Graphic novels, The Fall and the nuisance of human existence

I often find it strange that in my case theological constructs are derived out of my exposure to what many dub as juvenile entertainment, which includes graphic novels. Perhaps there is something that I hit upon as profound in the action-packed artworks that are situated in separate panels that represent individual scenes which make up a plot. After all, human experience unfolds in story and its meaning is fashioned from places, plots, and players fused in real-time.

In like fashion Biblical narratives function as vehicles of divine revelation that helps us makes sense (or better yet find) our place and meaning in this sizeable and ever changing storyline that we call life. That perhaps explains why we often find ourselves identifying with the characters in Bible stories because in a way they lay bare a part of ourselves that we exhibit we whenever we cope with the harsh realities of life as well as when we feel like we are brought face to face to the actuality of the divine in our midst.

In this reflection for this class on Christian anthropology I would like to turn our attention on the primordial creation narrative of The Fall, looked at from the vantage point of a graphic novel: Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s Batman: The Killing Joke, where I will attempt to find parallels between the two comic book storylines in relation to the fall of man and the predicament of human existence that follows it.

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The role of science & art in deliberating theological method

A responsible theologian should give due attention to science and art in order to highlight two factors that rightly contributes to the formulation of levelheaded and empathic theological answers to questions that people are facing now.

Science lays the groundwork of situating the Biblical text in its proper context as well as in providing a systematic methodology of interpretation given the many factors that contribute to the development of Scripture and its interpretations in history.

While the focus on art is equally important as Scripture itself is a literary art form that is produced by people who used different literary styles that can be classified according to genre in giving language to their understanding of experiences and encounters with the divine because art is a creative response to particular life settings.

Thus science answers the question of methodology and objectivity in theologizing while art responds to the need for empathic appreciation and examination of the dynamic response of people in their plight and journey to discern God’s will and purpose.

Carrying on the divine conversation

Summary and reflection on Nicholas Wolterstorff’s 4-part article series entitled: The God Who Speaks

The view that God is speaking as this has been somewhat of a contentious topic among the present theological landscape, in light of this I would like to tender a summary of four articles written by Nicholas Wolterstorff entitled: The God Who Speaks.

Using Augustine’s conversion story Wolterstorff, pushes forward a thesis that the God of the Bible is very much a speaking God. By weaving Scripture with Augustine’s conversion, He argues that God spoke to people as reported in Scripture, he argues: God spoke to Augustine by way of a child’s sing-song; and God spoke by way of Scripture itself; lastly God spoke, above all, in and through Jesus Christ. The God of Scripture the God of Christian experience who spoke in diverse ways and on many occasions to human beings.
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Punk rock and theology | God Save the Queen

Many who know me are well aware that as far as music goes I am a huge punk rock fan. Primarily, because of all the genres in music it is the only style that has captured my imagination and not to mention has given language to my then adolescent angst that came about my experiences of not being what is defined as ‘cool’ at the time.

Erstwhile I was thinking of punk as a starting point in initiating a dialogue between its counter-cultural and at times nihilistic ethos with Christian theology that is in areas of anthropology, hamartiology, theodicy, and soteriology as personally I find the lyrics, noise and overall aural experience of listening to punk rock give language to such aspects of how I interpret and theologize about life in my personal context.

Doctrine, Theology and theological stubborness

Just a thought...as I’ve always encountered people always talking about doctrine when relating to theology maybe it’s useful to note here that doctrines are the result of a community of faith’s (i.e. a particular church's or denomination's) understanding of Scripture thus should never be allowed to supercede Scripture. While theology is the attempt to express faith verbally in a responsible way, thus theology is the struggle to give faith a proper vocabulary, a proper idiom with which to speak of God.

I believe this point of clarification is important for all Christians who agree on the basics of orthodox Christian faith. As sometimes we tend to believe that only our local church’s or denomination’s doctrinal formulation is the only valid expression of Christianity. Perhaps the question of always being on guard against ‘strange winds of doctrine’ specially in pertaining to groups and institutions that adhere to the basics of orthodoxy (Inspiration of the Scriptures, the Trinity, Deity and Humanity of Christ etc), are mostly borne out of our stubbornness to admit that our local church or denomination does not have the monopoly of precision as far as understanding Scriptures go.

A new creed for the modern church

Creeds are used to present a systematic articulation of beliefs adhered to by a community of faith, like the Apostles Creed that most Christians in liturgical churches recite every Sunday.

Howard Paterson Professor of Theology and Public Issues at the University of Otago, Dunedin, Andrew Bradstock recently formulated this piercing creed that is a piercing criticism to contemporary Christianity’s association with middle-class consumerism and capitalism in a public lecture that delivered at the University of Auckland’s School of Theology titled ‘Profits Without Honour?: Economics, spirituality and the current global recession’:

The Power of Words

Last Sunday I was blessed to have the opportunity to give a short talk on creative writing at Grace Bible Church. Below are excerpts from the presentation that I gave to the audience:

Words

Everything that we know or like, as in stories, movies, cartoons, etc. is written by someone.

We would think about Frodo of The Lord of the Rings or of Aslan of Chronicles of Narnia and we would not think that they simply spawned into existence they were created by someone who had a story in his or her head who decided to put it into writing using words.

It is words that break our solitary confinement and saves us from isolation.

Words are powerful. They are really very powerful and Biblically speaking it is so powerful that God’s Word became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ, as Christ is the Word of God, (John 1:1,14 – Christ the Logos) as testified to in the entire narrative of the Bible. Moreover they are powerful enough to change the lives of men. (Hebrews 4:12)

And it is all because word communicates and it is because God is the first and greatest communicator and His Words in Scripture is His written communication to His intelligent creation.

Today, we will dwell more into words, as we would study them and try our best to use them to articulate our thoughts, feelings and our faith, as we will have a study of creative writing. Now I cannot guarantee that you will become good or shall we say ‘creative’ writers (as I also am not good), but what I can guarantee you is that in knowing the power of words it is my prayer that you will be challenged to write but also to read and understand the value of communication as it is creatively articulated.

Write it well

We write because we want others to read it.

Knowing that others would read it we must then know how to write well. Especially in this day and age where writing down our thoughts has sort of become a chic especially with the advent of weblogs or blogs, which honestly speaking a majority of them lack literary value as most of them tend to focus on the mundane and the disinteresting, because it just serves our vanity in which we believe that people are interested with our lives.

It is a sad truth that even if the Philippines prides itself with its proficiency in the English language we are also at the same time guilty of not being able to speak or for this matter write well.

Write for God

God gave us this talent so that we can use them to glorify Him and bring honor to His name.

If we would have a study of church history we will be surprised at how God used people to write down His will.

It is my prayer that as we would now take time to study the lesson that we will be led by the Holy Spirit to be challenged to not only write but write well for the Lord.

Note: The slides below serves as guide to the entire flow of the lesson as it was originally presented during the lecture.

click here to download the slides in Microsoft Powerpoint

Theology according to Leonardo Boff

Theology, as the word suggests, is a discussion about God and all things as seen in the light of God. It constitutes a singularity in our species that, in some moment during millions of years of evolution, the consciousness of God appeared. With this word, “God,” is expressed a supreme value, a final sentiment of the universe and life and an original Source from which all other beings came.

This God inhabits the universe and accompanies human beings. The sacred texts of religions and spiritual traditions testify to the permanent action of God in the world. He always acts in favor of life, defending the weak, offering forgiveness to the fallen and promising eternal life in communion with Him.

It belongs to the faith of Christians to affirm that God approximated Himself to human existence and made Himself man in Jesus of Nazareth. In this the promise of blessed union with Him is anticipated and will be the destination of all the beings of the entire creation.

Among the many functions of theology today two are most urgent: how theology collaborates in the liberation of the oppressed, who are today’s “crucified Christs,” and how theology helps to preserve the memory of God so that we do not lose the sentiment and sacredness of human life which is threatened by a culture of superficiality, consumption and entertainment. We should always unite faith with justice, where a perspective of liberation is born, keeping the flame of our sacred lamp burning so that it can feed the hope for a better future for the Earth and all humanity.

from http://www.leonardoboff.com/site-eng/lboff.htm

A deeper look at the Incarnation

Bonhoeffer is probably my favorite theologian these days and the statement below is an example of why:

In Jesus Christ we have faith in the incarnate, crucified and risen God. In the incarnation we learn of the love of God for His creation; in the crucifixion we learn of the judgment of God upon all flesh; and in the resurrection we learn of God’s will for a new world. There could be no greater error than to tear these elements apart; for each of them comprises the whole.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics

A good quote from Reinhold Niebuhr

It is quite amazing what books you might come across whenever you'd rummage through a used book sale. This is a good one which is also quite cheap considering that this is no longer in print and not to mention this edition is from the 60s.

But what's more special about this is that I've found something insightful with how Reinhold Niebuhr converses about Christian ethics and the Sovereign will of God and Western Civilization.

"We on the other as all "God-fearing" men of all ages, are never safe against the temptation of claiming God too simply as the sanctifier of whatever we most fervently desire. Even the most "Christian" civilization and the most pious church must be reminded that the true God can be known only where there is some awareness of a contradiction between divine and human purposes, even on the highest level of human aspirations."

- Reinhold Niebuhr
The Irony of American History