A great American writer kept secrets — He was the American writer who lived from 1817 to 1862, whose poetic spirit and searching intelligence deeply imprinted on the world. But Henry David Thoreau, the author of Walden and “Civil Disobedience,” seemed not to have experienced ‘sexuality’, or so people thought. As a friend noted, his “interest in the sex opposite his own, was almost nil.” He’s an odd figure, little remembered anymore.

Jeff Chandler had a secret — He was one of the top Hollywood stars of the 1950s, and the image of ‘manliness’ for the decade. But Jeff Chandler saw himself as a woman. I’m thinking back to an eerie episode in 1999, when the tall, hunky actor who’d died in 1961 was back in the headlines. His former co-star, Esther Williams, published a memoir with a startling scene. He was a Jewish kid from Brooklyn.

The most famous Christian singer in history has been in the news lately, chosen as a Kennedy Center honoree, as a fall off her bike caused her to cancel some upcoming concerts. As her mortality comes in view and her career is assessed, I’ve wondered if Evangelicals will take Amy…

The religion didn’t like Epiphanes — When I set out to learn more about Christianity, I wondered if it was possible that all the leaders were sex-maddened puritans. But I noticed a lurking legend of the religion: a teenager around 150 A.D. who said the teachings of Jesus were communism and ‘free love’. I went to learn more about that. In ‘official’ Christian sources, Epiphanes is dismissed, or attacked.

Scholars lay out a shocking case — Is this the most amazing story I have ever heard? In 2010, a singer-songwriter named Libbie Schrader went to a Catholic church garden in Brooklyn to pray. She was Christian, and it wasn’t uncommon for her to feel that answers were given to prayer. But that day, praying to the Virgin Mary, the answer was unexpected. The message was: “Follow Mary Magdalene.” Being a singer-songwriter, Schrader’s course seemed clear.

The billionaire turns prophet? — Among launches of electric vehicles, rockets and satellites, and with an overhaul of Twitter in the works, Elon Musk is suggesting a new religion. I’m catching up on his latest Twitter musings, received by followers like Delphic oracles. He updated on July 8th: “We know so little today. I want to know the meaning of life or whatever the right question is to ask, as Douglas Adams would put it.”

Around the world, it’s the most popular — If asked their favorite color, most people will say blue, green, etc. The reality is that humanity has an overwhelmingly favorite color. It’s gray. I’m looking at a 2020 study by data scientist Cath Sleeman of objects photographed for museums. He found this color spectrum from the 1800s to the 2020s:

Christianity didn’t know what to do with…Junia? — When you grew up Christian in the 20th century you were told that religion was mostly all about men. God, the disciples, Paul, all leaders—were male. In 1977, a strange figure appeared on the scene. Scholars were saying that a name in Romans 16:7 had been misgendered. An apostle whose Latin name was Iounian—was female? In English, she was ‘Junia’, and this is her story.

John MacArthur preaches his religion’s white supremacy — Slavery is bad…right? It might seem any Christian would agree. But in a sermon given by John MacArthur back in 2001, little-noticed for two decades, he takes a different view. I’m catching up on an online furor. It started when Sharon Autenrieth, an assistant Methodist pastor and “social justice warrior” in Illinois found herself reading a MacArthur sermon, and thought more people should as well.