About Caritas

I have been asked why I chose to name this site "Caritas." The suggestion for the name actually came from my good friend, Ron Cox, Religion professor at Pepperdine, thinker extraordinaire, and general co-conspirator. The more I thought about the suggestion, the more it began to take hold because I realized the name will work on multiple levels.

First, "caritas" is the Latin word for "loving kindness" (used as the translation for "agape" in the Vulgate). It points to the perfection of the human spirit as a reflection of the glory of God. It is also one form of the Greek word for "grace." As such, Caritas represents the religious angle of this blog and my attempts to find hints of God's grace within popular culture.

Second, Caritas is the name of a karaoke bar run by Lorne, aka Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan (from whom a quote adorns the top of this page) on the TV series "Angel." So the name not only represents the religious interests of my blog but the pop culture interests as well.

Third, the point of this karaoke bar named Caritas on "Angel" is that whenever patrons get up to sing, Lorne, who is kind of psychic, is able to read their soul and their future while they are singing. I particularly enjoy the fact that whenever Angel himself gets up to sing, he always chooses Barry Manilow tunes. So this third angle represents the idea that this blog is a place where I reveal my own self through my writings, but also hope to reveal, in a sense, the soul of popular culture.