Hi Ilona, Good to see you back on the blog. You're absolutely right that we're using "religious" in our own quirky sense here that makes intuitive sense to some people but not others. And you're certainly right that I've got no problem with historic church architecture.

I'm with you on your initial question. Stage theory is absolutely, definitionally subjective. Totally. It could be no other. Which is why, to my mind, it's both helpful and causes squabbles. It's helpful to you or me if we find it helpful. It provides us with almost nothing if we attempt to apply it to anyone else over their objections. As to your assessment of the stages of the positions taken here, no comment on my end. :)

Yes and yes again! Although I'd pitch we need more than just the Bible to "defy authority" in this way--we need church history and church history at some depth. We need to know if people since the apostolic era have thought anything along the lines of whatever it is we're thinking. Without that, I wonder if we get lost in a battle of competing interpretations of the Bible. So, to sum up, the Bible: absolutely necessary, but not sufficient for our purposes here.

Evidently apart from you all, of course! But that's more in the spirit of "what do you think of this YouTube phenomenon?" rather than "wow, isn't this awesome?"

As I mentioned, some of my Facebook friends really liked it. But it's not my cup of tea and I can't imagine whom I'd promote it to.

No doubt stages talk can be pretty insidery. By all means ignore that stuff when it comes up again.

Ah, Mars Hill. Rightly or wrongly, I associate cockiness (and high production values) with Mars Hill.

Last week some of you mentioned Chuck Klosterman's philosophical take on Tebow at Grantland.com. Today features a virulently negative take at Grantland by Charles P. Pierce that, perhaps, scores a few hits. http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7369021/fair-game

Wrote this comment concurrently as Dan was writing his--but note the The Talisman synchronicity. Much mean something spooky is afoot...

All the books mentioned favorably here are good, to my mind. It depends upon your capacity to enjoy horror. If you groove on that, I have happy memories of The Talisman, his collaboration with Peter Straub. But The Green Mile, as I said, is perhaps one of my best experiences with fiction ever (horrific moments, but not a horror novel). This new one takes patience--it's really long and not a ton happens for a very long time--but it (also not horror, though with occasional horrific moments) packs a powerful punch.

All great points, Dan. Well said.

Let me be perfectly clear. The Stand rocks.

I have, btw, finished 11/22/63 since writing this. Man alive, what a powerful ending.