The Narthex
Pugin's American Legacy
Though he died around age 40, his architecture had global influence -- Part 2
By James Thunder | February 28th 2023 12:47 PMThe first few decades of Gothic Revival master Augustus Pugin's life were filled with activity and strain, and there would be more obstacles and tribulations. Pugin had periods of blindness. His second wife died. (He remarried. His third wife not only cared for his six children by his two previous…
READ FULL BLOG POSTGothic Revival Master
Augustus Welby Pugin put his genius to work from a young age -- Part 1
By James Thunder | February 23rd 2023 9:42 PMAugustus Welby Pugin is in the news these days in the United Kingdom because he designed Big Ben, icon for the British nation, whose scaffolding has now come down after two years and will reopen this spring. Pugin (1812-1852; his French name is pronounced “PEW-jin”) was THE Gothic Revivalist. A…
READ FULL BLOG POSTReflections on "Paradise Road"
A film about war's victims probing beyond hatred to sympathy and eventually love
By David Daintree | November 14th 2022 10:00 PMI recently watched the 1997 Bruce Beresford film Paradise Road at home on DVD. As the standard of free-to-air TV continues to plummet gutterwards, I find the urge to fossick through our old disc collections grows all the stronger! Paradise Road is a triumph of the Australian film industry. It…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Greatest Songwriter of All Time? Surely, King David
David's psalms have endured, appear in literature, and are known globally. Jesus sang them!
By James Thunder | November 3rd 2022 1:47 PMMy nominee for the greatest songwriter of all time is King David of Israel (c. 1000 B.C.). There are 150 psalms in the Bible’s Book of Psalms. The psalms are songs; the title of the book refers to “instrumental music” or to the words accompanying music. Furthermore, there are inscriptions…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWho's the Greatest Songwriter of All Time?
A walk through beloved music leads to one artist 'after God's own heart'
By James Thunder | November 1st 2022 12:31 PMHow would we answer the question “Who’s the greatest songwriter of all time?” For a moment let us revisit our musical past. What about Andrew Lloyd Weber (b. 1948) with his Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1968; Broadway 1982), Jesus Christ Superstar (1970), Evita (1978), Cats (1981), and Phantom…
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