"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us... We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us."
Franz Kafka, in a private letter, January 1904
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
A recent article about the Christian publishing industry mentioned that one publishing house was discussing with a popular author the possibility of a series of vampire novels for Christians. I wish I were making this up, but I doubt if I could, even if I were drunk. The idea is that vampires sell, so since they sell, why not try to sell them to Christians, who buy a lot of entertainment? I am not speculating that money might be the motivation for this venture, the article states as much in plain language. “Twilight Lite” – necrophilia for evangelicals.
Supposedly, this novel (or series of novels) is going to tell the tale of a family of vampires who became “undead” through some process involving the blood of Judas Isacariot. I wish I were making this up for the sake of satire, but I’m not. One person interviewed for the article claims that the Christian message can fit into a vampire story since the bible speaks of the power of blood in the doctrine of the atonement. It is true that we do speak of the power of the blood, but that is a singular emphasis: the Blood of Jesus Christ. To extrapolate that unique concept out into a world of undead, occult figures pining for redemption in the midst of completely depraved circumstances is ludicrous. The only conceivable reason for doing so is that we evangelicals (or a large number of us) are now motivated by precisely the same things which motivate non-believers; lots of money, mass appeal, pop-culture icons of refined evil and mindless entertainment. Let’s have a novel about Hannibal Lechter becoming a televangelist. That way we can enjoy a ripping good yarn about a serial killer, and also have redemption thrown in as a side benefit! We’ll have our cake and everyone else’s too.
Without overstating in the slightest, this venture is evidence of the most crass, vulgar, unconscionable, greedy, depraved, money-grubbing sycophancy imaginable. For years, Christian leaders of a certain stripe have been warning their fellow believers that our habit of imitating the world was getting out of hand. Their arguments are now academic. We have passed a boundary where we apparently feel that the “Christian message” can now be crammed into any container at all. We’ve got past the point where it is correct to hypothesize about a slippery slope; we are now in a free fall toward an abyss of nearly total identification with all things opposed to goodness. Once our music, our books, our complete package is just like the world’s, why bother leaving one for the other? We no longer have anything unique to offer; all we have is what has already been popular in secular circles for months and years. A great Ho-Hum of amused boredom will greet the message of saving grace as long as we persist in this foolishness, and the only answer to the question “Why are we Christians having no impact on the world” will be a hand-held mirror. God willing, it will at least show our reflection.
Supposedly, this novel (or series of novels) is going to tell the tale of a family of vampires who became “undead” through some process involving the blood of Judas Isacariot. I wish I were making this up for the sake of satire, but I’m not. One person interviewed for the article claims that the Christian message can fit into a vampire story since the bible speaks of the power of blood in the doctrine of the atonement. It is true that we do speak of the power of the blood, but that is a singular emphasis: the Blood of Jesus Christ. To extrapolate that unique concept out into a world of undead, occult figures pining for redemption in the midst of completely depraved circumstances is ludicrous. The only conceivable reason for doing so is that we evangelicals (or a large number of us) are now motivated by precisely the same things which motivate non-believers; lots of money, mass appeal, pop-culture icons of refined evil and mindless entertainment. Let’s have a novel about Hannibal Lechter becoming a televangelist. That way we can enjoy a ripping good yarn about a serial killer, and also have redemption thrown in as a side benefit! We’ll have our cake and everyone else’s too.
Without overstating in the slightest, this venture is evidence of the most crass, vulgar, unconscionable, greedy, depraved, money-grubbing sycophancy imaginable. For years, Christian leaders of a certain stripe have been warning their fellow believers that our habit of imitating the world was getting out of hand. Their arguments are now academic. We have passed a boundary where we apparently feel that the “Christian message” can now be crammed into any container at all. We’ve got past the point where it is correct to hypothesize about a slippery slope; we are now in a free fall toward an abyss of nearly total identification with all things opposed to goodness. Once our music, our books, our complete package is just like the world’s, why bother leaving one for the other? We no longer have anything unique to offer; all we have is what has already been popular in secular circles for months and years. A great Ho-Hum of amused boredom will greet the message of saving grace as long as we persist in this foolishness, and the only answer to the question “Why are we Christians having no impact on the world” will be a hand-held mirror. God willing, it will at least show our reflection.
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