Podcast Recommendation

I wanted to give a "shout-out" to a new podcast that is taking a look at a genre that many Evangelical Christians are very wary of, to say the least.

A spin-off from More Than One Lesson, the podcast The Fear of God is a show that analyzes the horror genre from a Christian point of view. Hosts Reed Lackey and Nathan Rouse plan to look mostly at movies, but have mentioned that TV and comic books could eventually be discussed, as well. The first few episodes includes coverage of the movie Devil, and discussion of the Conjuring films is coming up soon.

I am not a fan of horror, but I am looking forward to listening to the discussions of horror that this show will bring. Check out their show for a weekly dose of the scary stuff.

Kickstarter: Insomniac Folklore

One of our favorite bands, Insomniac Folklore, has a Kickstarter campaign going! The link to the campaign is here. As of this post, they are 45% funded, with more than a week to go. They have a range of great premiums available, although the homemade cookies are all gone!

They are describing their new album as "apocalyptic," although I doubt the album will be all that dark. They are from Portland, for crying out loud. Their website described the band as: "lovable hooligans that would probably be considered offensive, if only they weren’t so darned cute." Did we mention that band includes Wallace the Musical Sheep?

We saw the band at Audiofeed this year, and chatted with them for a while after their show. They are some of the nicest people around.

Podcast #007 - Kingdom Come

"It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's A Podcast Crossover!"

In this episode, we continue a conversation that began on episode 243 of Michael Bailey's Views From the Longbox podcast. Over there, we covered the basic comic-book stuff in Alex Ross and Mark Waid's 1996 graphic novel "Kingdom Come."

In this episode, the three of us talk about the spiritual and religious aspects of the comics. We cover Reverend McKay's pastoral style, whether Superman should be presented as an analog of Jesus or of Moses, and whether an atomic bomb could really create a mushroom cloud in the shape of a cross.

Because we had a guest on this episode, we did not cover feedback from our terrific feedbackers. But please send in feedback on this episode, and we will cover it all on the next one!

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Link: Michael Bailey's View from the Longbox
Link: Anderson Cale's music 


We would love to hear from you about this issue, the podcast episode, or the podcast in general. Send e-mail feedback to dorknesstolight@gmail.com 

You can follow Alan on twitter @ProfessorAlan or the podcast @DorknesstToLight

Dead Theologians Society: St. Ignatius of Loyola

One of the most significant figures of the 16^th Century, St. Ignatius left behind a legacy of accomplishments that still resonate in the Church to this day.

Born in 1491, the nobleman spent his early adulthood in military service. His legs were severely injured by a cannonball, and in his convalescence read a “Life of Christ” which influenced the rest of his life. After his recovery, his conversion led him to a life of service.

In 1534, he and six companions created the Society of Jesus, whose member became known as Jesuits. In the nearly 5 centuries of its existence, the Society has become a leading voice in Catholicism promoting academic excellence and cultural pursuits. Currently, the Jesuits offer spiritual retreats, minister in hospitals, and promote social justice and ecumenical dialogue. The current Pope, Francis, is the first Jesuit to become Pope.

His “Spiritual Exercises” have long been a critical component of spiritual formation in the Catholic Church. Over the last few decades, many Evangelicals and other Protestants have also found value in Ignatian spirituality.

Among the many words of wisdom that Ignatius left behind is this encouragement to service: “Teach us to give and not count the cost.”

Audiofeed 2016 - Listening to Friends

I was going through the performer schedule a few weeks before the festival, to plan out my days and cross my fingers that two acts I want to see wouldn’t be playing on different stages at the same time. And during that process, I ran into the spoken-word performer Keyoung, and mentioned to my wife that his name seemed familiar. I wondered if we had seen him perform at a festival before?

It turns out that I remembered the name because my wife had mentioned it before, as she actually knows Keyoung. He used to work at the church where she still does work. The whole family was not able to see him perform at Audiofeed this year, but my wife heard his show, and they chatted after the show. Here is a link to a song of his.

This reminded me that at Cornerstone 2010 we were able to see another set of friends, Marco and Sara Castro. I’m pretty sure at least one of them also worked at the church where my wife works – to be fair, it’s a big church. Anyway, they are an acoustic duo who perform around town a fair amount, but it was great to see them on the bigger stage of Cornerstone. As it was with Keyoung at Audiofeed this year.

Always great to see friends play at a big event.

Audiofeed 2016 - Aracely & Maron

Our first day at Audiofeed began with a tour of the fairgrounds. The Festival was definitely bigger than 2014. There were a few new performance tents in the main area of the grounds, and one large tent was set up in the “outskirts,” all by itself on the other side of the grandwtands.  We later learned that this was the screamo heavy metal tent.

We started our festival by setting up in the Radon Lounge, which was more often than not the singer-songwriter stage. And we saw the first two acts of the day, Aracely and Maron.

Aracely is a bilingual performer, and most of the songs we heard from her were in Spanish. She played Audiofeed last year, but this was the first time we had seen her perform. She had a very pleasant vibe, and I enjoyed her set. She has an album out on Grrr Records, the label associated with the Jesus People USA community.

Maron Gaffron was a regular at Cornerstone. I saw her in 2007, my first time at that fest. I was immediately impressed and bought her album “Uptown.” Along with many of the Cornerstone / Grrr artists, she made the move to being an Audiofeed regular. She plays piano and guitar, which is a good thing because her guitar stopped working during her set, and she ended with three piano-only songs. What I like about her is that she has “down to earth” lyrics, giving her songs a “lived-in” feel.  I also like that she hangs out at the fest for its duration, often joining other performers as a backup singer.

Podcast #006 - Talking "Spirit Blade"

"Exploring a World of Shadows."

In this all-new sixth podcast episode, Emily & Alan talk about the Spirit Blade audio drama series, a gripping, futuristic sci-fi tale. The third part of the trilogy, "A World of Shadows," has just been released.

We talk with Spirit Blade creator and producer Paeter Frandsen about the 10-year journey that he has gone on to complete the trilogy.

The episode closes with some great listener feedback.

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You may also subscribe to the podcast through iTunes or the RSS Feed.

Link: Purchase "Spirit Blade: A World of Shadows" 
Link: The Spirit Blade Underground Podcast

Link: Anderson Cale's music 

We would love to hear from you about this issue, the podcast episode, or the podcast in general. Send e-mail feedback to dorknesstolight@gmail.com 

You can follow Alan on twitter @ProfessorAlan  or the podcast @DorknessToLight