"The Gospel of Judas" is just an old, stupid heresy...
... and yet, my local newscast jumped on the hype bandwagon tonight, heralding it as "the discovery that is rocking the Christian world."
Right.
Rocking so quietly as to be almost imperceptible.
Rocking so ineffectively that most of the Christian blogs addressing the subject today found the whole affair somewhere between amusing, ludicrous, and sad.
Rocking us to sleep with its dull drone of inanity.
Folks, it's not shaking up any Christians with brains in their heads.
Here's Mark Shea on the subject.
And here's Christianity Today writing it off as the nonsense that it is.
Don't get confused by mentions of Jesus and Judas. This is no Christian text. The Gospel of Judas did not circulate until about 150 years after Jesus died. Let's put it this way: This new text tells us nothing more about Jesus's relationship with Judas than does Jesus Christ Superstar.
... some claim the Gospel of Judas and other Gnostic texts throw orthodox Christianity into doubt. "As the findings have trickled down to churches and universities," New York Times reporters John Noble Wilford and Laurie Goodstein wrote, "they have produced a new generation of Christians who now regard the Bible not as the literal word of God, but as a product of historical and political forces that determined which texts should be included in the canon, and which edited out. For that reason, the discoveries have proved deeply troubling for many believers."
Who are those troubled believers? We're not sure, because Wilford and Goodstein apparently didn't talk to any of them. Karen King and Elaine Pagels revive their Gnosticism act. We also meet James Robinson, a jilted scholar who wrote a book on the Gospel of Judas without having access to the text. The Times doesn't mention that Robinson believes the Gospel of Judas tells us nothing about the historical Jesus or Judas.
Gee, "the Christian world" suddenly doesn't look so rocked, but these participating mainstream media lunkheads just might be stoned!
Does "V for Vendetta" celebrate rape? (And other viewer mail.)
The latest letters at CT Movies are very interesting:
I saw V for Vendetta, and I am appalled that the cruelty shown toward the Natalie Portman character has been overlooked in practically every movie review I've read.
...
Why is no one noticing this? This is a film about a rape, not a revolt.
You know what? I completely agree. I haven't officially reviewed the film yet, but I was very disturbed by the way they ended up showing the abuse of this character in a positive light.
Why didn't you mention the New Age twist to The Shaggy Dog? As cute as this movie is, don't you think it preaches a pagan worldview? Buddhist meditation?
Haven't seen it. Can't comment on it. But I'm reminded of a recent review by someone named Conny...
I bought the DVD Millions based on your review. How can you classify this as the Most Redeeming Film of 2005? It features young boys teaching each other how to access pictures of women's breasts on the Internet. ... I failed to find any redeeming value or character in this movie.
Wow. A film about a child who is driven by a fascination with the saints, and who is overwhelmed by a deep compassion to help the poor and provide water for people dying in Africa, who sees pleasant surprises as gifts from God, who humbles everyone around him with his faith and spirit of servitude... the letter writer didn't see any redeeming value at all?
And didn't it occur to him that the saints in the film are supposed to suggest the saints as they might be imagined by a particularly creative child?
Didn't he notice that the young boy's preoccupation with photos of bras and breasts on the Internet wasn't a pornographic preoccupation at all, but a childlike curiosity stemming from a longing for his mother, who died when he very young?
I read your review of A History of Violence after I saw the movie, and your review was insightful and right on.
Why, thank you!!
Innocence Mission / Don Peris contest - Deadline extended.
I've got two copies of Don Peris's new solo album: Go When the Morning Shineth
And I want you to have one of them.
So here's the deal:
It's tough to describe something as fragile and beautiful as The Innocence Mission's music. So I'm asking for help.
Go listen to some of the music that Don and Karen Peris have recorded.
Write down what it is that makes their music so enchanting. Just a paragraph... that's all.
Email your description to LookingCloserReview@msn.com.
The best description of the Innocence Mission's music will earn the writer a free copy of Go When the Morning Shineth!
Deadline - EXTENDED - April 15, 2006.
Newsweek notices T-Bone Burnett
Newsweek earns some integrity points by noticing T-Bone Burnett's new album, and even doing an interview.
Perhaps surprisingly, Burnett is also going out on tour. “I want to write songs and play them for people—live,” he says. “Because in this age of mechanical reproduction, where we’re able to copy and distribute music on a moment’s notice, the less valuable the copy becomes, and the more valuable the live thing becomes. I’ve really begun to appreciate the extraordinary value of the fleeting live moment.”
Amen to that.
My conversation with Wim Wenders about his career, "Don't Come Knocking," "Wings of Desire," and faith.
(This is not an April Fool's joke. It's a greatly expanded version of the article published earlier this week at Christianity Today Movies.)
Last week, I had the tremendous privilege of interviewing Wim Wenders, the director of my favorite film: Wings of Desire.Read more
The New Issue of Response is Here!
I have three new articles in the latest issue of SPU' s Response Magazine:
By the Book
For an alumni couple living above a bookstore in La Conner, Washington, “The Next Chapter” is the best one yet.
Soundtrack to Saving a Marriage
The singer-songwriter, husband-and-wife team known as Over the Rhine cancelled their 2003 tour to save their marriage.
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days Delivers Stirring Portrait
But the issue is full of fine work by my friends, co-workers, and colleagues. Take some time and browse around. This project gets more exciting all the time. It's not just for SPU folks anymore.
Two late-but-great reviews of "V for Vendetta"
Two home-run reviews of V for Vendetta popped up this week, and even though the film is already fading, I thought them worth a read:
CAUTION: SPOILERS!
L. Michael Foote reviews V for Vendetta for Stylus. (Caution: Harsh language)
Merely replacing the simplistic morality of one political system for another, the people of England never honestly question their own circumstances. Finally realizing that something is wrong with their society, citizens leap at the vague beliefs of a man who gains their attention by hijacking national television for five minutes. When a mob wearing identical masks descends upon their oppressive government, the people prove to be naught but an easily malleable symbol. When the group drops their disguise and the camera briefly scans a sea of faces, characters martyred for V’s cause appear cheering among the crowd. These people are but symbols used to achieve a goal. Anonymous and singular, the mass is there to be manipulated.
John Zmirak (Godspy) says that for most types of moviegoers, “this movie will remain, like The Matrix, a harmless fantasy.”
But he adds this:
...there's another group of people who might see this film whom I worry about: the marginally paranoid, disaffected 'losers' who serve as the recruitment pool for extremists and terrorists. Think of Timothy McVeigh, who read a single novel -- The Turner Diaries -- and began to plan the bombing of Oklahoma City. Or the 'shoe-bomber' Richard Reid, a Moslem convert whom millions of air-travelers would like to beat to death with their footwear. Or the assemblage of social misfits which Al Qaeda was able to recruit for the attacks in 2001.
To these people, a film with lines like "Sometimes blowing up a building can change the world" is like a dose of crystal meth. What makes things worse is the fantasy element in the film: No innocent bystanders are killed, no children blown apart by the indiscriminate use of explosives in a crowded city, no hospitals filled up with bloodied old people, janitors, and pregnant women. The acts of terror depicted are welcomed by the populace, which greets each explosion as the onset of liberation -- and fills the streets in Guy Fawkes masks to show its support. Was this how the residents of Madrid, London, or New York City greeted the terrorist attacks of the past few years? Of course not. They were greeted with outrage and justified indignation -- and crackdowns on civil liberties. But the daydream of vindication so powerfully woven in this film might help efface those realities in the addled minds of men predisposed to destruction and desperate to "make a difference."