For the Easter weekend, the online magazine Slate reprinted a thoughtful, two year-old reflection by James Martin on the reason why Easter is not the commercial extravaganza that Christmas is.Despite Easter being celebrated at a propitious time of year for advertising and shopping (the beginning of spring), its religious meaning has not been overwhelmed by secular commercialization.The reason, Martin astutely points out, is found in the very events that Easter recalls for believers and non-believers alike:

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While I am at it, a link is furnished below to another recycled article found over at the Slate website this past Easter weekend: Born Again, Sort Of: How the First Christians Understood Jesus’ Resurrection.Written by New Testament scholar, Larry Hurtado, this piece offers helpful background on the origins of the doctrine of resurrection and highlights the critical emphasis orthodox Christianity places on the physical body as central to the question of what it is to be human (as opposed to Gnosticism, both ancient and modern). http://www.slate.com/id/2249526/

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A series of FAW entries last month dealt with the cultural implications of digital media on patterns of thinking.A recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal by L. Gordon Crovitz explores the possibility that as digital media have opened up access to endless information sources, many are getting their news and opinions from a narrower band of perspective. The result is a diminishment of creative engagement with articles, stories or differing viewpoints that might surprise and challenge us, if only to sharpen our own perspectives. The loss, Crovitz writes, is in the experience of serendipity.

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Easter was not the only big cultural event of this past weekend.Apple also began selling the long-awaited and heavily-hyped iPad.I have read myriad reviews of the latest must-have Apple product.From what I glean so far, the consensus seems to be that the iPad is an indulgence: it is not a device one needs (certainly not one likely to replace the personal computer anytime soon), but it would be fun to have one in any case.The iPad is mainly a smartly-designed entertainment and reading device with email capabilities. As a reading device, the iPad is surely to give the Amazon Kindle stiff competition.

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