcast. God and Jo Piazza were watching.
by Jo Piazza
For an hour last Wednesday afternoon Oprah Winfrey stood center stage in her Chicago studio, no guests, no surprises, no free cars—just Oprah.
If you’ve ever doubted that Oprah has spent the past 25 years cultivating a ministry of O, Wednesday’s finale of her long running talk show should have convinced you otherwise.
“Everybody has a calling. Everybody is called. My great wish for all of you is that you carry what you are supposed to be doing forward. Start embracing the light that is calling you and use your light to serve the world,” were among the sentiments Winfrey preached, heavy on the eye contact, in what can only be described as divine lighting that can make a 57 year old woman’s skin look so smooth. “You’re responsible for the energy you create for yourself and the energy you give to others.”
I was perhaps more sensitive to looking at Oprah through the lens of religious experience than I would have been on an average Wednesday, having recently finished Kathryn Lofton’s Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon. Continue Reading →
On Wednesday, May 25th, Oprah ended her daytime television show after 25 years. No gifts nor guests graced her final broadcast. God and Jo Piazza were watching.
by Jo Piazza
For an hour last Wednesday afternoon Oprah Winfrey stood center stage in her Chicago studio, no guests, no surprises, no free cars—just Oprah.
If you’ve ever doubted that Oprah has spent the past 25 years cultivating a ministry of O, Wednesday’s finale of her long running talk show should have convinced you otherwise.
“Everybody has a calling. Everybody is called. My great wish for all of you is that you carry what you are supposed to be doing forward. Start embracing the light that is calling you and use your light to serve the world,” were among the sentiments Winfrey preached, heavy on the eye contact, in what can only be described as divine lighting that can make a 57 year old woman’s skin look so smooth. “You’re responsible for the energy you create for yourself and the energy you give to others.”
I was perhaps more sensitive to looking at Oprah through the lens of religious experience than I would have been on an average Wednesday, having recently finished Kathryn Lofton’s Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon. Continue Reading →
It’s an old lesson: God rewards the enterprising. And that’s the case that several Market Masters, including Goldman Sach’s shameless leader Lloyd Blankenfein, who proclaimed sketchy trading practices as “God’s work,” have successfully made since Wall Street pushed the national economy into a pit some 18 months ago. I say successfully because, despite ample commentary about the travesties of current trading methods and the decline of Wall Street’s popularity among some segments of the public, there doesn’t seem to be enough popular anti-Wall Street sentiment to force necessary government regulation (if government can’t regulate corporations, via public impetus, who can?). We’re still in thrall to the mythology that market regulation is antithetical to America’s premise. Free markets, innovation and yes, God’s reward, all inform our long-time approach to unfettered capitalism. Continue Reading →
“You have to change with the times,” says megachurch pastor Joel Osteen. “If Jesus were here he’d change with the times. He couldn’t ride around on a donkey. He’d drive Continue Reading →