Exploring Film Technique pt 1

Throughout the majority this animation, the viewer can clearly sense the bunny’s irritation towards the moth that is flying about her kitchen and disturbing her baking.  It is clear to the viewer that the bunny is elderly and appears to be rather cranky and set in her ways, so she does not take kindly to this energetic moth. This irritation eventually transforms into rage and the bunny does everything that she can to destroy the moth. Out of intense frustration, the bunny decides to incorporate the moth into the cake that she is in the midst of baking. As it is being baked, this aggravating, yet determined moth ends up opening a doorway to a starry world, which appears to be the afterlife, that the bunny is able to access through the oven. The bunny's irritation and rage transform into awe and wonder as she enters into this new world. It appears as if she is remembering her youth and her lover and thus the joys that life can bring. The film ends with the image of the bunny and her husband shown as younger, happier versions of themselves. As the bunny enters this new world, the music changes to match the feeling of awe that this starry world creates, making it easier for the viewer to connect with the transformation that the bunny is experiencing. 

In the film Northfork, a young orphan lays confined to his bed while awaiting his inevitable death. He has a very powerful dream in which he moves freely through the air in a swing. Swinging is an action that many children enjoy as it creates a sensation that is similar to flying. The orphan, who in reality is unable to leave his bed or do anything on his own, smiles as he experiences the freedom of flying. He obviously has a strong desire for life, but is unable to physically express it as a result of his illness, so it is up to his mind to create the illusion of freedom and childlike enthusiasm.  

The scenery is an incredibly important aspect in the film Paris, Texas. The director uses the scenery to highlight the personalities and attitudes of characters throughout the film. One scene beautifully illustrates the differing temperaments of Travis and his brother. A jagged and treacherous mountain range is featured behind Travis while he converses with his brother who is standing before a safe and pleasant looking pasture. This juxtaposition is meant to contrast Travis’s precarious and nomadic tendencies with his brother’s civilized and steady lifestyle. Another example in which the setting is symbolically rich is the string of scenes in which Travis visits his wife. Many physical barriers exist between the two of them. They are separated by a wall, then a one way mirror, so Travis can see his wife but she cannot see him, and lastly, they are forced to communicate via telephone. Travis tries desperately to reconnect with his wife despite these many barriers. These barriers seem to represent the emotional distance between the lovers that was caused by the apparent emotionally traumatic event that occurred in the past and caused their separation. 

Numen

Holiness is peculiar to religion to despite coming from the sphere of ethics. This is very interesting to me that holiness can apply only to religion yet it is taken from ethics. Holy is an ethical concept but it is hard to define. I agree with Otto that it completely eludes apprehension in terms of concepts. The reason for this is that holy has became synonymous with "sacred." The word holy has come to mean completely good, an ethical concept. I think of Holy as something else. I don't always think Holy can be good. Japanese cultures emphasis these, having the spirits but holy while committing good and evil acts.

analogies and associated feelings

The inherit other wordly nature of the numinous makes it hard grasp. That is part of  the fascination of it. No attempt to describe the numinous can really succeed so perhaphs analogy from another area that is not religions is neccessary. The analagoies between sublime and the numinous fit this. They are both ideas that "cannot be folded".  Some general ideas can be gathered from them but the exact definition isnt really possible.

Game of thrones-red women

The red women is a priest in the show game of thrones. A very beautiful women who uses her beauty and magic to manipulate the men in power. At the ending of the season premier her beauty is juxtaposed with her true form, a very,very old women. After failing the man she thought was the savior of the world. She must start to come to terms with reality. The scene shows her in front of a mirror as she removes clothes, revealing her very attractive body and breasts, but then she removes her broach and the camera pans out to show an ancient looking naked women, but it is clear in her face and eyes that it  is still the red women.

Leaving it all

Keegan Ruddy
Outside reading
Forming Intentional Disciples

In Sherry Weddell's Forming Intentional Disciples, there is a quote from the Gospel of Luke "Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men." And when they brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:10-11)" (Weddell pg.65) This call to discipleship caused the original disciples of Jesus to leave everything. Now that is powerful, a call that was powerful enough to cause men to leave everything. Their jobs, homes, and entire way of life. In order to follow a man they did not necessarily know that well. They must have just felt the call from God. Yet many times we all here a call from God and can ignore as humans. These men did  not and through their acceptance and following and learning from Jesus, the Christian Church was born. The first followed Jesus, so that now all Christians can. Yet do all Christians give it all up for Jesus? We are called to not be attached to the things of this world and that is a challenge. A challenge we have an example to follow in though. Firstly the example is Jesus, who was not attached to this world. Secondly, is these disciples. They gave it all up in order to find something and learn something bigger than they could ever know or imagine. They followed Jesus and learned from Him how to change hearts. Change hearts that could then change more hearts. The trend has continued since the time of Jesus. They left it all for Jesus and to win hearts for Jesus. Christians now, must be just as bold and do the same!

Confess to beauty

Keegan Ruddy
Outside reading
Saint Augustine's Confessions

A quote that captured my attention in Saint Augustine's The Confessions was "Narrow is the mansion of my soul; enlarge Thou it, that Thou mayest enter in. It is ruinous; repair Thou it. It has that within which must offend Thine eyes; I confess and know it." (Augustine pg.4) Our soul is a mansion. God created it, therefore it is good, as we know from the Creation story in Genesis. It is a mansion because God dwells within it. Our bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit, they must be beautiful. Yet they are like ruins, beaten down by our sin. Augustine knows that our sin is offending God. Yet we ask God to fix this, because we are helpless without Him. This is such an interesting and beautiful part of Christianity. We ask the God we offend, to clean those offenses. We ask this because, before we could even ask, He promised and gave us a Savior in the form of His Son. Augustine confesses what he believes in these books and it shows that he knows he has to rely on God! Not just n some things, but in all things. For God knows all we have done, even the "secret" faults and forgives us when we ask for His forgiveness. Then God Works with us when we try to better ourselves for Him and to know, love, and serve Him more fully.

"Gift-love"

Keegan Ruddy
Outside reading
C.S. Lewis The Four Loves

In C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves, Lewis' begins the book by explaining what type of love Divine Love is "Divine Love is Gift-love. The Father gives all He is and has to the Son. The Son gives Himself back to the Father, and gives Himself to the world (in Himself) back to the Father too." (Lewis pg.11) Lewis' original example of Gift-love is a man taking care of his family even though he himself will not see the fruits of his labor. This idea of gift-love, is selfless love. A love that is a total gift of self to another. Now his second type of love in this chapter is need-love. That seems to be the idea that as humans we have a nature of needing help. We are not competent or sufficient on our own and need love, mostly from God. Secondarily, we need love from those in our life. The second example Lewis' gives to the reader of gift-love, comes from need-love, "that which sends a lonely or frightened child to its mother's arms." (Lewis pg.11) Children need love, they need it from their mother in order to survive. They need love in the form of physiological needs, and as they get older, emotional needs. These types of love outline human natures need for love and the gift of love they receive, whether it be Divine Love or human love.

Conditional Unconditional Love--outside reading

Conditional Unconditional Love
Ashley Frost

"Is there such a thing as unconditional love? Is unconditional love desirable? Isn't our way of loving, our philosophy of love (including unconditional love), always conditioned by our cultural, religious, and social mores?" (236)
-Socrates in Love by Christopher Phillips

The idea of unconditional love, or agape, is quite the interesting topic.  I personally believe that this pure, selfless, unconditional love can only come from Jesus Christ, and that as humans we cannot love people in this way... at least fully.  We can have the purest of intentions, and truly believe that we are doing it unconditionally, but is it unconditional if it gives you some sort of satisfaction?  Is it unconditional if you're doing it because you "should love unconditionally"?  Or is Jesus the only one that is able to truly, 100% of the time love in this way.  Jesus does not love us to make Him feel better about himself, nor does He loves us because He "has" to, or was told to.  It's simply in His nature.  Is it in ours?

Childlike Faith

Childlike Faith
Ashley Frost

     This semester I have been reading a lot about C.S. Lewis and his Narnia series, as well as watching the film The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe  (this is what I wrote my paper on).  The more I have read about the beautiful, fantastical world of Narnia, I have thought more and more about my faith.  It is wondrous to me that Lewis chose Lucy to be the one that discovered Narnia.  It was because of her childlike faith and belief that she was able to find Narnia, just as the Bible talks about entering Heaven with childlike faith.  It makes me question whether I have this sort of faith; the kind that is unwavering and pure.  And if I don't have this sort of faith, how does one achieve it?

Science and Christianity-- Outside Reading

Science and Christianity--outside reading
Ashley Frost

     In J. Dudley Andrew's book "Major Film Theories", he talks about why science was in a sense "failed"... "Science's claim rested on its alleged tie to the truths of nature. The broken and "unnatural" life we lead in this century is evidence enough of the disillusioning failure of that claim and those promises... Kracauer insisted that the failure of science was a result of its incessant drive toward abstraction. Instead of helping us learn to know, love, and live in harmony with the things and beings of the world, science has consistently foresaken those things and those beings in search of the higher laws which control them" (125).  I find this extremely interesting to think about, and this is actually something that has influenced my faith and understanding of science.  For many Christians it seems that there is either belief in Creationism, or belief in science.  For me, I believe in both.  I do not deny the facts that the world around us provides, such as our close relation to primates.   But as stated above, science alone does not teach us how to love or live in harmony with the world; it teaches us about the world.  I think both are necessary in order to live a full life.

The thin red line

Keegan Ruddy
Movie in class
The Thin Red Line

The Thin Red Line was very curious. The story of this group of soldiers was interesting because a few things. One their leader. Nick Nolte, was a "charismatic" guy, but could not convince all his inferior officers to lead men in to fights. He was not worrying about men, rather about his own personal gain. This differs from the officer who continuously clashes with Nolte on whether or not to advance or rest. Nolte is gunning for an advancement, while his inferior officer wants to win the battle and most importantly keep his men alive. This officer is caring for the men, sympathetic for them and the fact that they have wives to go home to. He also understands the fact that they are in war and a battle must be won in order to get these men home safe. This is similar to the idea discussed in one of my other blogs about men needing to be both a lion and a lamb. A fierce and firm leader, while also having compassion and understanding for those they lead. This officer is exemplifying those traits that Christian men are called to. He lead by a fierce example, while having compassion for the men and their needs as humans. Their physical need for water, their families emotional needs to know that their loved one is safe or gets home safe. The officer is willing to fight with his superior because he knows that it is the right thing to do and that is more important than anything. Doing what is right to serve those around you. Once again the officer following the call of  a Christian.

"Love" today

"Love" today
Ashley Frost

     The word "love" is tossed around like it's nothing these days, and I have been thinking a lot about this ever since we talked about the different kinds of love when discussing Babette's Feast.  For that film we talked about agape love, unconditional or charitable love, and eros love, or sensual love.
    Not only is the English word "love" totally ambiguous, it has the potential to mean something very great and meaningful, and also mean almost nothing at all.  When I say "I love my backpack and I love my mom" there are so many things that I could be portraying or attempting to portray by saying that, but our one word does not do well in explaining that.  This is probably not news to many people, but what can be done about it?  Do we as English speakers just accept the fact that I can say the above sentence in normal, everyday passing and not be questioned?  Or can we attempt to portray our love using different, or more words?  Is it worth it?  Is it even a problem that needs to be addressed or discussed?  I think it would be wonderful to incorporate the words agape and eros into more of our everyday speech; or to simply normalize it! We as English speakers can use a little more diversity when it comes to the word love.

Break free

Keegan Ruddy
Outside reading
Wild at Heart

John Eldredge's, Wild at Heart, writes about the discovering of a man's soul. In the book he tells a story of a lion he experiences at the zoo by his home. He talks about the sadness he sees in the lion because it does not belong in a cage. Rather he talks about the lion's rightful place as ruling over other animals, chasing down gazelle, striking fear into the animals. This was not just to talk about lion's as impressive animals and creations of God. It is to say that, men should take their rightful place in the world. As leaders of the family. Men belong not leading with an iron fist. Rather with a loving and firm fist. Men of the world cannot end up like the lion stuck in the zoo, not being able to be the beautiful creation it was designed to be. Men are to be bold, loving, fierce, and faithful. Men need to lead with these qualities as they were designed to do. Men cannot just stay in a cage and allow his talents to be diminished by a cage. Men need to break free, the thing is, they are already free. Men just need accept the freedom the were given by God through Christ! Christ set men free and gave them a example of Himself for men to follow. Men have an obligation that needs to be filled in order for the Christian Church to grow and thrive in this world. The have the ability to do this, they just need to use it as it was intended for them to use it.

Blatant Christianity in Movies (Gods Not Dead)-outside reading

Blatant Christianity in Movies (God's Not Dead)-outside reading 

Ashley Frost

     In the past two years, two films have come out entitled God's Not Dead and God's Not Dead 2.  These two films are aimed at Christian audiences, and tell the story of Christians who are made fun of or challenged in their faith, and are ultimately the "winners" and prove that God's not dead.  I read a blog post recently (link at the bottom of this post) that discusses these movies and the "theology of war"; that is the war that Christians are at with non-believers.  The author of this blog argues that the way that these films portray Christianity is not at all the way in which we (Christians) should go about spreading the Gospel.  "If the only things I knew about atheism and Christianity were what this movie taught me, I would think that all atheists are evil, arrogant, scheming snakes whose entire purpose in life is to seek out and crush any possible hint of Christianity in the world".  The obviously biased films give them impression that Christians are helpless and are attacked by evil atheists, which honestly is just not true (most of the time).  And as Christians, is this the way that we are going to spread the Gospel?  Do these movies give the message of love?  Or do they give the message that it's Christians vs. the world?  In a sense that is true, in that as Christians we are called to not be of this world, and to pursue Heaven and be Christ-like.  But it does not mean that we must have an "us versus them" mentality.  I think that if Christianity is going to be blatantly in the media, we as believers need to be aware of the messages that we are sending and how that affects those receiving the message. 

https://firingatwill.wordpress.com/2016/04/04/gods-not-dead-2-and-the-theology-of-war/

ground hog day

Ground hog day is a great movie staring bill murray. I heard someone talk about his movie and say that murray was stuck in reincarnation cycle and he is working to break the cycle and achieve nirvana. I hadn't heard this before but I thought it had a lot of merit. In the beginning of the movie he is attached to material and earthly things. He begins to let go and live every day like its his last but this also leads to attachment and suffering. Only when he lets go truly does he brake the cycle.

The thin red line

The thin red line is a very odd war movie. The movie opens on private witt and his contemplations about life and death. He is hanging out on a village while AWOL contemplating life and death as the camera shows all the beauty and nature the island has to offer. This is very different then what will be shown soon. The movie very strongly foreshadows witt's death in his monologue as he talks about his mothers death and the dignity and calmness she went out with and that he wishes to go out like she did. After sacrificing himself to save his comrades by leading the enemy away.  A look of calmness comes over him and he goes out with the same calmness his mother did.

Harry Potter- outside reading

Harry Potter - outside reading
Ashley Frost

     The Harry Potter books are brilliantly made, and there are quite a few religious themes in these books, especially themes from Christianity.  In the last book, Harry willingly sacrifices himself to die so that he may save everyone else at Hogwarts.  Harry then comes back to life, because his sacrifice was made so willingly and selflessly.  Harry Potter defeated death, in a similar way that Jesus did.  Jesus' sacrifice for all of man kind was done selflessly and willingly, and He too defeated death.  It was because of both of their sacrifices that many, many people were able to be saved.  Harry is referred to as "the chosen one"; the person that will save others from Voldemort and his reign of terror.  Jesus too is the chosen Messiah; the one that saved all mankind from sin and death.
      Another similarity between the Harry Potter books to Christianity is the overall theme of good versus evil, light versus darkness.   The 7 book series begins in a very light-hearted, warm way, but by the seventh book, darkness is very prevalent and looming.  Lord Voldemort leads the dark side, and he believes in and desires power above all, similarly to Lucifer.  He kills, lures, and destroys without a single thought.  Nothing in him is good.  Those that fight for the light side though are fighting for love, family, and unity.  Also similar to what Christianity stands for.  Although not obvious, these books can lead the reader to think about things such as light versus darkness and goodness versus evil, without realizing that they are pondering central themes of the Bible and of Christianity.

Cold fever

Cold fever was a movie I enjoyed a lot. The main character is introduced as a very secular, businessman. When his religious grandfather asks him to perform rituals for his dead parents he brushes him off saying he doesn't believe in that superstition. However divine intervention causes his parents to come up on a video and he flies to iceland to perform the ritual. Chaos greets him and follows him through the entire time he is in iceland. AS the chaos continuos to distrupt his life he is met by an older shaman like man who guides him on a spiritual journey to where he must perform the ritual. I think as he is finally performing the ritual, some closure comes to him as he realizes religion helps people cope with the chaos that penetrates life at times.

Game of Thrones-high sparrow

In game of thrones a religious cult forms. The leader of this cult is a very interesting character, referred to as the high sparrow. This high sparrow is introduced feeding hungry people while he is in rags and shoeless. When asked why he was shoeless he said "because someone else needed them" his character has a very jesus tone to it until its shown that his compassion is not limitless. Unlike every other character in the show his intentions are the most confusing because they are the most true. He wants to follow his religion. At times he expresses this through compassion but at times he jails men for being gay and jails people who even knew about it. Sometimes it is mixed. While a prisoner is receiving rough treatment from a nun, he comes up and apologizes and comforts her. This reminds me of old testament god that can be very harsh at times.

Cold Fever

Ashley Frost

Cold Fever

In both movies, the ritual that the main character's wen through changed their previous understanding of the meaning of life.  In Groundhog Day Phil's experiences changed him from an egotistical, selfish man into a caring, considerate, and helpful man.  He realized that he needed to focus on others in order to escape the sacred time that he was stuck in, even though he was doing profane actions.  In Cold Fever, the main character Hirata also went through a major transformation.  Similarly, he changed from a selfish, success-driven young business man into a compassionate man.  At the beginning of the film it is revealed that Hirata does not believe in superstitions or rituals, but as the film continues, more and more strange and chaotic events begin to occur.  It is because of all of this chaos that Hirata feels a stronger sense of urgency to perform the ritual because it will bring back order. 

I think that comedy plays a large role in both films.  I think that there can tend to be a negative stigma when a person thinks of rituals because of the serious and religious aspects.  But I think in both films that humor was important and necessary to get a larger point across; that ritual is not just a boring, serious task that a person must complete.  It is a part of life, and life is not always serious! There is joy, laughter, pain, confusion, etc. and that was illustrated in both films. 

The movie Cold Fever even further confirmed my belief in ritual, especially when it comes to funeral and death rituals.  I think that these rituals are important in life, and that was expressed by the end of this film. 

Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now

Ashley Frost

Apocalypse Now is a film that takes place during the Vietnam War, and follows the path of Captain Benjamin L. Willard who is sent on a secret mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz.  Kurtz, a highly decorated U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel, abandoned the army and is thought to now be insane as he “rules” over the tribes in the jungles of Cambodia with violence.  This movie truly brought to light how dark and evil man can become, even someone as “good” as Colonel Kurtz.  These tribes, his “children” are kept safe from the war because Kurtz watches over them and protects them.  He is a God figure to them.  He almost seems untouchable, until the end of the movie when Willard butchers Kurtz at the same time that the cow is being butchered as a sacrifice.  Throughout the entire film there is this tension between two different worldviews.  On one hand there is the jungle and all of the indigenous peoples (natural), and on the other we have the Westerners and their technology and war ravaging the country (artifical).  When the two worlds collide chaos ensues and war erupts.  Kurtz was almost a combination of the two, and that didn’t end well.  

The Jungle Book - Red Flower

         Disney's newest rendetition of The Jungle Book did a wonderful job sticking to the original plot and adding a twist of modern effects. In this film, fire symbolized power. It was something that even the strongest animal in the jungle feared because it was man-made. Shere Khan never accepted Mowgli into the jungle for fear that Mowgli would one day acquire the red flower and become more powerful than him. Whomever had the red flower was thought to have all control.

Blade Runner

Blade Runner

Ashley Frost

Blade Runner was a difficult film for me to wrap my head around at first.  After the class discussion I was better able to understand what was happening, not just with the plot but the underlying themes and messages that are trying to get out.  The entire film seems to beg the question of “does God exist?” since humans are able to create life in this film.  If man has the power to create something extremely human-like that isn’t human, then what created man?  Something ironic about this film is that the Creator, Tyrell, has to wear this huge glasses in order to see, and the replicants are identified through their eyes.  The replicants also value their life and obviously want to keep it, so why are the blade runners so intent on killing them?

The Jungle Book- Elephants as God

The Jungle Book

Ashley Frost

I am a huge Disney fan, so I really enjoyed going to see this new film.  The filming was beautiful, and I loved how realistic and lifelike everything seemed.  There were many points in the film when I actually felt like I was in the movie.  One part of the film that I loved was how the elephants were portrayed.  There was a point in the film when Bagheera and Mogli were walking through the forest and as the elephants passed by Bagheera told Mogli to bow down with him.  He said (something along the lines of, this is not a direct quote) “we must show them respect because they are the ones who created the forest.  The formed the rivers and the mountains and the forests with their tusks and bodies…”.  At the end of the film it is the elephants that move trees to block up the waterfall so that the “peace rock” will appear, and bring peace to the jungle.  I loved this subtle comparison of the elephants to God; both as magnificent, powerful creators.  And even though the elephants are extremely large and powerful, they never once were anything but good.

The Tree of Life

Ashley Frost -- The Tree of Life

The film The Tree of Life was one of the most intriguing, confusing, and thought provoking films that I have ever seen.  I was anticipating the film to follow the O'Brien family as a "normal" film does... but it was anything but normal.  As I was watching it I tried to capture and understand every moment and detail that flashed across the screen, but I soon found this task to not only be tiresome, but worthless.  I had to force myself to sit back and absorb it all, without trying to make any connections or ideas of what the film was attempting to teach.  Instead, I then tried to just let it wash over me, and I told myself that I would think about it later!  I found this technique to be much more effective.

This film discusses, in a beautiful way, two different "paths" in life that we are able to take.  Either the path of Nature or of Grace.  Mr. O'Brien, the father, represents the way of Nature, and Mrs. O'Brien, the mother, represents the way of Grace.  The film explores both paths, and the implications and consequences that these two paths offer.

As I watched the film and later reflected upon it, I of course asked myself which path I am more drawn to, and I think that I am more drawn to the path of Grace.

The movie seemed to also ask the questions that we as humans tend to ask ourselves all of the time; such as what is the purpose of life?  Or why do bad things happen? The way in which this film was made led me to feel the insignificance of these questions in relation to God… who am I to ask these questions to the creator of the universe?  Who am I to question His goodness?  And yet when I feel this insignificance, it isn’t belittling.  If anything I felt comforted by it, and the fact that my life is held in the hands of a God who created everything.  The mother in the film also seemed to feel this way at the end, when she said “I give him to you”.  She gave up questioning God and gave up fighting Him, and instead she received peace when she did that.

Cold Fever - Importance of Tradition and Ritual

This movie really spoke to me because I have an Asian background, but have sadly never learned as much about my heritage as I should.  I like that this film asks questions that make us evaluate what is important in life.  For Hirato, the present and his materialistic life was all that mattered, but we see his journey transform him into a man who sees the value in tradition and the sentimental things. Sadly, it took tragedy to get him to this point.  But for us, it is never too late to go back and make traditions and rituals a part of our life.  This film probably speaks to us all differently, but to me it seems to beckon me to be more curious and appreciate the other cultures that make me who I am and discover what they have to offer me.

Inferno

Did God know what he was doing when he created the world, then added people, then gave people the ability to destroy the earth and self-destruct?  Dan Brown's Inferno has sparked my interest in questions such as these.  It seems as though we are headed to a bad place with no light at the end of the tunnel.  I am also challenged because there are some very logical ideas that point to terrible methods of dealing with this problem, particularly wiping out a significant amount of the population.  Now, I a a believer in makin sacrifices if it is for the greater good, but can this apply to sacrificing so many people for the good of our world and humanity's future?  If you look at this from a purely logical perspective, it actually (and scarily) makes some sense.  Sacrifice some people now for the prosperity of future generations as well as saving our planet from destruction.  But is this what God intended?  If we are not supposed to sacrifice ourselves, are we to just continue down the path of destruction?
Today, we have been exposed to more sustainable ways of development, but this is very expensive and far from being the norm.  There really does not seem to be a right solution to this problem.  Inferno is a great story because it asks us what we can and should sacrifice for the greater good, and what God intends for us to do in that situation.

Words as Ritual

I recently watched Dead Poet's Society for the first time, and I love it.  Words have always been interesting and special to me, and to see a film show respect for them is a wonderful thing.  I would like to make a connection between God and words, because it can be easy to forget that God has a voice amidst the chaotic lives that we live and he nature of this modern age.  In Dead Poet's, we see young boys who we can easily relate to.  They're on top of the world, and have it all figured out. Mr. Keating then shakes up their world with some simple words.  They are exposed to their power and it eventually influences their whole lifestyle.  God is not present in the flesh to speak to us, but he does speak to us through written word and the words of others.  When we hear beautiful sentiments that evoke feelings in us, that is God.  When we read a book that brings us to tears, that is God speaking.  This movie highlights one of the most basic things about our humanity, our ability to communicate orally, and gives it the reverence it deserves.
This concept also reminds me of ritual, for rituals often include spoken words.  Every time we say "Good morning" or "I love you," I argue that this is a sort of ritual because these are familiar words spoken each day that bring us meaning.  They are shared by all and are one of our common human qualities.  Spoken words are essentially a common ritual for all of humanity, and Dead Poet's displays this perfectly.

The Church

Keegan Ruddy
Topic of Choice
The Church is not a school

In Rudolf Otto's,  The Idea of the Holy, he discusses the Lutheran Church and how it became more of a school, a place for people to find truth. Now the Church, the whole Christian Church, as an institution is a place that preaches and gives people truth. Truth in the Gospel and proclaiming that in word and deed to the whole world. By no means should the Church be a school only though. It is a safe haven, for the lost and the tired to find rest. Those who are fighting the good fight to have a place to refuel and get back into the world to preach what they know. There is a place in the Church for teaching, that is without question. Christians must be formed in their faith and informed about their faith in order to evangelize it to the world. The idea of the Church as just a school though is not what most Christians would view it as. It is a shelter in the storm of life, God provides a community for His people to find comfort among one another and place for them to come together and worship Him. Because God is worthy!

Mysterium tremendum

Mysterium is used to describe that which is hidden and esoteric, and beyond our understanding. In religion one is often captivated by a feeling, or idea that is beyond understanding. The very idea of "perfection" in god is beyond understanding yet people are still captivated by that feeling. That feeling can come gently or strongly and it comes and goes, sometimes giving way to the profane. Even though the word has negative connotations, in can inspire very positive feelings.

Divination to-day

Has the portrayal of christ's life, as preserved and handed down by the christian church, the value and power of a revelation for us to-day, or do we in the matter but live upon the inheritance bequeathed us by the first community of christians and base our faith on the authority and testimony of others? Is it possible to really comprehend  "the Holy". If the first disciples could not then why would any generation after them be able too? But if humans have something inherit in them that allows them to witness the spirit then it is possible. And if this assumption is made, then the exact history and stories of christ are much less relevant than unlocking this inherit ability to "witness the spirit"

Rational and non rational

An object that can be thought of conceptually may be termed rational. God is considered perfect and humans imperfect but people still try to conceptualize god even though it is impossible for a imperfect being to create an imperfect being, even if just through thought. So people try to take concepts like good will and supreme power and apply them to god. This causes many disagreements because these people are trying to apply concepts to a concept. The old cliche is justice can't be touched but it's still there. The problems occur with this because without anything tangible, the concept is left up to the interpretation of that particular group of people. Honor killings happen in the middle east and it is considered justice while they is considered an incredible injustice in America.

The urge to believe

Man's urge to believe in religion has always puzzled me. This urge crosses all time, geographical, and cultural barriers. Seemingly every civilization in history has had religion. But why? We all feel hungry so we all eat. Seems simple. At some point the organisms who felt hunger were able to eat, survive, and reproduce more than the others. What about religion makes it an evolutionary advantage? Based off the amount of wars religion has caused, it would seem to be the opposite of an advantage. Yet as civilization has gone from lighting fire in caves to putting someone on the moon, people have also wanted to believe in something spiritual. Is this urge to evolutionary but instilled in us by a creator? If instilled by a creator, why different answers to the same question?

Attraction

At the end of the original jungle book Mowgli see's a girl singing and is infatuated with her and goes off to follow her, leaving behind his friends for a stranger. The end of Dragon Ball has a similiar ending, after going through many adventures and growing up with his friends, Goku grabs chichi, a girl he barely knew, and flew off together to get married and wouldn;t see his friends for years. From a certain stand point this seems absurd but when I thought about it, it is really what life is like. I have a friends I've known  for 10+ years but my post college life is already being planned around my girlfriend of less than a year. Is this just the physical attraction people have for others that makes them disregard their old life to start a new one with someone they don't know as well? Or deep down are we innately searching for love that cannot be achieved through friendship?

Jungle Book

The new rendition of The Jungle Book, provided a more realistic and dramatic approach to the story we all know and love. The religious symbolism in the film portrayed the contrasting characters of the jungle. Mowgli, the protagonist, is portrayed as an innocent boy in the beginning of the film. He has no fear as he faces near death experiences in the jungle amongst wild predators as he believes he belongs with the wolves. As the film progresses, characters representing evil are introduced. Shere Khan is a man-eating tiger who threatens the entire jungle until they hand over Mowgli to him. The tiger can be representative of the devil as he deceives the other animals into getting his way. Another interesting symbol in the movie is the scene with the snake, Kaa. Kaa is also deceiving and says "trust in me" to Mowgli as he attempts to trap him in his coils. Before Mowgli is introduced to Kaa, he is eating fruit that he finds which represents the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden. Kaa is representative of the devil from the garden as well. Bagheera is a black panther who is portrayed as Mowgli's mentor. In the film, however, their relationship is a form of love. Bagheera is Mowgli's guardian as he repeatedly risks his life in order to help Mowgli to safety. Bagheera is representative of an angel watching over Mowgli. Mowgli not only represents the mortality of human beings, but also the innocence of children.

At the end of the film, Mowgli transforms into a man as he stands up to Shere Khan in order to save the jungle. The jungle animals believe that the "red flower", or fire, is an evil of mankind. Mowgli has the chance to use his power of fire against the animals, mostly Shere Khan, but decides against it. The fire is representative of sin as he has free will to choose to use it or not but chooses against it. Finally the elephants are portrayed an unearthly beings in the film. While in the cartoon version of The Jungle Book the elephants are almost mocked by Bagheera, in this film the elephants are respected and bowed down to. The elephants represent higher religious figures or important leaders in life as they have paved the way (literally in the film) for everyone around them.

Rememberance

Keegan Ruddy
Topic of Choice
Being remembered

What does it take to be remembered in the history books? Do you have to have a life story like that of Edward Bloom in Big Fish? Do you need to win a World Series? Do you need to give a speech that changes peoples views and live? Plenty of people have done one of those things and been remembered. Plenty of people have done one of those things and been forgotten too. What constitutes a life to remembered? These questions can haunt a man. The thing of it is, they might not stop bothering a man's mind until that man drops those questions and realizes the answer is simple. Did he do all he could with what he had? That does not mean perfection, because perfection is unobtainable. Rather it means did he give his best effort through all the causes he stood for and were the causes he stood for just and for others rather than himself. Those things are all very general, but are true. A selfless man is better respected than a selfish man. A man working for a good cause rather than a bad cause is respected. A man giving great effort as opposed to no effort is also respected. These are true across the board. Society would agree with all those statements on the whole. Therefore, a life to be remembered is simply a life lived, rather than spent worrying about being remembered.  In the end, the idea of being in the history books is selfish and a man who is remembered is one who probably does not care about that. They just want to serve God and His children while on this earth.

Christianity has sisters?

Keegan Ruddy
Topic of choice
The Idea of the Holy

In Rudolf Otto's, The Idea of the Holy, Otto discusses Christianity as superior to its sister religions in its balance of rationalism and non-rationalism. Christianity as a whole uses reason and logic to prove many of its belief, but as Dr. Strehle usually puts it  "it all comes down to what you want to believe" and that is the beauty of Christianity. Christians, Otto thinks, have faith that is built on something much deeper than rationalism. Bordering mystical really, but not there because there is rational thought in Christian theology, a lot of it. Christianity is when looked at without bias has a lot of the great thinkers of history supporting its beliefs. St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Anselm, St. Augustine, and many others. These men of faith used logic and reason to prove the validity of their faith in a time when philosophers were trying to attack the Christian Church. Otto's point is heard that a large part of Christian faith is just that, faith. One must really decide on what they believe, but there is validation in the Christian beliefs thanks to the great thinkers of the Church.

Agape and what it has lost

Keegan Ruddy
Topic of Choice
Agape: post enlightenment

Agape is a word, a word defined differently by many, and misunderstood by even more. In Stephen Post's A Theory of Agape, Post emphasizes agape as a communal love. As he progresses through the discussion of why this is, he gets into where agape was lost in translation. He plans philosophers of the enlightenment such as Immanuel Kant. He blames them for the idea that agape could ever be a secular idea. In Post's opinion agape love comes from the Love of God, man can only show it when accepting God's Love of him or herself. The world today is attempting to secularize many things in an attempt to make those who are not believers more comfortable. The truth of it is, believers are more offended by the secularization than atheists are by things continuing the way they are or even reverting to older traditions of a less secular world. That is one big generalization, yes, but on the whole I would say it would be hard to argue against. Maybe I am wrong, but I think I may just be right. Regardless, the point is that the secularization of a word that stems from religious ideas is a bit out there. Agape has Greek origins and could potentially have been used from the time of the Greek empire, perhaps earlier, and onward. It is a rather old world, that although defined many times, always has ties to the divine. No matter the religion, it is clearly something that is above human understanding. While I am not a classical studies scholar, I would be curious to know if agape is within the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Bible, because if it is found in there an argument against its secularization gets a whole lot easier. While the argument is already strong now.  

Bunny

Bunny was the shortest and yet most beautiful and sad animation i have ever see. It only lasted a few minutes but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little choked up. Through watching an old bunny make a cake while dealing with a pesky fly, an amazing story is told with no dialogue.
It is dark and a little sad setting watching an old crippled Bunny make a cake by herself. This fly keeps pestering her. No matter what she does, she can't get it to go away. She goes to fix the picture on the wall. The picture is a old one of her and her presumably late husband on their wedding day. They are happy in the picture but she is very sad now. And yet again the fly comes back. Finally she dramatically swats it and it drops into the cake mix. Angrily she decides to bake it anyway. AFter she looks into the oven, she starts climbing into it and beautiful scene of her flying away is shown. Perhaps the fly represented impending death. It will always come and maybe it will be better for us to just accept it the way she finally did.

Jungle book

I had never seen the original Jungle book, so I am curious to know what people who saw the original thought of the movie. I really enjoyed the movie. When I saw Mowgli run into the village I knew exactly where the movie was going but it was still a great ending. The ending reminded me a lot of Star Wars Return of the Jedi. Shere mocks Mowgli and asks him to use the fire on him to prove Shere's point that humans are evil and dangerous. This reminded me of Emperor telling Luke to strike him down and his journey to the dark side will be complete. Fire is used to represent human intelect and its ability to create or destroy. Mowgli is shown to have skills but is shamed for using those "tricks" because he is supposed to be a wolf.
Mowgli trys to go back to the man village to be safe from Shere. Along the way he encounters more and more human like animals. progressing from wolves to monkeys. At the end of the journey Mowgli "becomes" human and uses his human tricks to defeat shere. Unlike the original, Mowgli stays in the jungle.

Tree of life

When I found out we were watching the tree of life I was very disappointed. I had watched the movie in theaters with high hopes but felt bored and confused through the whole movie. However, now that I am at a stage in my life where I feel I can reflect on my childhood from a distance, I feel differently about the movie. Still, I had trouble wrapping my head around some of metaphors and messages the movie conveys in an EXTREMELY artistic way. Nature vs. Grace is a very important theme in this movie with the father representing nature and the mother representing grace. She is loving and forgiving while the father is more pragmatic and cold saying that being nice will get his boys no where. When the movie got to the plot it shows Jack growing up and at times losing innocence. He will do cruel or lustful acts of nature. For example killing a dog and stealing the neighbors underwear. His mother consoles him and tries to show him in a loving way that is wrong, being the force of Grace against his acts of nature. Throughout the story of Jack's childhood, we get to see his little brother and the interactions he has with him. The movie shows Jack and his family mourning the death of his little brother the moment it happened and years later. This tests the mothers religion, when being consoled by her friend saying "hes in gods hands now"she thinks to herself "wasn't he in gods hands the whole time?" The end of the movie shows her letting go of him and telling god to take her son in a beautiful scene on the beach where she raises towards the sky in all white sheets and lets her hands go. So even in her sons death, she handles nature (her sons young death) with grace.

Lion and the Lamb

Keegan Ruddy
Topic of Choice
Christian Men

I was reading somewhere recently that men a called to be both the lion and the lamb. Just as Jesus is the Lion and the Lamb. He is compassionate and fierce. Jesus Loves unconditionally throughout the stories of Him in the New Testament. In one story in the Gospel of John, Jesus forgives a woman caught in the act of adultery, while this is a terrible sin, Jesus forgives her and shows her mercy. On the other side of it Jesus in another story is found bothered by the merchants in the temple and fashions a whip Himself and uses it to drive out the merchants. Jesus is not messing around here. This is what men are called to be, both fierce and compassionate. Without fear, knowing that God is on their side. While this is not to say that woman are not called to something similar. Women and men are created different but equal. For different purposes but both equal in the eyes of the Lord. Men are called to this lion and lamb figure because in the Christian faith men are the leaders and a good leader needs both parts in them. A fierce leader who rules with an iron fist is frequently look at in a negative light. While a compassionate leader who is merciful might be considered to soft to lead. That is why their must be a balance struck for the men of this world. In order for Christian men to be true leaders they must have both lion and lamb within them.

Jungle Book

Keegan Ruddy
Movies in class
The Jungle Book

Mowgli is training to be a wolf all his life, something that is clearly unobtainable(because he is a human). Nonetheless his child life attitude keeps him believing. His childlike faith keeps his belief that one day he will be a wold, maybe he understands he cannot have four legs and fur, but nonetheless he wants to be a wolf. Throughout the movie his childlike faith shows, his ability to read situations and characters for what they are, rather than what many adults who have experienced the world do. Many adults who become more cynical because of the difficulties of life. This can be seen in Baghira, he trains Mowgli because he knows of the dangers of the world. Baghira also wants Mowgli to go to the man village because he knows the jungle is too dangerous for him now. Mowgli's childlike faith proves to be the way of the jungle though. Similar to the Christian faith, where Christians are told by Christ to live life with a childlike faith. Mowgli exemplifies that throughout the Jungle Book. Giving the viewer numerous opportunities to see this faith of his, whether it is his blind trust in Baloo, his belief he can take on Shere Khan by himself, or his willingness to help the feared elephants. All these situations work out in Mowgli's favor and show Baghira that there is hope left in the jungle and life is not to be feared by lived and lived to the fullest. Mowgli teaches his teacher and shows him that this life is not to be feared but conquered by childlike faith.

The little things matter

Keegan Ruddy
Outside reading
Coach Wooden's Greatest Secret,

In Pat Williams book, Coach Wooden's Greatest Secret, he writes on hall of fame coach John Wooden's recipe for success. Coach Wooden was a detail-orientated man, to an extreme. That extreme led him to ten national championships. In the book Williams quotes James Jones from his book, From Here to Eternity, where Jones says the following "Just write one page every day and at the end of the year you've got a 365-page book."(Jones) This quote I feel epitomizes a life of faith, in an religious discipline. Everything must be taken in the context of the present. The past is gone and the future has not happened. One day at a time is how life is lived, whether that is how the person living life see's it or not that is how life comes at them. Therefore a view on the details of a day are crucial to the success and fruit one gets out of life. Focus on the big picture everyday and you cannot make the small steps need to reach whatever the goal might be. There are steps towards every goal and they must be taken, there are truly no shortcuts in life. This quote is applicable to all aspects of life, but can carry a lot of wait in terms of faith. If one does not focus on the everyday faith life, they are letting life pass them by. In faith, one finds beauty in everyday interactions. A possibility to evangelize, learn about, or profess their own faith. If not focusing on the little moments in life, then one cannot appreciate them as much and might realize an important moment passed them by. Because in reality, all moments are the same length of time, just some carry more weight than others. Therefore the little moments in life are what make life as beautiful as it is.

Life outside of suburbia

Keegan Ruddy
Outside Reading
Wild at Heart

A quote I read from John Eldredge's book Wild at Heart was from another writer, Howard Macey. It read "The spiritual life cannot be made suburban. It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed." (Macey). This quote hit me, as a man of faith. Life in general is not meant to settle into, find a place and just ride it out for the entirety of life. A list of everyday, mundane tasks, that are repeated daily for a lifetime is not what we as humans were given this life for. This is not to say that cleaning the house, taking out the garbage, and yard work are not to be done. It is simply saying that to make a lifetime of these events is not the goal. The goal is to live a life that was given to us, given to us in abundance. Throughout the movies we have watched in our class, a theme that can be picked out of a good number is character's appreciation for life. The normal parts of life and the adventures. The adventures are what form people for the everyday. The frontier in this quote is the idea of humans having a need to constantly be pushing outside their comfort zone. While there are times in life where humans can fall into suburban life, we are made for more. We are made for the frontier!

Film Technique

I hope I'm not the only one who thought that the bunny was a guy...male bunnies can cook too, right? I thought this was a really cute short film, though. One of the big things I noticed was how the music changed with the mood; or did the mood change with the music? It did take me a little bit to realize that the oven represented death, and that it transformed into a portal to heaven. The bunny seemed drawn to it (like a moth to a light).

The first thing I noticed from the movie Northfork was how everything was very neutral - the colors, the music, even the set seemed pretty sparse. The mountains were always there in the background, though. One technique that I really liked was the double exposure with the buffalo. It was a nice comparison, since both the buffalo and the townsfolk of Northfork were driven from their home.

I noticed that with all of these film clips I notice the music first, and Paris, Texas was no exception. The scene that I remember well is where Travis is walking along the bridge over the highway. You can hear the crazy man talking about the end of world before you even see him, and as the shot gets closer to the man, the music gets more and more chaotic.

Speaking of music, Pink Floyd-The Wall was super...interesting. I've never seen it before and I didn't know what to expect, but I certainly wasn't expecting THAT. I need to watch the entire thing, because I did find it really compelling. I loved how the scenes kept switching from animated to live-action.

Film as means for Religious Experience

David Clarkson, Blog on Film as means for Religious Experience, April 11, 2016

Before this class, I did not see film as such a large means to express religious experience. Films like, The Passion of the Christ, were obviously religious films that expressed religious beliefs or themes, but other than the few movies that were so obviously religious, I did not notice the religious aspects of film. Most movies have a few religious moments, but I never noticed these moments as possibly the main point of the film. After watching the abundance of films we have seen in this class through close observation and analysis, I have started to appreciate and notice the underlying themes of film more often. I am surprised with how many films, that I had seen before, have religious themes that are so central to understanding the film. For example, in The Last Samurai, I never noticed the religious aspects of Buddhism to be so central to Algren's character development. I tended to look at that movie, before this class, as just a film that had intense battle scenes with an American soldier who overcame a lot. I thought that Algren chose the samurai because of the girl, and not because of the experience he had with their rituals and religious aspects. It is cool to gain a deeper and more accurate understanding of the themes and cornerstone values that these films present, and I will forever watch films from a enlarged lense. However, I think it is important that these films, though they may be helpful reminders of our beliefs, do not become our chief means of experiencing and expressing our religious beliefs. Scripture should be the only basis of our doctrine

David Clarkson- Blog on Destiny

David Clarkson, Blog on Destiny, April 11, 2016

Big Fish brought up the interesting topic of destiny that has probably been debated from the beginning of human history. The topic of destiny is brought up in the beginning of the film when Mr. Bloom arrives at the fantasy village for the first time. When he finally left his small hometown village, he finds a village that is seemingly perfect in nature, after getting lost in the woods. In this village everybody is happy and there doesn't seem to be any problems. There are a lot of beautiful women, and everybody spends their day as if they are millionaires enjoying their retirement. Nobody ever leaves this village after they get there, however Mr. Bloom decides after the first day that he needs to leave, because he does not believe that his time has come for this type of life. He is not ready to settle down and relax. He wants to go on an adventure to discover who he is, and who is going to become. Settling at this village would deny him the opportunity of reaching his true destiny. This brings up the question of whether or not somebody can reach their destiny early? It also brings into question whether or not there is even such a thing as a destiny? In the end, though he is never able to return to the village in the state he found it, Mr. Bloom seems to have made the right decision, as he is able to have a long and fulfilling life.

The Prophet Zarathustra

The Prophet Zarathustra

Outside Reading: Friedrich Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra

April 9, 2016

In his most renown work, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche uses the character Zarathustra as a fictitious prophet through whom he heralds his revolutionary philosophical insights to the world. The work is more of a rhetorical masterpiece than a philosophical treatise. Seeing through the counterfeit claims of philosophers throughout history, Zarathustra rejects all ideals of a real world of metaphysics. Whether it be Plato’s Forms, Aristotle’s unmoved mover, Augustine’s God, Kant’s noumenal world, or Hegel’s absolute spirit, all of philosophical history has assumed a metaphysical real world that Zarathustra declares to be illegitimate. Man has projected deity onto the universe when, in reality, nature is cold and indifferent, subject to random flux.

“Man would rather have the void as his purpose than to be void of purpose.” The incessant, undeniable desire for meaning drove humans to create religion. In his most famous parable, Nietzsche’s madman comes down to the public square, proclaiming the death of God. The title of madman infers that his message of God’s death will be scorned and hard to receive by a culture that has been deeply entrenched in religion for two millennia. The consequences of such a message are severe. With the death of God comes the daunting threat of nihilism. For a society that has operated within the framework of religion for two thousand years, such a message is paradigm shifting. All objective truths and metaphysical reference points for meaning in life are now lost. After the initial shock and inevitable depression that such a message will incur, Zarathustra holds full faith that people will eventually begin to see such a reality as liberating and exciting. Each individual will become the poet of their own life and a great reassessment of values will take place.

Existence and Being

Existence and Being

Topic of Choice

April 9, 2016

In the study of philosophy and theology, ancient and medieval mystics, prophets, scholars, and saints emphasized ontology. The desire was to probe and plumb one’s way into the essence of things, arriving at the core of life. In contemporary intellectual circles the emphasis has experienced a reverse effect. Today we emphasize the existential components of life. We ask questions in relation to how life is to be experienced and lived out, all in relation to the self. Many have attempted to reduce philosophy to the study of language and social power relations, leaving theology out of the conversation entirely. Receiving increasing derision, metaphysics is viewed as foolish speculation and vain inquiry. As a result, we have lost much of our situational, factual, and authoritative reference points as human beings. The emphasis has been redirected into the subjective feelings and thoughts of the individual. The existential, when divorced from the ontological has no deep foundation to ground itself on. It is the essence that gives meaning and purpose to the existence of a thing. Criticizing metaphysical questions, that aim to reach the heart of essence, is simply a way to cover the fear of approaching such questions. To engage in metaphysics is a kind of intellectual surrender, since it admits to some sort of transcendent reality; something “beyond.” Contemporary man wants nothing of the sort. Everything must be existential, in the sense that it must grapple with that which readily effects the here and now situation we find ourselves in. It is a hopelessly circular struggle that collapses on itself. In shunning metaphysics we sacrifice existence itself on the alter of the immediate. 

Awakening From Complacency

Awakening From Complacency

Topic of Choice

April 8, 2016

According to ancient Hebrew wisdom literature, “the complacency of fools destroys them.” The self-destructive nature of complacency is phenomenologically evident in all of life. An apathy towards life produces a stagnated soul that is unwilling to change and grow. This is the state of mind we so often find ourselves in. I call it the “machine mode” of existence, appealing to the fact that it is a nonhuman way of operating within the world by virtue of it’s anti-relational project. The fool, according to Proverbs, is a self-determined, self-reliant, self-made man; exactly the kind of individual society has taught us to become. He follows the autonomous agenda of Nietzsche’s overman. Under “machine mode” man acts without consciousness or presence. Complacency causes us to operate rather than live. The first step to awakening is a movement towards openness, vulnerability, and teachability, all of which long for something “other” than themselves. Awakening is the recognition of an eruption and creation of something new from within. It is the ability to respond to the strangeness of a new discovery within one’s internal landscape. Most importantly, it is a gift that none of us could have asked for or ever expected. It reminds me of that feeling I used to get when I would wake up on the morning of my summer vacation. Living demands a constant agreement and receptivity to that which is boundless in scope. It is the condition under which we thrive and mature as individuals. To the wise man, awakening is a mode of existence; a radical openness to the interconnectivity of all things. 

Power of Parable

Power of Parable

Topic of Choice

April 7, 2016

Parables transcend space and time. Though these stories contain fictitious characters who operate within the constraints of space and time, the overarching message being revealed in parables raises these stories above these limitations. Because of their transcendental nature, the message of a parable is always timeless and timely. Contrary to being closed stories, parables are “open narratives in order to invite us to engage with them”(Levine p.1) Parables are wild, fluid, and dynamic texts and the need to systematize, tame, and objectify the meaning of such stories stagnates the flow their speakers intended for them to have. “When we seek universal morals from a genre that is designed to surprise, challenge, shake up, or indict and look for a single meaning in a form that opens to multiple interpretations, we are necessarily limiting the parables, and so, ourselves.”

Jesus used parables to keep the message of his teaching hidden from the proud and arrogant. Only the meek, humble, and childlike could receive his teachings. In the gospel of Matthew Jesus disciples ask him why he speaks in parables, to which he responds: “because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”(Matthew 13:13) Jesus is not denying that his audience has physical ears to hear what he is audibly speaking. What he is saying is that the ears of their hearts cannot hear and receive his teaching on a spiritual level. Their spiritual senses were dead. Jesus did not speak in parables so that everyone could easily and plainly understand what he was saying. He spoke in parables to conceal his message from the proud and arrogant. Those who understood Jesus’s parables realized that he used this literary tool to reveal his divine nature as the son of God.

Myth and Reality

Myth and Reality

Topic of Choice

April 6, 2015

Contrary to the common use of the word, myths, in a scholarly sense, are stories that capture fragments of truth. When brought together, these stories shape the consciousness and fundamental beliefs of a people. We are deeply shaped through the stories we hear and speak. Critical to the conversion of C.S. Lewis was a conversation with J.R.R. Tolkien on the nature of myth and metaphor. On a September night in 1931, the two Oxford scholars conversed over the “Christian myth.” Lewis was a man deeply committed to the sound reason of logic. It was Tolkien who opened his mind beyond the truth of Christianity to the meaning of Christianity. The meaning could only be found, however, by a suspension of reason and opening of the imagination. It is through a mystical, imaginative, intuitive vision of life that reality can perceived through myth. Narrative gives us language that lifts us to that which is “wholly other.” It invites us to step beyond the lines reason has allotted, out of the looking-glass and into a world of substance - reality. Films are myths that have the power to convey reality, through the synthesis of image and word. Every now and then I watch a film that jolts me out of my complacency and awakens something deep within my soul. Walking away from such an experience, I feel changed. Something has been born inside me. I realize I am an active participant in a beautiful story that is far grander than my own; yet nevertheless celebrated the small role I play in it. 

Blog on George Muller

David Clarkson, Blog on George Muller, April 6, 2016,

Power or Prayer

I have recently been doing a lot of reading on a German missionary named George Muller. More than anybody else I have ever studied, he understood and believed in the power of prayer. He grew up getting into all the trouble he could possibly get into, until one day he found himself in jail in more trouble and debt than he had ever been in. Luckily, his dad bailed him out after he convinced him that he wanted to go to college. After a few more troubled and mischievous years in college, he met a friend who convinced him to go to bible study one night when he was out drunk partying. This bible study changed his life forever as he met a tangible and real Jesus for the first time in his life. After the study was over, he told his friend that the experience was the most fun he had ever had in his life, even better than the time he stole enough money to take a trip to Switzerland with all his friends for spring break. George continued going to these studies, and gradually parted ways with his troublesome practices as he pursued faith in Jesus Christ. After telling his father he wanted to be a missionary, roughly a year later, resulting in his father rejecting him and cutting him off financially, George had to completely rely on the Lord for his financial needs. This act of faith would set the cornerstone for the rest of his life and ministry. From that point on, George never asked anybody for money (including never having a salary), and completely relied on the Lord through prayer that all his short and long term needs would be taken care of. This payed off for George, and the Lord not only took care of all his financial needs with his family, but George also supported around 10,000 orphans completely through prayer. Along with his pastoral duties and other various programs, George built a number of orphan houses which held around 10,000 orphans until they were adults by the time he died. These orphanages were funded completely through prayer, as George never asked anybody for money, completely trusting in faith that the Lord would provide for what He entrusted to George. George's faith and belief in prayer completely transformed the city of Bristol, the orphans he gave a home to, and the millions who have studied his story since he died. For me, this story only makes me wonder what God could do through me if I had faith in prayer like George Muller.

Idea of the Holy

David Clarkson, Idea of the Holy Post, April 3rd, 2015

Christianity Today

"Christianity, as it stands before us to-day in present actuality as a great 'world religion', is indubitably, so far as its claim and promise go, the first and truest sense a religion of Redemption" (Otto 164). This quote by Otto stuck out to me as I was reading this chapter on Divination. I agree with this statement by Otto about Christianity being a religion of redemption more than any other religion in the world today. To me, Christianity is a religion about what has already been done for us, as opposed to all the other religions that lay out a set of guidelines about what one needs to do in order to reach enlightenment or salvation. This is one of the key features, which sets Christianity apart from other world religions. This relates to what Otto is referencing in this chapter because the work that has been done for us as believers in the Christian faith is Jesus' redemptive work. Jesus's redemptive work on the cross, which served as the ultimate and permanent atonement for all sins of the past, presents and future is defined as, 'overabouding salvation' by Otto, and is available to all those willing to humble themselves and put their trust in Jesus (164). This work is more than any human being deserved, because we are all evil (Romans 2-3, Luke 11). Because we are evil at the root, Christ's redemption on the cross for us is the true measure for his immense love for us. This is explained to us in Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. As believers in Christ, we must not take for granted the incredible love God has shown to us through the redemptive work in Jesus Christ.