In this exciting series, we will be revisiting popular culture and presenting challenging ideas from our fantastic speakers to people in their twenties and thirties, both singles and couples. This time, we will be presenting The Gospel according to The Red Sox (close to every Bostonian’s heart), The Sopranos and The DaVinci Code.

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The Gospel according to The Red Sox
June 14, 2005

Mr. Nathaniel Stinnett

The Gospel according to The Sopranos
June 21, 2005

Rev’d Mike D’Angelo

Who says American society isn’t concerned about ‘family’ values or does La Cosa Nostra not count? Tony Soprano and his extended ‘family’ have changed the way that Americans think about the Mafia. However, what many forget is that The Sopranos is really a story about contradictions. The Sopranos is really about Tony’s efforts to balance the disparate lives of his two ‘families’. There’s something familiar about that tension between what we know we should do and what we end up doing. So bring a paisan and grab a pint as we try to find the Gospel According to the Sopranos. You’d be oobatz to miss it.

The Reverend Michael D’Angelo is the Assistant Rector of Trinity Church in the City of Boston. Mike graduated from Yale Divinity School in May of 2004 and prior to returning to Boston in August of 2004 served the Church of the Transfiguration in New York City. Mike completed his undergraduate work at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL and now lives with his wife Faye in Hull, MA. Mike also hails from a large Italian extended family, and is not in any way affiliated with the Witness Protection Program.

The Gospel according to The DaVinci Code
June 28, 2005

Rev’d Benjamin King

Dan Brown’s book The DaVinci Code has become a phenomenon. It has spawned debate and discussion, a whole set of secondary literature, a travel industry, and now even a Hollywood movie. Something in this book appeals to our need for mystery — not only in the sense of “mystery” stories, but religious mystery too. At the end of the book, though, when the code is cracked, is the mystery destroyed?

The Reverend Benjamin J. King has been at the Advent since he was ordained a deacon in May 2000, coming straight from seminary in Cambridge, England. Born and brought up on the south coast of England, he was ordained priest by the Bishop of Chichester there in December 2000. Fr. King has found himself at home in Boston, enjoying the beauty of this city as well as the historical and cultural life. He even enjoys the beer here! Fr. King was educated at the University of Cambridge, both as an undergraduate and graduate student, received a Master’s Degree in Theology from Harvard University in 2003, and is presently working on a Ph.D. thesis on John Henry Newman.