Category Archives: Theology

2010s, Article, Awards, Engaging Culture, Philosophy, Theology

Redeeming the Oscars

Leave a comment

Another year and another Oscars ceremony in the books. I have a love-hate relationship with the Oscars. I love film for its power to communicate ideas and transport viewers to distant worlds and times. This year, the Academy rewarded a well-crafted, insightful, and entertaining film, Parasite, with Best Picture, Best International Film, Best Original Screenplay, and gave its Director Bong Joon Ho the Best Director award. As a subtitled, South Korean film, this was a huge step in normalizing and legitimizing world cinema because it is the first time ever that a non-English speaking film has taken home the highest award of the night.

However, the Academy Awards ceremony has become known, especially by Christians, as a place of rampant liberal politics. Because of this, most Christians stay away, not just from Oscar night, but from Hollywood in general. In my opinion, this is a mistake. To look at Hollywood as if it was a place that is beyond the reach of God’s grace is to put God in a box. What would it look like for Christians to be salt and light in Hollywood?

Art Imitates Life

I take the Oscars ceremony as an opportunity to look back on a very busy year. On the world’s stage, we saw protests and violence in Hong Kong, Algeria, India, Nicaragua, and others. Both the Amazon and Australia were on fire. Brexit stretched on, while China and Iran had conflicts with the U.S. over trade and nuclear weapons respectively. Speaking of the U.S. there was obviously the circus that was the House of Representative’s impeachment of President Trump.

Film is a fascinating storytelling medium with the ability to speak to the trends of the day in unexpected ways. Consider two 2019 releases. Captain Marvel is a veiled commentary on immigration policy and Greta Gerwig transformed Little Women into a feminist manifesto instead of a timeless story of faith and family.

The liberal politicization of Hollywood has turned many Christians off to film in general. This agenda is on full display at the Oscars. For instance, Brad Pitt used his acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood to comment on the Senate’s acquittal of President Trump.

Ego and the Greatest Snub

But Joaquin Phoenix one-upped everyone in the room when he equated gender-equality and racism with animal rights as he encouraged everyone towards his vegan agenda and indicted everyone for their egocentric worldview which leads to inequality. While Mr. Phoenix and I would disagree about the rights of a cow when compared to the rights of indigenous peoples, I would completely agree with his assessment of egoism.

I’m happy that today’s films elevate the voices of the marginalized. God calls his people to fight for justice for the oppressed. But the biggest snub of this year’s Oscar ceremony was not the fact that there were no female directors or that The Irishman went 0 for 10. This one is even more glaring. As I listened to the acceptance speeches, I don’t think I heard a single mention of God. No word of thanks or praise. Of course, I may have missed something, but even in the official Oscars Acceptance Speech Database (Yes, that is a real thing), the number of mentions of God has been steadily dropping over the years.

The most recent mention of God that wasn’t a vain exclamation was back in 2018. Regina King said, “God is good all the time,” in her win for If Beale Street Could Talk. In the most recent actual expression of thanks to God, Common said, ” First, I would like to thank God that lives in us all” when he accepted the award for Best Song for “Glory” from Selma in 2014.

The Absence of Light

How did things get so dark? It’s a picture of Romans 1:21, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Do I say this with my nose held high in the air as I condemn those sinful Hollywood heathens? Of course not. We are no better. All people have sinned and bring shame on the glory of God’s image in them. In fact, much of the darkness prevalent in Hollywood is overwhelming because of the absence of the light that should emanate from the lives of believers.

Christians should be different. Does light have any fellowship with darkness? Does saltwater and freshwater come from the same spring? Of course not. But at the same time, we are not called to exit from culture and cloister ourselves away. Light should be put on a lampstand and salt should be used to preserve, transform, and flavor. Christians lose their identity in Christ and are freed to take up the cause of others. They are freed to lose their life for the cause of the gospel of Christ. This means engagement with culture.

Creators

Engagement can look many different ways for different Christians. Maybe you are called to create art that influences culture by showing God’s transformation to a watching world. Think of a movie like The Blind Side that doesn’t have any overt Gospel message but shows what a selfless, other-centric, God-glorifying life looks like. More creators need to step up to bat and more churches need to support their creative efforts.

Redeemers

Maybe you will engage with culture by finding the redeeming aspects of culture and calling attention to them. This is the affirmation that all truth is God’s truth and when the culture gets it right (even with the wrong motives or worldview) we need to be ready to cheer on the truth in those common areas of human flourishing. This comes through in a film like Spotlight that reveals corruption and evil that people inside and outside of the church should condemn. Believers need to respond to these films in positive ways to show that our faith is about more than believing some platitudes about Jesus.

Prophets

Finally, we need those who will stand in the gap and engage with culture by speaking the truth in love. Paul walked through the city of Athens and drew attention to their great religiosity, though it was misguided and twisted. He used the words of their own poets to show them a better way in Jesus Christ. I try to do this. For instance, in my recent article about 1917, I looked at the darkness of war and the way that all people reflect on their mortality in the face of danger. I also showed the light and freedom possible in a life spent in the cause of Christ. My hope is that someone may read or hear my words and would see that Jesus is infinitely better than anything else in our finite lives.

I hope you’ll think about how you can engage with the culture around you. If Christians are to be identified with Christ, we must do more of what he did. That means spending more time doing life with people the way Jesus did. Granted, this might mean being accused of the things that he was accused of, but I’m willing to endure that for some to see Jesus as I have seen him.

Maybe Hollywood is too far gone for my prayers and words to have any effect, but I worship a Savior who knew no limits to the love he would show to snatch men and women from hell and bring them back into right relationship with his Father. We have been given this same ministry of reconciliation, and if we pull out of the conversation and don’t shine our light, then we are the ones truly responsible for the darkness.

2010s, Action, Adventure, Awards, Suspense, Theology, True Story, War

The Wayfaring Stranger and Wartime Mentality in 1917

2 Comments

Director Sam Mendes crafted an immersive World War I drama in 1917 through the clever use of practical camera tricks and special effects so we as the audience never leave the sides of our heroes. In fact, it is as if we don’t even blink. Roger Deakins starkly beautiful cinematography and an extremely talented editing team made it so that we never wanted to either.

The camera fixes its gaze on Lance Corporals Schofield and Blake through their rescue mission. It doesn’t cut from the action. It never leaves their side to show us an establishing shot or to tell us what is happening somewhere else. The entire film is one long and winding road through treacherous terrain.

If you’ve seen the trailer, you understand their mission. One of the soldiers’ brother is in a battalion miles away with another unit and they are going to charge into an ambush if they don’t hear from command. Armed with their message, they march off as a company of two bravely preparing to cross no man’s land and enemy lines in order to save 1,600 men including his brother.

From a Christian worldview, this mission rings of familiarity. We are called onto a mission that may cost us our lives. We are marching into enemy territory with a message that can rescue our brothers and sisters from the fire. The urgency and energy with which these soldiers carry out their mission should serve as a reminder to believers that the great commission is not completed. We must advance on our mission to bring this message of salvation to a world marked for destruction. They have been deceived and believe that victory is in their grasp.

Of course, in the film, the message is only good news because it means that this particular advance has been canceled. It would have been an even more powerful picture if the war was over and peace had been won. Then it would have truly been good news similar to the message that we as Christians proclaim. The enmity we have with God because of our sin ended through the sacrifice of the sinless Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Favorite Scene

There are a few short reprieves from all of the action. One of them comes after a particularly harrowing scene in which we follow George MacKay’s Lance Corporal Schofield through a terrifying ordeal only to see him emerge on the other side physically whole but mentally broken. He begins stumbling through a forest towards an ethereal voice. We’re not sure if this is part of the soundtrack or if he actually hears this angelic singing, until he stumbles into a camp of his fellow soldiers seated in the forest listening to an unnamed soldier sing…

I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger
Traveling through this world of woe,
There is no sickness, toil, or danger
In that bright land to which I go.

I’m going there to see my Father.
I’m going there no more to roam.
I’m only going over Jordan,
I’m only going over home.

I had never had the pleasure of hearing Wayfaring Stranger in its heyday, but I’ve enjoyed listening to many different renditions since seeing the film. Its history stretches back to at least the time of the American Civil War when it was called Libby Prison Hymn, named for the Confederate prison that was in Richmond, Virginia.

Since its creation, it has a rich history both religious and secular. It appeared in the Broadman Baptist Hymnal in 1940 before Burl Ives popularized it in 1944. Later versions include Emmylou Harris in 1980, Johnny Cash in 2000, and, most recently, Jack White on the soundtrack of Cold Mountain in 2003.

This rendition is the most stylistically bare of all of those with no accompaniment, and just a solitary soloist, Jos Slovick, upon whom the cameras focus never rests. It could have been a throwaway scene transitioning from one massive set-piece to the next, but the camera methodically slows down and leaves our protagonist to show some of the other young men who are mentally preparing to face the horrors of war is profound. In that moment, the immersion into the setting has been completed. We are not just with them, we are one of them. Not soldiers, but just men, mortal men. Looking out across the river of our own mortality.

As believers, we are reminded by Paul in Philippians 4:13 that he “can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” This is not a promise that all of our business ventures will succeed and that our sports teams will win. This is the Apostle Paul speaking as a man in prison nearing the end of his earthly life. He is getting ready to face death for the sake of Christ and he confesses that no matter whether he is hungry or full, sick or well, in bondage or free, he has learned the secret to contentment in all circumstances. It is not his best life now, it is Christ in him, the hope of glory.

This life is hard and we are not promised a delightful rose garden of a life. It is a war. We are called to live streamlined gospel-centered lives and when we reach our final moments we do not rest in the abundance of our possessions or the joy in the faces of our loved ones but in the hope of glory as we remember that to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Have you seen 1917? What did you think? Is it the best war film since Saving Private Ryan? If you haven’t seen it, it is extremely intimate and passionately created. It’s still in theaters and begs to be seen on the largest screen you can find.

2010s, Article, Biopic, Documentary, Family, Longform, Musical, Television, Theology, True Story

Mister Rogers and Grace in The Neighborhood

Leave a comment

Just after he eloquently summed up God’s perfect law with the words, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27) This expert on the Jewish law challenged Jesus by asking, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29) Jesus responded, as he often did, by telling a story.

The story he told was surprising to everyone who heard it. It was the tale of a man who had fallen on some particularly hard times and had been beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the side of the road. Who would be a neighbor to this poor helpless man? Perhaps a teacher of the law? No, he was far too busy and continued on his way. Maybe a Priest? No, he was worried that the man might make him unclean. But then along came a Samaritan.

Now, the Jews considered Samaritans to be half-breeds, products of the immoral intermarrying and religious blending that took place hundreds of years before during the Babylonian exile. For a Samaritan to even be mentioned in the same story as these well-respected religious professionals was shocking, but that he would be the hero was almost intolerable.

But that was Jesus’ point as he described the compassion which the Samaritan traveler had on the victim of this crime. He went out of his way to help him and bandage his wounds, he sat him on his animal and walked alongside until they came to a hospital, and even beyond that he took care of his bills and made a plan to return to ensure that he was well treated. At this point, the lawyer must have been seething at Jesus’ words, but he was trapped as Jesus asked, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” (Luke 10:36-37)

Won’t You Be My Neighbor

As the camera pans over the familiar model town, the yellow caution light flashes, and the piano notes sound, an inviting face opens the door to ask us, “Please, won’t you be my neighbor?” By performing this liturgy at the beginning of each of his 912 episodes, Mister Rogers was submitting to Jesus’ command to go and do likewise as he sought to be a neighbor to anyone who was hurting and confused. However, the invitation was also a confession that he needed a neighbor as well.

Fred Rogers did not see himself as a saint or a hero. He simply stood on his doorstep and offered the same unconditional love and grace to others that he knew he needed every day to survive. Mister Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister and he knew better than most that each breath that we take is evidence of God’s amazing grace.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor was easily the best documentary film of 2018 because Morgan Neville captured the essence of Fred Rogers’ mission to speak directly to the children of an entire generation and to help them cope with the fact that the world is a dark and scary place. He didn’t try to fool kids or entertain them. He leaned in to teach them, in a way that we are sorely lacking today, that things like death, divorce, and disaster happen and we can’t control them. But we can manage our feelings in healthy ways and talk about them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDnDs1Rz4ZQ

I think we are experiencing this Rogers renaissance because we are lacking a voice that will speak to our children, and us as adults, to provide guidance through difficult and confusing times. And Fred Rogers would not want us to idolize him in this manner. Rather, he would challenge us to take up Jesus’ command to be neighbors to one another. After all, it’s hard to hate someone you just begged in song to be your neighbor.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

The new film, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, directed by Marielle Heller, features Tom Hanks playing the iconic role of Mister Rogers. However, this is not another documentary. Instead, it places Hanks across from Matthew Rhys in the role of investigative reporter Lloyd Vogel. This character is a mixture of fiction and fact as the whole film is based on an Esquire article by journalist Tom Junod entitled, “Can You Say… Hero?” (beware of some adult language). However, it takes a good bit of liberty with the establishing storyline, creating a strained relationship between a father (Chris Cooper) and son, to build the stakes.

In the end, the film is really about this fictional Vogel family and Fred Rogers is a high profile side character who steps in and provides an open ear and an open heart. It is a very good story overall and I was moved several times through Hanks’ performance, but my major difficulty with A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is that it removes any mention of Jesus or really any religious teaching. This is somewhat understandable because it is told much like one of Mister Rogers’ episodes and he avoided spiritual talk on the air.

Unfortunately, if you remove Mister Rogers’ foundation of faith, it turns his desire to care for people and heal relationships into secular humanism at its best and it gives no foundation for the beautiful mission of his life. A lack of a foundation leads people to all kinds of wild and fanciful speculations about what skeletons he hid in his closet. Whether it be the oft mentioned Navy SEAL service or sleeves of tattoos hidden under those zippered cardigan sweaters.

What Would Mister Rogers Say Today?

In the midst of a presidential inquisition and constant bickering on Capitol Hill, I wonder what sage advice Fred Rogers would have. Providentially, Tom Junod shared an email that came from his lifelong correspondence in a recent article for the Atlantic explaining his involvement with the film and his relationship with Rogers. The subject of the email was what Rogers would say to the then-current impeachment hearings of Bill Clinton.

Last week I woke up thinking how I would like to go on the air and say something like “Whoever is without sin cast the first stone” or “The Lord’s property is always to have mercy” or some other outlandish thing, and then ask for a minute of silence to think about forgiveness for those who want it. In fact if our country could dwell on forgiveness for a while I think that would be the one real positive outcome of the pain which must be pervasive in the White House and beyond. I’ve already written letters to both the Clintons and the Gores saying that often “enormous growth comes out of enormous pain.” I trust that will be so for all of us. The attitude which makes me (sometimes physically) sick is the “holier than thou” one.

As always, Mister Rogers’ words are timeless because they don’t speak to the issues but to the underlying emotions and situation deep within the human heart. His answers are profound because they sound hauntingly like the words of Jesus who would remind us that to seek God’s kingdom means to love God first and to love our neighbor (even the one we don’t really like) from the overflow and to work for their good.

Coming Soon, Philosophy, Theology

New 2020 Vision

Leave a comment

As time goes on, things develop and grow. People are no different. As I look back on this site, I’m disappointed at some of the content that I’ve created that has been less than edifying. However, I see it as the fruit of an older season. As we say farewell to 2019, I have a new vision for this site. You could say it is 2020 Vision because that would be an amazing play on words and I’m definitely going to make that the title of this post.

I want to relate all of life back to my ultimate reality as a Christian. That reality is a kingdom mentality. As a believer, I am neither primarily an individual, nor my vocation, nor my relationship status, nor my nationality. My ultimate and deepest reality is as an ambassador for the kingdom of God. That is a big theological idea that I will need to flesh out elsewhere, but in simple terms, it is the idea that everything is deeply rooted in relationship to God’s everlasting reign and perfect rule. Our beliefs are part of that, but so is all the rest of our life.

Kingdom Ambassador

I see this site as a tool for that purpose. I have always loved films, not just for their entertainment value as they surprise and amaze, but for their ability to communicate a message and tell an engaging story. Those are precisely the things that Jesus did while he was here on earth. But I realized that I have been very inconsistent when I speak about film. I have spoken about it primarily in terms of its technical merit and entertainment value, and those things are important, but it misses out on the larger reality at play that sometimes even the creators of a film aren’t even aware.

This does not mean that I will only talk about “Christian” films. I don’t even like that terminology. That makes it seem like the only movies that we will have in God’s everlasting kingdom will be “Christian” movies and that does not sound like paradise to me. I think there are so many amazing films out there that do a wonderful job of entertaining with technical and professional excellence while they engage in brilliant storytelling and communicate profound messages. I want to highlight those films. But I also want to warn other kingdom citizens of films which spread false teachings and do nothing but glorify sin and lure people into false idol worship.

You might be thinking, so does that mean that you’re going to tell us how many curse words, violent images, and sexual innuendos are in a film? There are plenty of great resources out there (Plugged In, and IMDb parents guides) for this purpose, and they can be helpful to avoid much of the trash that is floating around out there. However, I want to look deeper at the underlying messages and themes of a film.

Example

Let me give you an example. A movie like The Shawshank Redemption could be seen as a prison film replete with foul language, violence, and disturbing images of rape and suicide. If viewing those things will cause you to sin then, by all means, abstain from the film. I won’t deny that they are present in the film, and I wouldn’t encourage you to show it to anyone who can’t grasp the deeper themes of the film. However, those deeper themes are rich with the imagery of justice, being salt and light, equality and acceptance, the value and purpose of life, and redemption.

So, moving forward, I want to explore the kingdom reality of life at the movies. As I look at an individual film, I will give equal weight to a film’s technical merit and its kingdom value and I want to give the exploration and discussion of those themes the bulk of my time. I imagine that I will also want to take some of these themes and work them out individually using bits and pieces from many different films to illustrate.

That being said, I don’t want to get rid of my old content, just know that going forward, things will look different, and prayerfully they will be a help to you as you explore what being a kingdom citizen means.

2010s, Article, Musical, Supernatural, Theology

Yesterday and Listening to the Voice of God

1 Comment

In Yesterday, struggling singer-songwriter Jack (Himesh Patel) is hit by a bus during a freak blackout and awakes in a world similar to his in every way except that people have never heard of the Beatles. A few other things are missing too, but I’ll leave those surprises for the movie to reveal.

Jack is a talented singer but he is frustrated, thinking that he just doesn’t have the right stuff to rocket him out of obscurity. With this accident, it seems like the universe has given him the gift of dozens of beautifully crafted songs and all he has to do is play them.

However, doubt creeps in. What if this is all a mistake and the real authors show up and call him a fraud? How will these songs be heard in the 21st century? Jack is not from Liverpool, how can he sing about Liverpool landmarks like Strawberry Fields or Penny Lane when he’s never even seen them and they are dilapidated and destroyed by time.

He must wrestle with the fact that he is not Paul McCartney or John Lennon yet this opportunity is too good to pass up. He has to try it just to see if his level of success has something to do with the songs he’s writing or if the problem is in himself. He knows that many of the Beatles songs are pure masterpiece like the films titular song. If he sings these universally acclaimed poems and isn’t recognized then he will know that the problem lies in the singer, in himself, and not in the songs.

I think we as Christians wrestle with the same story. We have a melody of worship in our heart that the world has often forgotten. We struggle with being accepted by the world, and we wonder whether the message of this good song will be received by a modern populace or if we will be seen as frauds because of our hypocrisy. However, at the end of the day, we have this beautiful melody inside us and all that is left for us to do is sing it.

I’ll let you watch the film to see how things turn out for Jack, but I think that if we will open our mouths and allow the gospel to come out, it will be heard and adored. This has nothing to do with our abilities or talent, but because the message is infinitely powerful and beautiful. I think if we will sing the song of the gospel with will find a world waiting to hear it. We will find that we are not defective or frauds, but that our greatest worth is realized when we are vessels of the infinite.

Article, Director, Longform, Syndicated, Theology

Looking Closer – The Theology of the Coen Brothers

Leave a comment

Jeffery Overstreet and Matt Zoller Seitz are two of my favorite authors / movie critics. I value their opinions and their beliefs. So I was very excited to see that they sat down to discuss my favorite living directors (Joel and Ethan Coen) and talked about their view of God. You can read the full discussion over at Overstreet’s blog “Looking Closer.” 

Religion, while it binds communities and brings meaning through ritual, is ultimately not enough. I’m not willing to brand the Coens as “covert Christians.” And even if I did, the word “Christian” is about as meaningful anymore as the word “conservative” or “Democrat”, or the term “the American way.” It means a million things to a million people. But they are definitely drawn to a vision of the cosmos that resonates with my understanding of Christ’s teachings. That is to say that “righteousness,” the ways of religion, and the law-focused method of an “Old Testament” worldview, are ultimately insufficient.

We cannot earn our way to heaven by being good. We cannot save ourselves. The Coens know that “all have sinned,” and they know that “the wages of sin is death.” Everybody is likely to die miserably in their movies, whether as a result of their own evil or someone else’s.

But there is something out there, some kind of offer of grace, and when we glimpse that, goodness happens in us. We begin to love not for selfish reasons, but as a response, as a reflection, as if we are instruments being tuned up by something greater than ourselves.

No, I think that the clearest summation of their worldview comes from Mattie in their True Grit remake: “You must pay for everything in this world, one way and another. There is nothing free except the grace of God.”

If you enjoyed that snippet, I hope you’ll read the full discussion. And if that isn’t enough there is a whole book written on the topic of the Coens’ theology. The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers by Cathleen Falsani