Blogging (mostly) about theology and popular culture, media, film, television, music, politics and current events. With some stuff about whatever I want thrown in for good measure.
[after extended quote referring to the birth of Christ from the Koran]…Though this story seems familiar to many Christians, odds are they’ve never read this version. This is the annunciation to Mary, as told in the Quran. Mary receives much more attention in the Quran than in the New Testament. In fact, her immaculate conception is mentioned in the Quran, but not in the Bible. Merry Christmas.
I am incredibly tired of people who obviously know little to nothing about Christian theology writing about it as if they are authorities.
The claim: Mary receives much more attention in the Koran than in the Bible/New Testament. What are you saying here? Is this important? Are Christians supposed to accede the superiority of the Koran because it gives a few more lines to a supporting character? It actually makes sense, as, the New Testament is more interested in Jesus, the Son of God, than it is in Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
But, that isn’t the only claim the paragraph makes. The writer says that the “immaculate conception” is not mentioned in the Bible, but is in the Koran. It is not at all clear what is meant by this. Is the author confusing “immaculate conception,” which refers to the birth of Mary, with virgin birth, which refers to the birth of Jesus? In which case, the Bible does speak of this. Or, is the author saying that the Koran discusses Mary’s lack of need for sanctifying grace? In which case, the portion quoted states “God has chosen thee, and purified thee…,” which seems to imply that she was purified from whatever sin she may have had, not that she was kept from sin altogether. This Koranic text does not speak about immaculate conception.
Either way, I can’t see the importance. The immaculate conception is a Catholic dogma, which doesn’t seem to relate all that much to wishing someone a Merry Christmas. The author put this perceived tidbit in there to imply either that the Koran is more Christian than Christianity, or to be clever and novel with this Christmas greeting. Neither are very successful.
The attempted rhetorical effect of the writing seems to be to shame Christians by saying, in essence, “Tsk tsk, we really are all the same after all. If you only took the time, you would understand.” But, the truth is, we are not all the same. So what if the Koran uses ideas that were written in Jewish and Christian texts hundreds of years prior? This does not make the texts equal, nor does it make their meaning or purposes in relaying similar narratives equivalent. The birth narratives of Christ in the New Testament say something very different, lead to differing conclusions about the identity of Christ, than does the Koranic material. Specifically, that Jesus is the Son of God, the only Son of God, being in very nature one with the Father, and, the Savior of humanity.
The rhetorical tactic here amounts to condescension, moral equivalence, and mediocre theological understanding. Not to mention a hijacking of Christmas.
Thanks. But, I think I’ll take my Christmas greetings and birth narratives from a Christian text. Which, by the way, happens to be the same place the Koran got them.
First of all, Merry Christmas. Thanks to the Reformed Chicks for digging this up, and reminding me of it:
Wish I was in California, celebrating with family on this holiday. But Toronto, watching 24 hours of A Christmas Story, will have to do until the 7th. In the intervening time, my mind is already drawn away from the Christmas story, to next week’s Epiphany text. I am preaching the next two weeks, at different churches, here in Toronto. Luckily, the Lectionary text is suitable for both weeks. Unluckily, the lectionary text is Matthew 2.7-18, The Slaughter of the Innocents (actually, the lectionary ends at v. 12, but I figure you have to go all the way with this one):
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
As Fred Craddock said when he preached on this text - “When the lullaby of Luke is over, the scream of Matthew begins.” But, everyone (besides me…and I suppose some others preaching this coming Sunday) has a week before having to think about that. Maybe I will post the sermon here when I’m done.
In the meantime, a Christmas sermon, masterful in its imagery, beauty, and poetics. A bit of a large file (~22 mb), but in my opinion, worth it. Bruce Thielemann, Glory to God in the Lowest.
[The story] revolves around a workaholic single woman who is set up on a date by her mother. Her date, a handsome, kind and caring carpenter who works at Ikea, turns out to be Jesus Christ, who’s returned for Armageddon and settled in contemporary Los Angeles.
…
While Christ has been a central character in historical films like “The Passion of the Christ” and “The Nativity,” turning him into a character in a contemporary romantic comedy is new ground for a studio film. It’s also something that has to be done carefully to avoid blasphemy, Gigi Grazer acknowledged.
The wife of Hollywood producer, Brian Grazer, named Gigi, apparently came up with this while driving around LA, seeing the signs of Armageddon all around her:
Said Grazer: “You see something basic like Britney Spears showing her crazy monkey to everybody, you find yourself thinking, is this the fall of the Roman Empire?”
Crazy monkey? Is that what they call it now. Damn I’m old.
You know, my friends, you couldn’t make this stuff up. Believe me, I’m sitting here wishing these people weren’t so stupid because I have better things to do than to chronicle their stupidity. But how do I pull myself away from the keyboard when The Wife gets a six-figure deal for driving around and coming up with an idea for a romantic comedy starring The Lord?
…
Hey, Hollywood, really want to be brave and stand up for the first ammendment? Try this with Allah and then lecture us again on right wing Christian intolerance. Of course, you’ll either have to do it from an undisclosed location or without a head.
Seems the local high school board of trustees votes last week to replace the terms “Winter Break,” and “Spring Break,” with the wildly controversial, and apparently highly offensive, terms, “Christmas,” and “Easter” breaks, respectively. One man was so disheartened by this that, well, he set himself on fire:
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - A man used flammable liquid to light himself on fire, apparently to protest a San Joaquin Valley school district’s decision to change the names of winter and spring breaks to Christmas and Easter vacation.
The man, who was not immediately identified, on Friday also set fire to a Christmas tree, an American flag and a revolutionary flag replica, said Fire Captain Garth Milam.
…
Beside the tree the man stood with an American flag draped around his shoulders and a red gas can over his head.
Seeing the deputy, the man poured the liquid over his head. He quickly burst into flames when the fumes from the gas met the flames from the tree.
The deputy ordered the man to drop to the ground as he and a parole agent sprayed him with fire extinguishers.
“The man stood there like this,” the deputy said with his arms across his chest and his head bent down, “Saying no, no, no.”
The man suffered first degree burns on his shoulders and arms, Milam said.
Kern County Sheriff’s Deputy John Leyendecker said the man had a sign that read: “(expletive) the religious establishment and KHSD.”
Living in Canada, I miss all the excitement.
Update: Check out the photos of the guy over at Hot Air. Something isn’t right. Allahpundit notices that the guy burned for 30 seconds, yet his hair is perfect. Note also, the guy’s full beard - I seem to remember that hair melts.
Also, don’t miss Blue Crab Boulevard’s label for the incident, inspired by the season of course. Heh.
Hakan Tastan, 37, and Turan Topal, 46, are accused of making the insults and of inciting hate while allegedly trying to convert other Turks to Christianity. If convicted, the two Turkish men could face up to nine years in prison.
Two Muslim students have been expelled from an Islamic school in Melbourne for urinating and spitting on a Bible and setting it on fire.
The explosive incident has forced the East Preston Islamic College to call in a senior imam to tell its 650 Muslim students that the Bible and Christianity must be respected.
Anxious teachers at the school have also petitioned principal Shaheem Doutie, expressing “grave concern” about an “inculcation of hatred and radical attitudes towards non-Muslims” at the school, including towards non-Muslim teachers.
The Jawa Report has the story of 14 Iranian Christian converts arrested, and facing possible death penalty under Sharia law. Click over there for the story, and pray for them.
Police forces started recording the religion of faith-hate crime victims only this year. They did so on the instruction of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), which wanted a clear picture of alleged community tensions around the country, following reports of Muslims being attacked after September 11 and the July 7 London bombings last year.
However, the first findings, for July to September, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph under freedom of information legislation, show that it is Jews who are much more likely to be targeted because of their religion….
The CPS report revealed that not a single person accused of an anti-Semitic crime had been prosecuted on a charge of religiously aggravated offending. It said: “The police statistics include incidents where no defendant has been identified or where there is insufficient evidence for a prosecution.”
Dhimmi Watch, and Jihad Watch, are blogs that should be visited daily.
Saw this over at Hot Air last week, and have been really disgusted with it ever since. It is a series of video shorts from Community Christian Church that play off of the Mac vs. PC commercials. Now, I am a Mac guy, so I really do enjoy those commercials. But, the way that they have been appropriated by this church, in order to attempt a break away from Christian stereotypes, in my opinion is misguided, and actually rather counterproductive. Here’s one of the spots. Go here for the playlist created by Allahpundit.
Now, I have to say, I understand wanting to distance oneself from tired, misconstrued stereotypes of Christianity. As a conservative Christian, in a liberal theological context, I feel as if I constantly have to be careful of people’s ideas of what conservative, evangelical theology contains. And, I think that to want to distance oneself from the likes of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, or more recently Ted Haggard, and prosperity thugs like Joel Osteen, is not only natural, it is in a very real sense, necessary. Those people are not me.
However, that is not what this church has done with these spots. The real issue I have with these spots is the end, and the ultimate message of them. The last shot of each spot leaves then image of what looks like a computer screen with the words “Christian No More.” This is just bizzare to me. Aside from the fact that the New Testament refers to Christ’s followers as Christians, and the fact that the church’s name is Community Christian Church, the impression is given that there needs to be a walking away from the label “Christian.” And I just think that idea is misguided.
Incidently, I think that the spots themselves play into existing stereotypes because they aren’t very good. These were probably created to play at a church service, so, in that context they might work. But, looking at them, I think that they are long, bulky, and a little boring. It is my experience that when Christians, especially those in the evangelical community, venture into the area of media, they do not do it very well. What we get is stupid movies like Left Behind that have poor production value, and lose the quality of art in favor of evangelism. These spots, in my opinion, fall into this category. While they are modeled on what I think is a pretty good ad campaign, they just aren’t that great.
Part of what makes them not all that great, I think, is that they are offensive for any of us who think of ourselves as “Christians.” I mean, I went to seminary, and am doing doctoral work in theology. And here this church is painting me as a dork, carrying around books about theology and ethics, as if those things were important. Damnit, those things are important. And I do carry around those books. But, not like that dude in the video. Christianity is, I agree, primarily about following Christ. Absolutely, no question. But, what does it mean to do that? It doesn’t mean hanging out and not caring about anything, like the “Christ-follower,” in the video. Anti-intellectualism in the church, especially in the North American church, is something that needs to be addressed. And, while I think that this video is trying to say, “who needs all those books, just follow Jesus,” all it does is further anti-intellectualism, in both of the characters. Sure, the “Christian” has books under his arm. He is also armed with a litany of useless bumperstickers. Christ-follower just doesn’t care. This, I think, is part of what is wrong in the church in North America today.
Additionally, I have a major issue with labeling oneself “Christian No More.” How does that further anything? How does that break a stereotype? All it sounds like is that you left the church, no longer believing in anything. To the average person, it does not sound how you want it to sound. But, I am realizing that this might be a larger, and seperate discussion.
I think it relates to the issue of moving beyond so-called traditional methods of doing church in favor of newer, post-modern, or, emergent, trends for ministry. On the one hand, I think that ministry needs to evolve and develop with a constantly changing culture. On the other, I am not convinced that these move beyond modernity, or that they are entirely relevant for contemporary culture. Just because you rip off a popular ad campaign does not mean that you have adapted. This is one more reason I am largely annoyed with emergent trends.
Further, you have alienated a large number of people who have sincere belief, people in your own tradition, people in the family of God, in an offensive manner, in order to get a chuckle. Do I like Christian bumper stickers? Mostly, no. (Ok, I don’t think I have ever seen one I would put on my Jeep). But, does that mean I make fun of believers who, maybe I think are a little out there. It is arrogance to display yourself as better than, and as these spots do, as cooler than, the rest of the Christian world. It reminds me of popularity contests in high school. And I think that Christian ministry should be beyond that.
Don’t get me wrong. Every family has embarrassing members. Maybe it is a strange aunt, or a cousin who is 30 and reminds you of Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. What do you do? Do you completely disassociate with the guy because he is a bit embarrassing? Or, do you say, that guy’s my family, as misguided, or, weird, as he might be? I don’t think that the guy who stands on the corner of Yonge and Dundas, across from the Eaton Centre, who is always there handing out tracts saying “There is only one way to holy God, through Jesus Christ his son,” has the best method of evangelism, or reaching out to contemporary culture. But, do I disown that guy? I believe that he plays a part in God’s economy of things, whatever that part may be.
The analogy only goes so far, and a firmly grounded theology gives foundation for knowing what behaviours and actions are defensible and which are not. Boundaries are, and need to be drawn. But not like this…or on these grounds.
Misguided because they don’t do what I think they were intended to do. Counterproductive because what they really do, in my opinion, is drip arrogance, and produce an us vs. them ethos in the church. Not my idea of what Christ had in mind for his followers.
Of more interest to me are the comments of the BHT’s Joel Hunter, who suggests that the ad itself, and the rhetoric that sustains the ads, participate in a whole set of modernistic presuppositions that buy deeply into the culture. I completely agree, and would suggest that the presentation of Christianity as a set of marketing concepts appealing to a particular niche market is indicative of the condition of modern evangelicalism in general.
These ads approach us primarily as consumers. I am sure the ad creators would say the ads are meant to approach us as potential (or actual) disciples looking for the church that will best equip and support a missional lifestyle. While this may be the intention- and it may be the reality at the churches using the ads- the appeal is to a kind of consumer identity that is little different in “Christ follower” church than it is in “Christian with bumper sticker” church.
The reactions of people [at Digg.com] who aren’t Christians were overwhelmingly positive, which I think speaks once again to attitude that people who aren’t Christian have towards people who are but don’t act like Christ.
…though I am not quite sure what he is getting at with that last line…
Well, as much as I love writing here, the last month has been non-stop Jürgen Moltmann for me. This was the last paper I had to finish to move on from the “course-work” portion of my doctoral program. It was long, long overdue. I thought I had better set the blog aside, and get Moltmann finished. And finished the paper is. Finally.
I am a little more free now, though only slightly. I am right on to the next phase of the program, Comprehensive Exams, which in essence is the commencement of thesis writing. I am beginning right away with an exegetical and theological study of Pauline eschatology, focusing primarily on how Paul’s inaugurated eschatology provides the framework for a dramatic theology. Exciting? Maybe only to me. But then again, that’s what matters I suppose. If I keep at it, I should be finished with this beast, the whole program that is, no later than this time next year. That will be a relief.
In addition to the school work, I am quite busy with other activities. Specifically, I am continuing to lead my “Faith and Film” discussion group at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church here in Toronto. We have already had two meetings, watching The Apostle, and The Wool Cap. This Friday we will be gathering to watch Edward Scissorhands, looking at the idea of the Christ-figure in popular media, followed in January with The Chronicles of Narnia, February: Finding Neverland, March: Big Fish, and April: Viewer’s Choice. Good discussions so far of issues of theology/faith in popular culture, especially media.
Meanwhile, at my other church, youth group is rough and unceasing. Those kids put me through the ringer every week, and I love them for it…most of the time. Our big event, that is taking more time than I have (but that’s how it always goes), is our short-term mission trip to Mexico in April. I am taking 5 of our high school students to the Mexicali Valley over Easter, with about 2,000-3,000 other high school students, to work with a local church outside their cultural and socio-economic comfort zone. Construction projects and sports ministry will be our task for that week.
So, my schedule is crunched. But, and this time I am hopeful, I think I will have some more time, and will be more disciplined, to keep up the blog. 40 pages on Moltmann’s eschatology is done for now, and my mind is just that much less crowded.
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