Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

I was thinking of this, so maybe it bears repeating.

--ER

Random thoughts, as I was watching "The Passion of the Christ" -- cannot believe it's been six years since it came out! only because I had to for a class. ...

Way too much spit in this movie. And the J.K. Rowling-meets-Stephen-King-and-they-have-a-baby-together-and-he-goes-into-special-effects special effects are just annoying the hell out of me. Ugh. 96 minutes to go.

I don't mind a movie incuding stuff that ain't scriptural. This is a dramatic portrayal of events for which we only have the barest outlines. It's just that I KNOW that people came away from this flick thinking, Yep, that's exactly what happened, no more, no less. Sigh. Jesus as graphic novel. 66 minutes to go.

OK, OK, I've heard peeps complain about the violence in this movie, that it's gratuitous. I disagree. I don't like it, but whipping with cats-o-nine-tails and crucifixion weren't a picnic. No, it's the dang devilmonkey kids taunting Judas and this creature from "The Twilight Zone" lurking around. *That's* literally gratuitous.

Egad. I think every Christian should watch this once. And every Christian with a blood fetish, who goes on about being washed in the blood, fountains filled with blood from Immanuel's veins, blood of the Lamb, etc., should watch it more than that and think about what they're so blithely singing.

I'm glad I was required to watch it; I might very well have not gone all the way through it in the theater; I walked out of "Halloween 3" for less (only movie I've ever walked out on; although I dang near walked out of "Bachelor Party").

OK, so this is steeped in the highest christology, of course, and draws from the richest veins, pardon the pun, of the most mature Passion stories in Scripture. Fine. Now, I was to see a lower-christology account of Yeshua having died via capital punishment at the hands of the state. Let's have a half dozen or so criminals crucified, with short versions of their stories, then Jesus gets crucified, then a few more criminals -- to show the commonplace context of this capital punishment, not just the spiritual conext, or I should say this particular kind of Catholic context.

Anyway. Glad it's over.

--ER

Welcome to church.

--ER

Jesus, can't we all just get along?

--ER

Look here.

--ER

Hot dog. My print of this, "Cowboy Revival," by Martin Grelle, a last-minute Christmassy present from Dr. ER, came! Signed by the arteeste, even. :-)

--ER

For History of Christianity 2: Reformation to the Present:

"The Story of Christianity: Volume Two - The Reformation to the Present Day,"
Justo L. Gonzalez.

"Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture," by Jaroslav Pelikan.

"Her Story: Women in Christian Tradition (2nd Edition)," by Barbara J. MacHaffie.

"A History of Christian Missions," by Stephen Neill.

"The Missionary Movement in Christian History," by somebody.



For Native Americans and Christianity:

"Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide," by George Tinker.

"American Indians and Christian Missions: Studies in Cultural Conflict," Henry Warner Bowden.

"Native Voices: American Indian Identity and Resistance," by Richard A. Grounds; Paperback.

"God is Red," by Vine Deloria.



For Theology in Film:

"Hollywood Dreams and Biblical Stories," by Bernard Scott.


Plus 30-something movies, and y'all can look 'em up if you want. :-)

Required Films:

About Schmidt 2002

Big Night 1996

Doubt 2008

Grand Torino 2008

Groundhog Day 1993

Jesus of Montreal 1989

Juno 2007

Lars and the Real Girl 2007

Last Orders 2002

Pieces of April 2003

Prairie Home Companion 2006

Rabbit-Proof Fence 2002

Smoke Signals 1998

Straight Story 1999

Stranger than Fiction 2006

Sudden Impact 1983

Ten Canoes 2006

The Last Temptation of Christ 1988

The Lives of Others 2007

The Passion of the Christ 2004

The Soloist 2008

The Truman Show 1999

Unforgiven 1992

Unstrung Heroes 1995

Water 2005

Whale Rider 2003


Recommended

As Good as it Gets 1997

Babettes’s Feast 1987

Eat, Drink, Man, Woman 1994

Frozen River 2008

Letters from Imo Jima 2007

Million Dollar Baby 2004

Mystic River 2003

Nobody's Fool 1994

Station Agent 2003

Super Size Me 2004

The Story of the Weeping Camel 2003

The Visitor 2007

Transamerica 2005


--ER

I love this.



How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said --
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

“Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

“The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.”

--ER

At this church.


IN MY SOUL
by Rabi'a al-Basri, saint, Sufi, Moslem


In
my soul
there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church
where I kneel.
Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist.
Is there not a region of love where the sovereignty is
illumined nothing,
where ecstasy gets poured into itself
and becomes
lost,
where the wing is fully alive
but has no mind or
body?
In
my soul
there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque,
a church
that dissolve, that
dissolve in
God.


Amen.

--ER

Oklahoma Institute for Biblical Literacy.

Dig.

--ER

for prayer, karma, good vibes and whatever else y'all have.

For my brother, for his sisters and myself; and for a friend's dad and my friend. Health-related. Life-related.

--ER

Recessions ain't over 'till they're over.

--ER

Blogger caves to TSA.

--ER

Blah.

--ER