KtBlog
Martyrs Who Know How to Sing
Ever since seeing Terrence Malick’s extraordinary film The Thin Red Line a few months ago, I’ve been transfixed by the chants that play on its soundtrack, especially those by the Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican religious community on the island of Guadalcanal. My favorite is this one: Wow. The film takes place during the gruesome battle…
Martyrdom Makeover
New from me at Religion Dispatches: The idea of martyrdom hasn’t been in very good shape lately. One common usage of it—“I’ll not be made a martyr!”—refers to the prospect of somewhat tragic but mostly useless suffering, perhaps in the service of a delusional cause, religious or otherwise. Another appears regularly in the news with…
