Cynthia Beach

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Articles

Invisible Jesus: A Book about Leaving the Church and Looking for Jesus

2 weeks ago | thebanner.org | Scot McKnight |Tommy Phillips |Cynthia Beach

If we stop listening when trigger phrases such as “deconstructing faith” are mentioned, then how can we remain in rather important conversations? In Invisible Jesus, longtime theologian and seminary professor Scot McKnight and co-author pastor Tommy Preson Phillips defang deconstruction. “We believe deconstruction is a prophetic movement resisting a distorted gospel. It is not a problem; it is a voice. And we need to listen to what it is saying to the church.”Why befriend deconstruction?
Sexism, Shalom, and a Better Way

2 months ago | scotmcknight.substack.com | Cynthia Beach |Scot McKnight

By Cynthia Beach, author of the wonderful novel, The Surface of Water. “They’re paying you for that?” My colleague couldn’t look more confused. By August 2022, we had taught together for two decades at an evangelical college. He was a lit prof, and I, the senior creative writing prof. Seated with us was my chairperson who had asked about my incredible news. InterVarsity Press was publishing my novel, The Surface of Water. But my colleague couldn’t understand it. His brow remained wrinkled.
Our (Almost Completely True) Love Story

Oct 4, 2024 | thebanner.org | Cynthia Beach

Remember actress Mariette Hartley? Tall, strawberry-blond hair, bright-eyed? Those Polaroid commercials with the famous James Garner? If you do, this might be the movie for you—especially if you like sharp wit. Mariette Hartley plays, well, Mariette Hartley. She’s an older actor and lonely, so lonely that she tries a dating app. You know That Big Fear—about inadvertently dating a murderer? Well, I’d hate to spoil the story, but Peter MacNicol plays “Psycho Date.”What’s a lonely, aging actor to do? Hmm.
The Forge

Sep 20, 2024 | thebanner.org | Cynthia Beach

What if Christians were known for their love? Paul seemed to think they should be. The Forge, the ninth film by the Kendrick Brothers, shows a picture of what life could be like when Christians love their neighbor. Here in this fictional world, busy adult men take on troubled youths. A company works together as a splendid team. And moms of lost sons watch the living God work.
Confronting Sexism in the Church: How We Got Here and What We Can Do About It

Sep 10, 2024 | thebanner.org | Heather Matthews |Cynthia Beach

“What are you doing here?” My male colleague stared. I stopped near the conference table. What was I doing here? I had been appointed to the prestigious committee. But why was I picked? Only two years on the job—and a young woman? It’s “unbecoming”—maybe “shameful”—to share this story, I think. I feel squeamish—as if I really did something wrong—even now that I’m past middle aged. Although I’ve changed, I find myself still shaped by those cultural norms.
Fire Music

Aug 30, 2024 | thebanner.org | Connie Hampton Connally |Cynthia Beach

“Sir!”Hungarian violinist and composer Varga Antal hardly glances back. Why should he care when here in the Budapest Opera House a woman calls to him in a language he doesn’t know? It’s 2007, after all, and she’s a 30-something-year-old American in rumpled jeans. Antal is 78 and prominent. Then she says a name. The name. The one he has refused to say to himself for 62 years. “Varga Sándor.”Sándor? Whom he hasn’t seen since 1945?
The Chelsea Detective

Jul 14, 2024 | thebanner.org | Cynthia Beach

Crime drama The Chelsea Detective whisks us to an upscale area of London—an area once home to the likes of the Beatles and other fabulous 1970s celebs—where protagonist Detective Inspector Max Arnold solves crimes with pitbull determination and grit. Off hours, he lives on a riverboat—newly alone—on his way to a divorce he doesn’t want. His personal life includes continual difficulties on the River Thames from losing electricity to the demands of a disintegrating marriage.
Ordinary Angels

Jun 7, 2024 | thebanner.org | Cynthia Beach

“Love your neighbor”: yes, simple to say—harder to do, but the new film Ordinary Angels tells a story where loving your neighbor moves a mountain and, in the process, heals hearts. Hilary Swank grounds the story with her no-nonsense, alcoholic character, hairdresser Sharon Stevens, who notices a tragic story in the paper. A local roofer has lost his wife and now his little girl nears death too. Can’t anything be done to secure the new liver that would give her life?
Unsung Hero

May 10, 2024 | thebanner.org | Cynthia Beach

This word names my experience of the film Unsung Hero. Though known as “the Rebecca St. James movie,” it doesn’t focus on this famous Christian singer, but on “Mum,” Helen Smallbone. In a History vs. Hollywood interview, brother Luke Smallbone, the movie’s producer and half of the Christian duo For King &Country, describes the film’s theme.
Darby and Joan

Apr 26, 2024 | thebanner.org | Cynthia Beach

Do you remember A Town like Alice with Bryan Brown? If the actor in one of my most beloved stories is in a new Acorn TV show, you can bet I’m watching. Darby and Joan won’t disappoint. The premise is great—and so is the bond of friendship. First, the premise. Co-protagonist Joan Kirkhope chats by phone with her longtime husband, Ian. All is well between this couple, we think, until he tells her where he is. He says he’s in their favorite bar in Spain.