Tag Archives: Christianity

Day of Wrath

Day of Wrath (1943) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer Day of Wrath, a movie about 17th Century women accused and condemned of witchcraft, was made during the Nazi occupation of Denmark, and released just months after the Nazis dissolved the Protectorate … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Modern and Postmodern Jesus Films

The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini “Could these also be reasons why God has given us two creation stories and four versions of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus?” - Merold Westphal Pasolini, a dedicated Marxist, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Alex DeLarge and Prince Myshkin

A Clockwork Orange (1971) dir. Stanley Kubrick “imagine a human subject devoid of the defense mechanisms produced by a history of hurting and being hurt, of choices and therefore of exclusions; imagine someone who has never had to make a … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Viridiana – Mocking Charity

The idea that the poor are just as sinful as the rich doesn’t seem too revolutionary, until you look at the majority of Western art and literature. Usually we get the Charles Dickens trope. If only the mean rich people were to leave and the poor people were put in charge, things would run more smoothly.

Viridiana in contrast, might have been written by Ayn Rand. It’s about as anti-populist as you can get. Rand however, would have tossed in a Prometheus or two. Buñuel’s Calvinistic misanthropy allows for no heroes. Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Bible as a Description of God’s Love

God creates human beings who rebel and turn paradise into terror.  They murder, rape, lie, cheat, steal and commit every atrocity imaginable.  God tells them not to, and asks them to change.  When they screw things up, he makes things … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

It’s Not ‘Reason vs. Faith’

Jewish and Christian theology contains a history spanning thousands of years of people arguing, debating and researching. Dawkins’ straw theology that states “faith is immune to criticism and critique” probably does apply to some particular sects at particular times in history, but it does not reflect theology as actually practiced by actual people.

Once again, I’m not arguing that theism is true. What I am arguing is simply that the disagreement isn’t between Reason vs. Faith but rather what some people think are the results of reason and what other people are the results of reason. Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Science and Religion are like jealous spouses

How do we navigate the differences between science and religion?  What are the limits of rational human comprehension?  What is faith and does it play a role in gaining knowledge? None of these questions are addressed in a typical modern … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 33 Comments