December 14, 2004

I am surprising my wife, Lisa, with a rug for Christmas, and since she isn’t a reader of this magazine, I trust my secret is safe with you. We weren’t looking for a rug; it just showed up. Terry, from whom I had purchased a rug in Ephesus a couple of years ago, decided to bring his rugs to America and materialized in my driveway. We invited a few neighbors, who tittered with delight over Terry’s wonders. Now, after my friends dropped thousands of dollars on rugs they weren’t looking for, he likes me even more.

Langdon Gilkey, a prominent Protestant theologian who wrote and spoke frequently about the relationship between religion and science, died on November 19 in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was 85. His longtime colleague David Tracy called Gilkey “the truest successor of Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich and the surest theological guide for the joys and terrors of living as a modern Christian in this ‘time of troubles.’”

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not actually introduced to Roman Catholic people in Latin America because only Marian doctrines are taught to them. That is the main reason that the Protestant church is so liberating to former Catholics—the gospel of Jesus Christ brings freedom from the mistaken idea that we can come to God only through “la Virgen.”

I got the news that Red Davis had died in his hometown of Marshall, Texas. I cried when I heard it, though I only met him a couple of times.

“Who is Red Davis?” I can hear you saying.

Well, I’ll tell you.

Red Davis was nobody special in this world, or he was a great saint. I guess it all depends on how you look at things, but I’ll tell you something true and wonderful: “nobody special” and “great saint” go together a lot more often than some people think.

The name of the Theotokos expresses the whole mystery of God’s saving dispensation. —St. John of Damascus (655-750)

In the doctrine and worship of Mary there is disclosed the one heresy of the Roman Catholic Church which explains all the rest. —Karl Barth (1886-1968)

A Festive Baroque Christmas. The Choir and Orchestra of the Academy of Ancient Music, directed by Paul Goodwin. Classical Express, Harmonia Mundi France 3957202, $7.00.

From Harmonia Mundi’s excellent line of budget-priced reissues comes this set of 11 motets by Heinrich Schütz, plus instrumental pieces by Gabrieli, Weckmann and Usper. The texts and translations are available at www.classicalexpress. com/7202.htm.

It’s by chance that Ray appears mere months after the death of its hero, Ray Charles, but it offers a needed lift for many of us laid low by the passing of the rhythm-and-blues genius. Director Taylor Hackford has made a bristling, dynamic mélange of entertainment whipped up around the inspired music and gargantuan persona of its subject. And Jamie Foxx gives a wondrous impersonation; he gets Charles from the inside out.

In Friday Night Lights, which features a legendary high school football program in West Texas, Coach Gary Gaines explains to his team the situation: “Gentlemen, the hopes and dreams of an entire town are riding on your shoulders. You may never matter more than you do right now. It’s time.”