Friday, 13 January 2012 17:59 Written by Jim Denison

The competition for the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role is over.  I have never seen a more remarkable performance than Meryl Streep gives in The Iron Lady, her portrait of Lady Margaret Thatcher.  The movie opened today; if you're interested in 20th century history or just in great acting, go see it.

The movie depicts a day in the life of Lady Thatcher as she is today, with flashbacks to pivotal moments in her career.  I knew that she is the daughter of a grocer and remembered her fortitude in dealing with trade unions and the Falklands War, but I had forgotten the degree to which historians credited her for the fall of the Soviet Union and the triumph of conservative principles across the Western world.

Monday, 19 December 2011 10:41 Written by Jim Denison

Take your blood pressure medicine before seeing Tom Cruise's latest action thriller.  I saw it Sunday afternoon—it's a supersonic roller coaster without a seat belt.

By my count, Cruise's character should have died at least six times before the film ends—most memorably, nearly half a mile in the air while climbing the world's tallest building.  His colleagues don't fare much better as they face whirring razor-sharp exhaust fans and gun-wielding terrorists.  Of the four Mission Impossibles, this was to me the most hair-raising.  If you need an adrenaline rush for the holidays, you won't do better.

Thursday, 15 December 2011 21:01 Written by Jim Denison

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most famous theologians and martyrs of the 20th century.  Arrested for plotting the assassination of Adolf Hitler, he was hanged on April 9, 1945, with the sounds of approaching Allied armies in the distance.

British Baptist pastor Edwin Robinson translated and edited Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Christmas Sermons (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005).  Reading them this Advent season, I have been encouraged and challenged by the brave pastor's triumphant faith.  Two of his sermons especially moved me.

In a message delivered on December 2, 1928 (when he was only 22 years old), Bonhoeffer challenged the self-sufficiency of his culture and ours.  He rebuked the Church for Christmas celebrations that are more secular than spiritual, and argued that Advent is transforming only for those who admit their need of the One who came for us: "The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.  For these, it is enough to wait in humble fear until the Holy One himself comes down to us, God in the child in the manger.  God comes."