column :: origins
Posted by Paul | Filed under columns
Have you noticed how everyone is going back to their roots these days? In the cinema we have watched as Superman Returns after searching out his birthplace and as Batman Begins. We’ve seen Hannibal Lector start out and James Bond on his first mission. And on TV people are tracing their ancestors to answer ‘Who do you think you are?’
So, why the sudden interest in our pasts? Perhaps we hope that by looking back we can make sense of our present; that we’ll find some hidden meaning.
Of course, this is fine if you are fictional. Some scriptwriter can conjure up an exciting story with hints of greatness. But what if we look back and find nothing: no moments that ironically point to the future, no secrets of coming significance. Worst of all, what if our past is just dull?
Perhaps digging in our past is the wrong approach. Perhaps instead we need to look outside ourselves. Perhaps what we need is a bigger story we can become part of.
Wim Wenders at Image
Posted by Paul | Filed under web sights
So once more, sitting in a field and letting the sun shine on me, I ask myself: “Why do I believe in God, Wim?”
“He called me by my name.”
He did. That’s all I can say in the end.
I am thankful for that every day.
Grace.
Most amazing experience of my life.
Wim Wenders
I was pleasantly surprised to see film-maker Wim Wenders as Image Journal’s artist of the month. They also have an article by Wenders entitled Interrogation.
Tags: art, cinema, culture, web sights
Things I found this week…
Posted by Paul | Filed under web sights
I stumbled across a number of great web sights this week…
First, Byron Borger has a wonderous article Why we are open to the Emergent Conversation: My journey, and books along the way. A sort of reading-biography following his path from Schaeffer, via Os Guinness, Middelton and Walsh, etc., to recent Emergent publications. A good discussion of Chistianity-in-all-of-life and a defence of why conservative Christians can happily read emerging books.
I am not exactly ready to brand myself emergent and I have deep loyalties to conservative Reformed doctrine, evangelical para-church ministries and institutions, and rather mainline expressions of congregational life. We’ve lived in intentional community, been arrested in peace witnesses, and lived in the inner city; we’ve read critiques of Enlightenment rationalism before anybody knew who Derrida was, and we’ve loved rock and roll culture even when our best friends were listening to only Larry Norman and LoveSong. Does that make us emergent? Not exactly. I’m not bragging at all, not even saying we’ve been right in all of this, just saying that to me, this emergent stuff makes sense to be talking about.
…
They ask big questions about hard Biblical matters and want to be authentic and real, without any churchy pretense. They want to impact the world, and are gladly moving towards social justice concerns, getting involved in human rights initiatives and social action missions.
This made my week. Not only does he run the bookshop I always dreamed of starting, Borger is a hero — truly generous and thought-provoking.
Elsewhere, I discovered lowercase people a very interesting on-line magazine from David Dark and friends. Subtitled “the on-line magazine for artists in action.”
lowercase people is a daring new endeavor to revolutionize the way we view beauty, truth and humanity.
…
lowercase people is the collective effort of a community of thinkers, musicians, artists and writers. We are humanity beautiful and broken. We want to see change. We want to dream bigger dreams. We want to collide. We want to make better art and better music. We’re curious. We’re moving outside of the lines. We’re thinking out-loud. We are the lowercase people. Consider joining us as we begin to dream and think out loud.
Finally, there is a new book out about faith and cinema: Faith, Film and Philosophy: Big Ideas on the Big Screen. Dallas Willards contribution is available on-line: Liberation Through Sensuality: Cinematic Moral Vision in an Age of Feeling. Definitely worth a look. In 10 pages he gets from Pleasantville to
…the person of good moral character does not stand back and hope for something to happen, so they won’t have to soil their hands. Rather, they act for the greater good in the situation—often, to be sure, “with fear and trembling”—but they do act. They act with genuine love, as a matter of the will and character, not just feeling. This is what it means to be responsible.
Tags: art, cinema, culture, web sights, worldview
A random walk over culture, art, christianity, etc. with occasional photographs...