Many years ago Bishop Fulton J. Sheen delivered a television Christmas message entitled “Superman and Christmas” on his Life is Worth Living television program. With the enormous popularity of the movies Hancock and Batman, some of his ideas are worth re-examining.
Batman, Hancock, and Bishop Sheen
August 3rd, 2008GRACE (Not Eight) IS ENOUGH
April 13th, 2008
He knows what it profits to gain the world but lose his soul; Willie Aames was on the top of the Hollywood world as teen star. Maylo Upton-Aames absorbed the pains and pleasures of this Present Evil Age; then she learned that the Greek word for “saved” is the same as the word for “healed” Willie and Maylo let God have their lives and, in return, He gave them one another. Grace is Enough is the story of how God’s unrelenting grace turned two dramatic arcs from tragedy to joy.
“The Role of Zoey Brooks is Being Played by _________”
January 4th, 2008
When Jesus challenged his followers to “Follow Me”, He suggested that they see the world as He saw it, and let Him rule their decision making process.
Does the challenge mean anything less when offered by a pregnant, unmarried sixteen year old girl?
Out Of the Abundance of the Heart, the Mouth Speaks
April 13th, 2007
Violating a social taboo has been a universal technique for generating laughter in a cohesive society. For example, in some tribal societies, the clown-shaman could make the group laugh by pretending to drink cow urine and enjoy the taste. This may be the Ur “shock” comedy.
However, rather than universal, most comedy is social, that is, relative to a particular group’s experience and values. Johnny Carson said that “when you walk out and do a piece of humorous business, it’s not going to affect everybody the same because it is all relative to their own individual experience with it – how they relate to it.”
So what is a Christian to think when an attempt to produce laughter by violating a social taboo (in this case, forbidden words), encounters, not a cohesive audience laughing, but rather, a diverse audience, for whom the words produce anger, sadness, and fear? (I’m talking about the case of Don Imus, late of CBS radio and MSNBC television.)
The Sopranos: The Present Evil Age on HBO
April 11th, 2007
From the days of the early Medieval theater, Satan and his demons- in whatever contemporary guise they appear – have been the most alluring characters on stage or film. Representing the world of this Present Evil Age in all its “glory”, Satan speaks the vernacular while the other characters speak Latin.
Subsequent Satans use the hippest of contemporary lingo, whether ethnic sub-culture or academic post-modern. Satan knows the latest songs and jokes; he is wise to the ways of the real world. He is no chump. His clothing and house look like those of our dreams, only better.
So from the Italian “sopra” for above, we have the Soprano family of HBO. Anthony is the head and, like all of Satan’s manifestations, we can relate to Tony in his worldly hopes, dreams, fears, anxieties, and frustrations. He, the false prophet, is made to look like Everyman to engender his audiences empathy, trust, and faith. N. T. Wright observes, that “the trouble with false prophets is of course that they seem very nice, very reasonable, very trustworthy.” And as with every Satan in stage and screen history, only when the curtain falls or the credits roll, may we begin to regain a perspective on them and their cohorts, to begin to see sin as sin, evil and evil, and Satan as the Enemy.
Apprentice or Disciple?
January 9th, 2007
Like the eighteen apprentices on NBC’s popular series, the twelve disciples vied to win the seat by their master’s right hand. But the paths and the masters could not be more different. Compare the Official Trump biography with that of Jesus. Read the rest of this entry »
Jay Bakker: “Jesus is the Savior, Not Christianity”
December 14th, 2006
Jay Bakker is the only son of TV evangelists Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Messner. Mr. Bakker is the pastor of the Revolution church inside a bar in New York City called Pete’s Candy Store and the star of a documentary film entitled One Punk Under God, running on the Sundance television channel. Read the rest of this entry »
