Jesus Plus Nothing (Harpers.org)
thanks to the commenter down below about this Harper's article. this is what alarms me: the conflation of worldly and spiritual 'power.' the masculinist vision of faith and faithful practice.
it also alarms me because it reminds me of the Omen. remember that movie? little damien being ushered through the halls of power, protected, perfect and ultimately powerful. how creepy is that? a group of christian politicians and captains of industry living for a spiritual war in which christ's power would be established on earth.
i don't recall that ever happening. but, whatever.
you need to read this article and ask how this jibes with faithful living.
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6 comments:
It has absolutely nothing to do with my understanding of the gospel. I remember reading that article last year and shuddering, frequently.
reading it made me ill. i know i come off here as some kind of anti-church liminal christian (what fundies would call lukewarm) but i think i just think of my faith in fairly simple terms: christ's divinity and his charge to love one another.
see? simple. this group in the article takes good christian ideals (die to self, humility, 'brotherhood') but then does something with it that freaks me out: instead of distinguishing itself because of its Otherness, it bears alarming resemblance to the status quo!
Hmmm,
One of my community members who is a recovering catholic explained to me what her devout catholic mother explained to her -- that the reason they took so long to declare the new pope and probably why they forced that shell of a man, the old pope to live so long is that they believe that his successor would be (or be associated with) the anti-christ. :)
i read about 75% of it. my initial thought is that jesus never did things in *secret* or tried to be deceptive. how do you share the truth if you don't tell the truth?
i think my favorite part is where they speculate that jesus would have been an 'awesome' athlete.
their weird appropriation of jesus aside, i just thought the boys club only aspect of it was...interesting and completely overlooked. the guy who shuns women because he just prefers 'competence' - but then later does a pretty good strip tease to al green, pelvic thrusts and all. hello!
i mean, can we say homosocial?? (with jesus being the 3rd point in this triangulation of desire?)
darkdaughta -
i think it's so funny that the line separating the ultra-religous and the, uh, opposite appears to be so thin in our imaginations.
my roommate bought this graphic novel called Chosen; it's about a contemporary boy who seemingly has all these miraculous powers and seems to be the incarnation of christ again. but, no! it's really the exact opposite! (but in all, it does give a pretty good and faithful reading of the gospel.)
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