Englewood Book News – Week of February 14, 2011

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Courtesy of the E.F. Schumacher Society and Archive.org…

Wendell Berry giving a 1981 talk on “People, Land and Community.”

Definitely worth a listen!

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Yesterday, I finished watching the last episodes of The Wire, the superb HBO television series that I’ve been working my way through over the last six months.  Now I don’t watch a lot of television, but this was by far the best show I’ve ever seen.  Having lived in urban neighborhoods for over a decade now, I’d say that David Simon and the other writers, directors, etc. nailed the politics of power in the city.  Each season focuses on a different arena in which Baltimore residents struggle for power: the drug trade (season 1 and throughout the remaining seasons), labor (season 2), city politics (season 3), education (season 4) and the newspaper (season 5).   There’s not a whole lot of urban life and politics that is not covered within that range.  The only exceptions that don’t show up too much are big corporations and suburbia (as a power that shapes the city).

I can’t help but think that the time is ripe for some serious theological reflection on The Wire.  (After this thought popped into my mind, a quick GOOGLE search showed that a book called Corners in the The City of God: Theology and The Wire is slated to be released in 2012; we’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for that one!).   My friend Michael Munk also has some good introductory thoughts in this direction (the two video clips he includes do well to give you a taste of the show’s genius.)  Let me know if you’ve written/blogged any thoughts exploring the theological meaning of The Wire…

Here’s a good, and at times humorous, video recap of the first four seasons (does contain some spoilers).

And finally, if you’ve watched the show, here’s an issue of the online journal darkmatter containing a number of essays reflecting on the show’s meaning. (These are generally not theological essays, but they do a fine job of overviewing the issues that the show has tackled).