May 11, 2004 — Reverend John Stott ("Basic Christianity") has said: "The great tragedy in the church today is that evangelicals are biblical but not contemporary, while liberals are contemporary but not biblical. We need faithfulness to the ancient word and sensitivity to the modern world."

Freelancer David Buckna has taken Stott’s comment to heart to produce — THE POP GOSPEL — a 10 question column that is biblical, contemporary, and sensitive to the modern world. Since December 2002, THE POP GOSPEL has been a regular Saturday feature in the Calgary Herald, exploring the link between religion and pop culture.

Samples:

1. Where did Snoopy used to teach Sunday school?

2. The Beatles lyric: "Life is very short" echoes Psalm 89:47: "Remember how fleeting is my life..." In what 1965 song is it heard?

3. Where in the Old Testament does it state that the earth is suspended in space?

4. On Survivor: All-Stars, who said: "I mean unless God strikes a log around here with lightning, we might never get fire."?

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Buckna comments: "I guess I’m just following in the footsteps of the two Canadians who invented the board game ’Trivial Pursuit’. What I’m attempting to do is communicate Judeo-Christian truth to the postmodern culture in an entertaining way, using the Q & A format. Of course the granddaddy of all Top 10 lists is mentioned in the book of Exodus!"

Questions are gleaned from movies, television, music, literature, current events and other aspects of pop culture: Star Trek, Rock Music, Harry Potter, Calvin & Hobbes, The Matrix, Art Masterpieces, Classic TV, Superman, Easter, Christmas, The 10 Deadly Sins, Dr. Seuss, Survivor, Science in the Bible, The Wizard of Oz, Johnny Cash, The Passion of the Christ, and many others.

Buckna’s quiz on The Simpsons appears on The Simpsons Archive (www.snpp.com/guides/solomann.html). Mark I. Pinsky, who covers religion for the Orlando Sentinel, writes in the acknowledgment section of The Gospel According to The Simpsons: "David Buckna...was one of the first people to see my Sentinel essay on the Internet and to encourage the idea of a book."

Buckna’s columns have also appeared on (www.bpnews.net), (www.faithnfilm.com),(www.rockrebel.com), (www.hollywoodjesus.com), (www.atu2.com), and (www.buffy.nu).

To obtain THE POP GOSPEL for the Religion/Faith section of newspapers, magazines, journals, or as a "Question of the Day" on Christian radio/television, e-mail solomann@look.ca