Steve Rabey
Steve Rabey is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Steve Rabey
NEWS FEATURE: Lights, camera, afterlife: a new film explores life _ and love _ beyond death
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Popular films like”City of Angels”and”Ghost”filled their stories of earthly romance with angels and other ambassadors of the afterlife.”What Dreams May Come,”one of the most anticipated films in a season ripe with movies exploring spiritual themes, turns the tables on traditional portrayals of the nature of life _ and […]
NEWS FEATURE: Veggie values: video series promotes morality without preaching
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _”Eat your vegetables!”is the mantra millions of frustrated parents chant nearly every dinner hour. But for the past five years, kids haven’t been able to get enough of”Veggie Tales,”a creative video series that has sold nearly 5 million units and yielded a bumper crop of produce-themed products. It all […]
NEWS FEATURE: Pop culture helps bring witchcraft out of the broom closet
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _”Practical Magic,”the latest in a long line of Hollywood films to dabble in the mysteries and rituals of witchcraft, opens with a historical flashback scene showing 17th century witch Maria Owens magically escaping her attempted execution by a mob of angry Puritans. But gradually the film, based on a […]
NEWS SIDEBAR: Some films about preachers as con artists, hypocrites
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _”The Apostle”may be Hollywood’s first warm, positive portrayal of a Pentecostal evangelist in decades. Meanwhile, in the past five years Tinsel Town has produced three moving portrayals of the beauty of Buddhism (“Kundun,””Seven Years in Tibet,”and”Little Buddha”). What gives? Veteran actor Robert Duvall says simply,”Hollywood doesn’t understand the subject […]
NEWS FEATURE: Positive pop: spiritual themes prevalent in 1998’s music
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ On that shelf is the new musical CD”Spirit.”Nearby is the recent release”Believe.”Have we stumbled into a Christian or New Age record store? Nope, it’s a purely mainstream setting. These albums _ by Jewel and Cher, respectively _ are just two of the latest among 1998’s bounty of spiritually-themed […]
NEWS FEATURE: Reviving religious humanism by reconnecting art and faith
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ People of faith often try to influence the world in one of two ways. Some focus on preaching and proselytizing, believing religious instruction and recruitment will yield morally improved neighbors. And in recent years, many have emphasized social and political activism, believing godly laws and policies will compel […]
NEWS FEATURE: Secular pop music marked by spiritual quests
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Rock legend Mick Jagger describes the current”hunger for spirituality”and the feeling of transcendence he experiences during some Rolling Stones performances. Bluesy Joan Osborne praises”the redemptive power of pleasure.”And composer Philip Glass explains how his own practice of Tibetan Buddhist meditation gives him the tranquillity and clarity he needs […]
FEATURE SIDEBAR: A sampler of films about love and the afterlife
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Romantic love has played an important role in many films about the afterlife, including: _ Ghost (1990): In the year’s top grossing film, Sam (Patrick Swayze) may be separated from girlfriend Molly (Demi Moore) in body, but thanks to medium Whoopi Goldberg, the Righteous Brothers and some sensual […]
FEATURE SIDEBAR: A sampler of films about love and the afterlife
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Romantic love has played an important role in many films about the afterlife, including: _ Ghost (1990): In the year’s top grossing film, Sam (Patrick Swayze) may be separated from girlfriend Molly (Demi Moore) in body, but thanks to medium Whoopi Goldberg, the Righteous Brothers and some sensual […]
FEATURE SIDEBAR: Witchy flicks
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Witches _ both good and wicked _ have been recurring characters in American films for 60 years. The”Witchcraft”listing in”Videohound’s Golden Movie Retriever”features nearly 100 movies available on video. Here are some of the more memorable and important films: The Wizard of Oz (1939). This Oscar-winning classic film, which […]
NEWS FEATURE: PBS to air groundbreaking series on origins of Christianity
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Scholars have been investigating the origins of Christianity for more than a century, and classes on the”historical Jesus”have been standard fare at colleges and seminaries for decades. But most people in the pews know next to nothing about the recent work of archaeologists, historians and language scholars who […]
NEWS FEATURE: Surprise! A new, positive film about a Pentecostal preacher
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Since his 1962 film debut in”To Kill a Mockingbird,”Robert Duvall has played good guys, bad guys and everything in between in films such as”The Godfather,””Apocalypse Now,””The Great Santini,””Tender Mercies”and”Phenomenon.””It’s all in a day’s work,”said the veteran of nearly 60 films. But Duvall’s latest project is more than just […]
NEWS FEATURE: Poetic pilgrim: the spiritual journey of Kathleen Norris
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Since the 1960s, pilgrims seeking an authentic spiritual path have often looked beyond the Christian faith of their fathers to the esoterica of the New Age, the mysticism of Eastern religions, or the allure of new-fangled cults. Kathleen Norris abandoned the Protestant pieties of her childhood for the […]
NEWS FEATURE: Reel Jews: 50 major films on Jewish life and culture
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 religion News Service UNDATED _ The Jewish people were”the inventors of Western civilization,”giving the world their scriptures and the concept of monotheism, writes Thomas Cahill in his latest historical bestseller,”The Gifts of the Jews.” But it is perhaps through their contributions to the world of film that Jews have exercised their greatest cultural […]
NEWS FEATURE: Paxnet will offer viewers alternative to televised sex and violence
By Steve Rabey — January 1, 1998
c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Viewers who are fed up with televised sex, violence and crudity will have a new alternative this fall when PAX TV, the nation’s seventh national network, launches its slate of”pro-family”programming at noon on Monday, August 31. Network founder Lowell”Bud”Paxson has been buying up broadcast rights to popular shows […]
