Matthew Winant - Blog #15 (5/8/09)

So for my last blog I get to tell you about the film Syriana, where the conflict between politics and religion rages. The political thriller focuses on the connectivity of multiple characters, as was the fad for films like Crash and Babel. While Christianity is not explicitly mentioned, it is assumed that there is in the film the deep rooted conflict between Christianity and the West against Islam in the East. The Islamic sect in the film is viewed as all terrorists, and the leadership of the sect prays on the needy members of the Islamic culture. This is the unfortunate view of Islam through the eyes of the Western culture and I was displeased with the films portrayal of the situation.

Outside Movie - Crash - Robbie Heath

In the movie Crash the audience follows a couple of days in the lives of several people in Los Angeles. We see how their lives all tie together and effect each other. This is in positive and negative ways. We see the consequences of peoples greed, selfishness, pride, etc. While these problems seem minor to most of the people that do them, they have huge consequences on other people. The dual natures of many people is also visible as we see one man capable of malice and racism, but at the same time saves a woman from a burning car. This really represents the battle between good and bad force in our lives and inside of this. This movie is a great example of the idea of the flesh and the the Spirit given by Paul in Galatians 5.

Personal - Robbie Heath

I recently was a reading an excerpt in a book that was discussing the literary value of the Bible. About the poetic nature of certain books and how stories are told in the Bible, especially the stories of Jesus in the four Gospels. It seems that compared to many stores, or histories of that time in the ancient world, the Bible was constructed very differently. Ancient epics apparently lacked the detail, or rather the realism that is in the Bible. These are small things such as saying how far from the boat Jesus was when he walked on water, or a sigh, or sweat. However, it is these details that pull readers in because they can relate to these everyday details. Almost all stories or movies today have such details at least to extent. It seems that how the Bible was written has changed how modern literature is approached today. Would you agree that this advent of realism came from Bible literature? Was the Bible a sole source for causing this change, or just one part. However, it most undoubtedly influenced and changed European and western writing.

Steph Dunn- Outside Reading # 5

Studying for exams me and my roommate went to Barnes and Noble for a change of scenery. Although it was loud and busy I loved being there because we got to look through the books. One book that caught my eye was "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" by F. Scott Fitzgerld. This past summer I had seen the movie with Brad Pitt and fell in love with it. My favorite part about the movie was the emphasis on how timeless love is. The book was very different from the movie. In the book Benjamen's family didn't give him up like they did in the movie, and they forced him to act as a child even though he was an old soul. Love is such an amazing deity that never seems to die. In this movie even though he was getting younger and she was getting older they still had an amazing connection that lasted through time.

Matthew Winant - blog #14 (outside reading, 5/7)

I went on a Michael Crichton binge over the summer and winter holidays and continued in my free time to slowly progress through most of his novels. I recently finished his first, Andromeda Strain, last week. Along side with Neuromancer by William Gibson, it is scary to see how far we have come as a society in technological terms. It seems every day there is a new technological threat, whether it be biological or computer based, our day to day lives are also composed with media based fear. Andromeda Strain has no real connection to the transcendence, but it does paint a picture of biological disaster created from technological advancement. I feel like within our lifetime we will encounter a technological advancement that will spell disaster for America or other countries of the world. Movies such as Terminator hold possibly within our realm of A.I., especially being developed for dangerous industry.

Matthew Winant - Blog #13 (outside reading 5/7)

I have also started a book by Donald Miller who first came on the religious studies scene with his book Blue Like Jazz. The book that I am reading is called Searching for God Knows What. It is an amusing play on words to portray seeking what your calling is compared to a personalized statement of searching for whatever. Miller talks about the conventions made by contemporary believers and nonbelievers alike. Miller spends one chapter alone on the images that the Western world has of Jesus, someone who is beautiful and most importantly white. However, it is Scriptural evident that Jesus was not the most attractive person in Judea, but that because he was from the Middle East it is not difficult to see that he was tan without the perfect brown hair we see of him today. Miller combats claims of why God left Earth and why He allows suffering to happen. I encourage everyone to take a glance at this book as well as his first as he easily paints a picture of who Jesus is and why came to Earth.

Matthew Winant - Blog #12 (outside reading)

For an outside reading I read parts of the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. It is a very popular book among theologians as well as members of this class apparently. While I am not completely finished with the book I have noticed some fantastic aspects within the letters. First is that the demon who is writing tells the receiver not to use logic, as it will always lead to God. I find this amazing because today it is seen that logic will outsmart theology and the Bible. Nonbelievers find that it is easy to use logic to disprove Creation or Jesus. Another point that I noticed was the fact that I realized spiritual warfare is occurring always and all around us. I have heard stories of missionaries who have felt absolute terror from demons waging spiritual warfare on messengers of God. I find C.S. Lewis' ability to portray demons as a believer very well conceived and his ability to logical show how a demon thinks is in line with Scripture and theological logic.