Conversant Lifestyle

Why Jesus Matters

Conversant Lifestyle — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:19:44 -0800

It is undeniable and indisputable. Jesus was the most extraordinary person the world has ever known. Even atheists and those who are cynical of any spiritual nature in Christ and humanity readily acknowledge the overwhelming impact Jesus has made on our civilization. The famous historian--and self-professed skeptic--W.E.H. Lecky conceded the importance of the life of Jesus Christ with this statement:

"The character of Jesus has not only been the highest pattern of virtue, but the strongest incentive in its practice, and has exerted so deep an influence, that it may truly be said that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers and all the exhortations of moralists."

But just as his impact cannot be denied, we can't ignore the controversy he has generated, especially at this special time of year. No individual has caused more debate than Jesus Christ. For such a central figure in history, there is little consensus about him. Jesus has split public opinion about himself into two divergent opposing camps. it seems that either he is respected and revered, or he is despised and denigrated.

So what's all the fuss about?

Is it about his morality? No. Jesus is universally recognized as the greatest moral teacher of all time. No one argues with his admonitions on interpersonal relationships or his concepts of right and wrong.

Is it about the legitimacy of his miracles? Not really. Whether they were supernaturally caused or were a grand illusion is not what impassions the debate.

Is it about the fact or fiction of the resurrection? Nope. It didn't appear to be the issue that fueled the controversy in the first century A.D., and it doesn't appear to be the center of the dispute now.

There would be no controversy if Jesus were merely: (a) a respected ethicist; (b) with a knack for supernatural theatrics; (c) who appeared to defeat death; and then (d) disappeared into thin air without a trace. Those listings in his biographical profile would make him famous and mysterious, but they wouldn't put him in the center of the world's greatest debate.

Beyond all of this, the controversy about Christ centers on his theology. In the holly hullabaloo that swirls around Christ, some consider his theological doctrine to be his greatest attraction, while others consider it to be a grand offense. The different viewpoints are understandable considering that he claimed to know God. Beyond that, he claimed to be God. And most controversial of all, he claimed that his death on the cross was the only way a sinful humanity could be forgiven by God and experience eternal life.

Any honest study of the life of Christ will embroil you in the debate. It is not possible to look only at the extraordinary part of Jesus without dealing with the controversial part. His teaching, miracles, and resurrection are integrated with his theology. His promises for a life of truth, peace, and meaning are all based on a belief in him...not just an intellectual assent of his existence, but a faith that he was and is the sole solution for humanity's spiritual void.

Every person must take a side in the controversy. Every person must decide if he was just a good man, or if he was the God-man. That decision will take you far beyond knowing why Jesus matters. On a more important level--a very personal level-you will know why Jesus matters to you.

Conversant Bloggers All Over the Place

Conversant Lifestyle — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:10:51 -0800

One of the key features of Conversantlife.com is our wonderful team of bloggers. This gifted, passionate group of men and women represent the brightest and the best the faith community has to offer. Some, like Craig Detweiler and Sean McDowell, are nationally known communicators and media influencers. Others, such as Crissy Brooks and Mark Meehan, are professionals at the top of their game who bring a deep passion for Christ to their work.

All of our Conversantlife.com bloggers are independent thinkers who write on subjects of their own choosing. We don't "assign" blogs or topics (although sometimes we make suggestions), so what you read is content coming out of their own hearts and minds.

Even though we are delighted that these expert bloggers have become part of the Conversantlife.com content community, we are also proud of the fact that many of them write for other publications, both online and in print. For example, three of our bloggers--Christy Tennant, Jeannine Seery, and John Barry--write for Bible Study Magazine, a new publication that focuses entirely on the Bible and Bible study.

Alissa Wilkinson, perhaps the busiest of our bloggers in terms of her writing and editing duties, is Associate Editor of Comment magazine; the Managing Editor of The Curator, the online magazine for International Arts Movement; and a film critic at Paste and Christianity Today.

Brett McCracken and Carolyn Arends also write for Christianity Today, as well as Relevant Magazine. Cara Davis, one of our newest bloggers, is a former editorial director for Relevant Media Group and the founding editor for Radiant magazine. Joan Ball is a regular contributor to InTouch.

By no means have we covered every publication that our Conversantlife.com bloggers write for, but you get the idea. And we haven't even mentioned the books our bloggers have written and are in the process of writing (we'll cover that in another Conversant Lifestyle blog).

As always, we love hearing your feedback on the content featured on Conversantlife.com. Your comments are an important part of what this site is all about--honest, thoughtful, respectful, knowledgeable, and stimulating conversations about faith and culture.

Prince Caspian on DVD December 2nd

Conversant Lifestyle — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:10:18 -0800

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Fully-Loaded With Never-Before-Scene Extras And
A Perfect Gift for the Holidays!

Return to the magical world of Narnia in the second installment of C.S. Lewis’ timeless epic, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, coming to market on December 2, 2008 from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. Packed with exclusive featurettes, interviews and deleted scenes, the entertainment title of the year is available on DVD and Blu-ray Hi-Def, as well as a special two-disc Collectors Edition perfect for holiday giving. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian packaging also includes a special DisneyFile, a digital copy of the movie that can be viewed on a variety of portable devices for the whole family to enjoy anytime, anywhere.

From the creators of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian features even more groundbreaking special effects and breathtaking action than its predecessor. William Moseley, Georgie Henley, Anna Popplewell and Skandar Keynes return as Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, the Pevensie siblings, along with Academy Award® nominee Liam Neeson (1993 nominee for Best Actor, Schindler’s List) as Aslan the Lion and Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton (2008 winner for Best Supporting Actress, Michael Clayton) as the White Witch. They are joined by Ben Barnes (Stardust) as Caspian, heir to the Narnian throne, with Sergio Castellitto (Arthur and the Invisibles), Eddie Izzard (FX: The Riches), Warwick Davis (the Harry Potter films) and Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent) appearing as new residents of Narnia. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is fantasy adventure that will delight the entire family.

Lewis' seven-book Chronicles of Narnia series is regarded as one of literature's most enduring classics, selling over 100,000,000 copies in more than 35 languages, making it the second biggest book series the world over.

In The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the Pevensie children face a perilous mission and a greater test of their faith and courage. They find a world in which 1,300 years have passed. The White Witch is gone, the realm is ruled by a cruel tyrant and Aslan has been missing for over a thousand years. The four children embark on a remarkable journey to restore magic and glory to the land. Accompanied by Trumpkin, a valiant dwarf, Reepicheep the talking mouse and a suspicious Black Dwarf named Nikabrik, they raise an army of Narnians to rise up against the evil king Miraz.

BONUS FEATURES:
DVD
•    Special audio commentary by director and actors

Collector’s Edition DVD
All of the above, plus:
•    Special audio commentary by director and actors , a behind-the-scenes interview with the cast and crew, a tour of the film’s locations and sets, inside view of the technology and production behind the movie, bloopers, deleted scenes and much, much more!
Blu-ray Hi-Def Exclusives
All of the above, plus:
•    Enhanced Disney’s BD-Live Network exclusives, interactive Narnia game, downloadable features and much, much more!
•    Circle-Vision Interactive: Creating the Castle Raid – Walt Disney's famous Imagineers introduced the world to Circle-Vision in the 50's and 60's, which immersed Disneyland visitors in 360-degree film tours of America, and later, China and Canada. Now, through HDRI camera technology and the rapidly-evolving interactive capabilities of Blu-ray, the Disney team has taken the first step towards advancing this unique and memorable experience. Only on THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN on Blu-ray Disc can fans take a 360-degree look behind the scenes of the castle raid sequence and get unique access to the secrets of how this latest adventure to Narnia was pulled off. It's all a part of CIRCLE-VISION INTERACTIVE: CREATING THE CASTLE RAID. First, start off in the CIRCLE-VISION preview lobby, and choose to get a private tour of the castle raid from Director Andrew Adamson, Producer Mark Johnson, or a number of other key filmmakers and artists who brought the latest adventure to NARNIA to life. Then, select one of the exclusive CIRCLE-VISION experiences to be virtually transported to the set in the Czech Republic. The moment you enter these panoramic worlds, you will be able to turn in any direction, and fully-explore how this compelling sequence was painstakingly created. Discover a myriad of progression reels, developmental animatics, 13 audio commentaries, pop-up facts, slide shows, and a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes footage with cast and crew that is revealing, interesting, compelling, funny and exclusively accessed through this new-reimagining of a classic idea. It's all a part of CIRCLE-VISION INTERACTIVE: CREATING THE CASTLE RAID, only on THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN on Blu-ray Disc.

Richard Dahlstrom's Book O2 Makes Publishers Weekly's 2008 "Best Books" List

Conversant Lifestyle — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:56:50 -0800

Publishers Weekly has named O2 by Richard Dahlstrom as one of its "Best Books of the Year." In reviewing this compelling book, published by Conversantlife.com, the editors at Publishers Weekly called Richard "an original and welcome evangelical voice of reason who offers skeptics and Christians alike compelling advice on living out their faith, Jesus-style." In O2, they continue, "he gives Christians tools to achieve spiritual balance by integrating the inwardly and outwardly focused spiritual practices."

Richard is one of the "original' bloggers on Conversantlife.com. He is also among our most popular. His blog, "Raincitypastor: God Is in the Mist," follows the same track as his award winning book. "He gives Christians tools to achieve spiritual balance by integrating these inwardly and outwardly focused spiritual practices"

Richard is the Senior Pastor of Bethany Community Church in Seattle in the heart of the city, among university students, young professionals, families, the homeless, and the elderly. His ministry there parallels the themes of O2. As Publishers Weekly writes, "Dahlstrom’s tenderness is deeply stirring, as is his tough stance in confronting modern believers’ unwillingness to follow in Jesus’ stead by serving sacrificially, reaching forth in love, and spilling out their lives for others. Dahlstrom’s approach balances gentle compassion with fierce assessments of problems in the church today,"

To read an excerpt from O2 and to view a personal invitation from Richard, go to the resource page. You will also find a free study guide for small group study.

ConversantLife hangs out at Cal Baptist U

Conversant Lifestyle — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:58:23 -0700

Hey all,

Last Friday the ConversantLife.com event team (our entire team that consists of CJ and Peter) hung out at California Baptist University. We dropped by to say "what up!", hang out on campus and to tell the students a little bit about our site.

Bottom line: we had a great time. The students of CBU are amazing. They checked out our booth, chatted with us about the site, didn't care that we handed out a million lame rave cards (will you please throw this flyer away for me?) and they also did some pretty fancy coloring. That's right, we said coloring. We threw a coloring contest to simply say "ConvesantLife cares about your creativity, so please hang out with us and color for awhile." Oh, and we were also giving away a free iPod to the student who colored the best ConversnatLife logo (you know, our little talk bubble). It was super cool and we got some pretty wild entries in the process. Here's the winner of the coloring contest and a number of cool entries as well

WINNER - Bea

Here are some additional cool entries we received...

Hey Santiago, I told you I would give you a shout out!

Here are a couple more pics from the event...

Cal Baptist...thanks for hanging out. Not only does CL support your creativity, but we love your school as well.

Blessings!

We're on Facebook/Twitter!

Conversant Lifestyle — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:11:53 -0700

ConverrsantLife.com goes viral. Stay connected with us daily, weekly, hourly or even up to the minute if you want.

Facebook users...stay connected with us on the Conversant Facebook group.

Twitter fans? Twitter with us all day long. Join the Conversant Twitter page.

Happy connecting.

Introducing Our New Home Page

Conversant Lifestyle — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:25:21 -0700

Hello—

At Conversantlife.com, our goal is to bring content and conversation together in a meaningful way. Whether you are a casual user or a dedicated content creator, we want to help inform your faith experience so you can engage and activate your life.

This month we are excited to introduce some new enhancements to our homepage that will hopefully make it easier to find content posted by our team of 40+ expert bloggers, as well as content submitted by the community. Here are some highlights:

Now you can click on your favorite topics and immediately see the most recent content posted by our bloggers
There is a video player at the top of the homepage that features our newest interviews and features
You can quickly access the most popular posts from the growing community of Undiscovered writers, musicians and artists
You can easily connect with people involved in cross-culture service around the world through The Bridge

Like we said, we’re all about bringing content and conversation together, and we’re pleased to offer plenty of both. No matter where you are on your own faith journey, we hope Conversantlife.com is a place where you feel both accepted and stimulated.

If you have any questions or comments about Conversantlife.com, please get in touch with us. Click Here to leave your feedback now. Or, you can simply click on the “Feedback” link at the bottom of any page and let us know what you think. We value your participation and your input. And we love it when you tell your friends about us.

Thanks for being part of the Conversantlife.com community!

Note: if you cannot view the homepage correctly or something looks brokern, please clear your cache to fix the issue.

Please leave your feedback here!

"At the End of It All, It's Just a Blank Screen"

Conversant Lifestyle — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:34:19 -0700

In the ongoing efforts of media companies (including Conversantlife.com) to attract and keep audiences, it isn't just about the means of communication (radio, television, the Internet, etc.). It's not even about the technology that drives media (computers, iPhones, HDTVs, etc.). Even more than media and technology, the thing that makes or breaks a movie or a book or a song or a web site is one thing and one thing only: content.

Without a great script, a movie suffers, and people stay away. Without great writing, a book isn't worth the paper it's printed on, and readers pass it by. Same goes for a song. When it comes to web sites, it doesn't take long to realize that reading dumb comments or viewing crummy videos is a colossal waste of time. What people want is compelling, challenging, creative content.

Without compelling content, about all you're left with is media and technology. How much fun is that? It's like having a sophisticated navigation system in your car, but with nowhere to go. Barry Meyer, Chairman of Warner Brothers Studio (the studio that brought us the high quality content-laden summer thriller, The Dark Knight), said as much in an interview recently. He explained that as important as the distribution of media is, content is even more important. "At the end of it all," he says, "it's just a blank screen."

Here at Conversantlife.com, we are proud of the compelling, challenging, creative content that is being delivered every day by the dozens of gifted and passionate content creators we have throughout the site. Because the quality of the content is so high, the comments made by our users are thoughtful, stimulating, and we hope, encouraging.

In addition to posting comments to various blogs and other submissions (you need to be a registered user to do that, by the way), you can also send us your comments (you don't have to be registered to do that) by clicking on "Contact Us" at the very bottom of any page. We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas about Conversantlife.com.

Conversant Is Stimulating Conversation

Conversant Lifestyle — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:23:58 -0700

Christianity Today has a terrific cover and cover story this month that is getting lots of attention. How could it not? The headline, "God Is Not Dead Yet," mimics the famous "Is God Dead?" headline that graced (some would say disgraced) the cover of Time magazine on April 8, 1966. The lead article by William Lane Craig, the popular philosopher and Christian apologist, showcases the extraordinary work being done by a handful of gifted theistic philosophers who answer virtually every objection raised by today's pop-atheists and secular philosophers.

Here at Conversantlife.com, we try to keep up with the news, especially news that has faith implications. So this issue of CT naturally caught our attention. As we checked out the contents, we were pleasantly surprised to find a number of places where Conversantlife.com authors were featured. In a piece titled, "A New Day for Apologetics," J.P. Moreland was referenced as one of the new Christian apologists who are informing the national conversation by producing books, videos, and public lectures (Conversantlife.com and Harvest House are publishing Dr. Moreland's forthcoming book, The God Question, due in January).

In the same article, there's a photo featuring the national Apologetics Event called Big Dig, which will be held in Kansas City in August. Conversant's own Sean McDowell will be a main speaker at this big event, and his topic will be "Understanding Intelligent Design," which just so happens to be the title of his newly released book with Conversantlife.com.

A little farther into the issue, we found a featured column called "Wrestling With Angels" by our own Carolyn Arends (her book by the same title was released in January by Conversantlife.com and Harvest House). This little gem is followed a few pages later by a glowing review of the documentary film, A Purple State of Mind, featuring John Marks and the stellar Conversantlife.com blogger and author Craig Detweiler, whose book by the same title was just released by (you guessed it ) Convesantlife.com and Harvest House.

They may not be in the "God Is Not Dead Yet" issue of CT, but two more Conversantlife.com bloggers and authors have new books out this month. Richard Dahlstrom's outstanding new book, O2, is now available, along with Faith to Faith by Dan Scott. Richard and Dan are pastors who offer deep and stimulating insights into the nature of faith. Both of their books are perfect to give to people who are interested in exploring the Christian faith, or who have a desire to grow deeper in their relationship with Christ.

Conversantlife.com has been online in Beta for only six months, but already we are contributing to the ongoing conversation about faith and culture in signicant ways. And by "we" we mean our family of 40+ trustworthy content creators, along with the Conversant Community of tens of thousands visitors who are reading, viewing, and listening to content and then commenting and voting on it. And in case you haven't checked it out, be sure to wander into the Undiscovered section of Conversantlife.com. There you will find a wide variety of creative content from a number of fresh voices.

While we are excited about what has happened already, we know this is just the beginning, and we know we can't do this without you and your active participation in Conversantlife.com. We appreciate you and value your being part of the Conversant Community. So keep reading, keep viewing, keep interacting, and try your hand at contributing content through Undiscovered, whether it's a blog, a song, a film, or an image. Who knows? Maybe someday we'll be writing about you!

Dramatic Changes in the World of Books

Conversant Lifestyle — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:25:01 -0700

A couple of us from ConversantLife.com attended Book Expo America (BEA) in Los Angeles last week. It's a massive event, with more than 2,000 exhibitors, 1,000 authors, and 25,000 people attending. It was hard to tell if any business was being conducted, but lots of people were milling around. Truth is, the publishing world is in a great deal of turmoil right now. Sales are flat, if not in decline, due to a number of factors: a decrease in reading among younger people, a move from print to digital content, a flat economy, and a dearth of blockbuster titles, such as Harry Potter.

Of these, the factor with the most serious long-term consequence is arguably the move from print to digital content. For every person who says, "I'll never read a book online," there are many more people who are accessing increasing amounts of digital content, whether it's news, commentary, or entertainment. It may be too early to declare the book to be an outmoded form of conveying content, but it's not to soon to recognize that most of us are getting our content from a wide variety of sources, with books being just one.

The truth is that "publishing" isn't confined to words printed on paper. By definition, the word "publish" simply means to "make public." So whether it's Paul Revere yelling, "the British are coming" while riding through villages on horseback, or a book getting delivered electronically to a device like the Amazon Kindle, or a video playing on ConversantLife.com, it's all publishing.

As you can imagine, the book publishers--from global behemoths like Random House to independent publishers like Harvest House (our book publishing partner)--are scrambling to develop new strategies in order to stay relevant, especially to younger readers. "Everybody in publishing has to bring their game to a higher level," said Allison Hill, president of Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena (just named bookstore of the year by Publishers Weekly).

Interestingly, many of the "big boys" are trying to do what we at ConversantLife.com have been doing now for several months: feature their authors on the Internet through blogs, podcasts, digital downloads, and videos. The idea is to create a relationship between the content creators and those who might have an interest in their content. What better way to do that than to enable content creators to produce a blog (or as we like to call it, a "micro site"). We have more than 40 bloggers actively producing great content on a variety of topics. Even our ConversantLife.com book authors blog, giving you a peek at their life "off the page." In addition, we are constantly producing video interviews with our authors. In fact, we shot an interview at BEA with Sean McDowell and Bill Dembski on their forthcoming book for ConversantLife.com, Understanding Intelligent Design.

Yes, there are dramatic changes going on in the world of books, but there are also great opportunities for creators to distribute their content in new ways. We're just excited that ConversantLife.com is becoming a key component in this new world of content distribution.