We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

christoph-waltz-djesus-uncrossed-nbs

Uncrossed

Did any of you catch SNL this weekend? They did a parody of Tarantino’s DJango Unchained called DJesus Uncrossed. Many were deeply offended by the depiction of Jesus in this, but David R. Henson blogged about how this skit revealed what we’ve already been doing for quite a while as a culture. In his blog post, entitled DJesus Uncrossed: Tarantino, Driscoll and the Violent Remaking of Jesus in America, he points out that “we’ve been trying to uncross Jesus for decades in this country, long before SNL got their pens into him.” This is why the cross is so central to who Jesus really is and what he came to do. When we uncross him, it’s very easy to bend him into our own violent imaginings. Although we disagree with the author’s assessment of the Jesus found in the book of Revelation (see Greg’s blog on this from 2010) we wholeheartedly agree with the rest of his thoughts.

Let’s pattern our lives after the God most truly revealed in his humble sacrifice out of love for all of us.

From David’s blog:

We have tried to arm him with our military-industrial complex, drape him with our xenophobia, outfit him with our weapons, and adorn him with our nationalism. We’ve turned the cross into a flagpole for the Stars and Stripes. We have no need for Tarantino to reimagine the story of Jesus into a fantasy of violent revenge. We’ve done it for him. We’ve already uncrossed him, transforming him from a servant into a triumphalist who holds the causes and interests of our country on his back rather than brutal execution.

Related Reading

Don’t all religions believe in the same God?

http://youtu.be/BKmSr6lKWsk Bruxy Cavey takes a swing at this question and scores a home run.  

The Incarnation: Paradox or Contradiction?

We’re in the process of flushing out the theology of the ReKnew Manifesto, and we’ve come to the point where we should address the Incarnation. This is the classical Christian doctrine that Jesus was fully God and fully human. Today I’ll simply argue for the logical coherence of this doctrine, viz. it does not involve…

Topics:

ISIS, Islam & Jesus

http://youtu.be/7W5NWWFFJMg?list=PLB5r2P47beqLlY3wM6VKjwEEofXAZ4lX5 Our friend Bruxy taught a series at The Meeting House titled ISIS, Islam & Jesus that we wanted to share with you. This is episode one, and you can find the whole series by clicking here. If you believe in redemptive violence, you’ll be challenged by what he has to say.

Does the Bible teach total non-violence?

I wouldn’t say the whole Bible teaches non-violence, for you find Yahweh engaging in quite a bit of violence in the Old Testament. But I would say that the whole Bible clearly presents non-violence as God’s dream for humanity, and I would most certainly say this dream is realized in Jesus Christ and the Kingdom…

Do All Roads Lead to God?

First, if it’s really true that Jesus is the way to Father and that no one comes to the Father except through him, (Jn 14:6) then it seems that no other religious leader or religious doctrine can bring us to the Father. “The” is a definite article, and it implies singularity. “A dog” could refer…

The Missing Jesus

Jonathan Martin wrote this compelling blog on the missing Jesus last month. It’s a thoughtful reflection on how easy it is to put Jesus in a box that conforms to our political, religious or social agenda. But the real Jesus is not an idea; he’s a person. And he’s a person who is constantly breaking…

Tags: ,