The Cheese Card: Christians Can't Write Scripts

I've seen some fictional Christian plays and watched some fictional Christian films in my time and they have all been bad. Last night I watched "The Grace Card". It had reasonable reviews, good production, reasonably good acting but the script... We (my wife who has a greater sympathetic tolerance to these things and I) couldn't bear to watch the end to see how even more cheesy things could get. The script was awful.

There were at least two problems with the script. Firstly, the inability to let the actors just silently act something out, without giving an extended dialogue including theological motivations for their actions. Secondly, and for me more striking, the Xn characters don't even remotely correlate with people I've met in real life. They are pious and serene beyond belief. Sure they'll often have some flaw to overcome but it's usually something others don't consider a flaw and by the end of the story you know how they're going to overcome it. Currently I have my fingers crossed for “Blue like Jazz” if that fails then I will only ever watch historically based films like Shadow Lands (CS Lewis), Amazing Grace, Luther, Romero and Molokai (these last two are brilliant). These films are often directed by non Xns who insist on catching the humanity of the people rather than the idealised theology of the people. Not only much more real but much much more compelling.

Slumdog Millionaire Review

In the 10 months I had off from blogging I finally got around to joining the rest of the world and watching Slumdog Millionaire. I didn't like it. All fiction happens in a universe that the story teller creates and it's the job of the story teller to draw us in to the world of the story so everything that happens becomes believable. Dan Brown's the Davinci code does a great job of this, so much so that I was disappointed when I came across the gaps in the story’s theological and historical explanation. Slumdog is built on these premises: If someone just gets lucky enough then they too can get out of their situation. The implication is we're all in control of how are life turns out regardless of the where we are born.

It's classic American dream mythology. The evils that the characters face were not inequality, poverty and disease resulting from the systemic injustice that created the slum (which is really the great evil that slum dwellers face). Instead, the evil was a handful of gangsters. To me it felt like the slum setting was not necessary almost like an elephant in the room. Maybe for me feel good movies are a time to forget about systemic injustice for a while and I just couldn't do it in this one. Not when that injustice isn't being confronted in some way. I can hear my mum saying "for goodness sake, It's just a story!".

In my opinion Kevin Mcloud's documentary Slumming It did a much better job of capturing the beauty and horror of the slum. He walked away wanting to make the slum more sanitary and the work practices safer, but there was a joy and community amongst the people that the first could learn a lot from.

Flim Review - Away We Go

Freakin’ amazing. A sensuously paced journey with beautiful characters I could not only identify with, I could imagine having in my circle friends. The film has a beautiful balance of humour and pain and has marriage advice that isn't sappy or trite. The central couple grow throughout the film in a the way that real people do, no Hollywood moment or realisation they can do anything. They embrace the life they find themselves with, including all it's short comings and embrace the loves that they find themselves with. Highly recommended.

The Theology of Fight Club: The Talk From The 10 Year Anniversary Screening

Last month I was part of some Fight club 10 year anniversary celebrations. It was a bit of a Fight Club month. I was asked to write an article for the transit lounge about the theology of fight club and At the 10 year anniversary screening I did a talk to a packed Perth crowd of 12 (it was a small room so it was packed) about the theology of Fight Club too. Below is a copy of the Transit Lounge article and a copy of the talk. I would have like to have spent a lot more time on it so it's a bit scattered and disjointed none the less here it is.

Transit Lounge Article

I can still remember walking out of the cinema through the streets of Fremantle, stunned and feeling like I had seen something truly unique.

Ten years on, I have seen Fight Club (directed by David Fincher) and read the book, written by Chuck Palahniuk, numerous times.

Although denounced by some as a very unchristian film, it continues to resonate strongly with me and my faith. I see one of the film's two protagonists, Tyler Durden, as a Christ-like figure.

The premise is this: Jack works for an unscrupulous company earning good money with which he orders furniture for his apartment. Jack is living the good life—the American Dream—and finds it completely numbing and meaningless. Along comes Tyler to liberate him from this life.

In Christian theology we often talk about liberation and it is usually with regards to poorer people being liberated from oppression. Something a rich, white, Western male like myself can appreciate but cannot relate to.

In Fight Club, Tyler forces Jack to face the current reality of his world: injustice, love of money, obsession with the trivial; and to liberate him from that.

Below is a list of some of my favourite gospel and Fight Club parallels...

Fight Club: Only when Jack truly gives up his will to live is he saved.
Jesus: Luke 14:26. "Whoever comes to me and does not hate even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”

Fight Club: Jack quits job and Tyler destroys all that he owns.
Jesus: Matt 6:24-34. "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.”

Fight Club: Jack has no family; those around him follow Tyler Durden and his followers become his family.
Jesus: Mark 4:34-35. "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

Fight Club: The first assignment for fight club members is for them to start a fight and lose.
Jesus: Matt 5:38-39. "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'. But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.”

Fight Club: Tyler Durden destroys both Jacks' apartment and the buildings of credit card companies in order to make everything go back to zero so that no-one is in debt.
Jesus: Luke 18:22. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

Be warned: the film is graphic and brutal and deserves its R rating, but if you are looking for a film to show disaffected adult Western males that exemplifies liberation, I can’t think of a better place to start.

Talk from the Anniversary Screening

Two years ago I was doing alpha course and Nicky Gumbel told a horrific story of a Nazi death camp. It’s the story of a family man found guilty of some petty offence and sentenced to death. A priest steps in and is killed instead of the family man which the Gestapo agree to.
Nicky then went on to explain that we are like the family man and Jesus is like the priest, which is all fine and dandy until you realise that God is the Gestapo and that the priest died so that the family man can be friends with the Gestapo.

Now I’m sure we’ve all heard analogies like this. Stories like this to try and explain what Jesus life and death did. Stories like this is what theologians like to call an atonement narratives. That is it’s a story that describes the atonement “the reconciling, redeeming, liberating activity of God in Christ.” Obviously there’s bits of the Nazi death camp story that echo bits of the gospel but obviously any metaphor where a loving God is represented by a cruel guard at a Nazi death camp has got some problems too.

Now if you’ve been around in Xn circles for a while you have probably heard many stories like this. I can remember one from my youth group that involved a train and station master who puts his son in the road of the train to save the people on board or something like that.

Have people heard these kind of stories? And they’re usually slight variations on the same theme? To be technical that theme is called penal substitutionary atonement.

My problem with this story is that I think the gospel and what God has done through Jesus is too big to encapsulate in just one story. It’s about like Jesus talking about the Kingdom of God he didn’t just stick to the KOG is like a mustard seed he used many analogies. And that’s what we have to do with our atonement narratives. The atonement is like a multifaceted diamond. If we only stick to one story then we’ll end up making the gospel look like just a plate of glass. Of course there will be no one story that describes the “the reconciling, redeeming, liberating activity of God in Christ.” Completely.

This is where I’d like to introduce fight club. Now I’m willing to bet you haven’t been to a church service were the pastor has said ”let me just play you a clip from fight club to illustrate this point” In fact the First time I met Nathan à Baptist College à are you reading Chuck Phaulinuk à He looked so surprised I was sure I was going to get a ear bashing about it’s horrible morality etc.

Fight Club is in essence a story of liberation. In rich western Xy most Atonement Narratives talk about acts of reconciliation or redemption. Liberation occasionally might be framed in the story of sex addict or drug addict – who comes to the youth group to tell his testimony and how he has been set free. I certainly remember hearing that at my youth group, I also remember half the guys thinking they should get out of youth group and get into sex and drugs.

Personally I think it’s tragic that we have missed out talking about liberation. My generation were born into a world where it was impossible to buy a shoe that had not been made in a sweat shop and where third world inequality and environmental degradation was just seen as part of the natural order. Our parents worked hard to give us heaps as I got set to inherit this hard work I couldn’t help but notice the injustice that had been left in it’s wake. So we said no thanks for a while bought cheap flannelette shirts and Nirvana records. But most of us have given up that idealism and like our parents have a well thumbed IKEA catalogue on the newspaper rack. I grew up in a generation that were the heirs of oppression. We could see the injustice in the world and new we were destined to benefit from it but had no way to change it.

Perhaps this is one reason why we as a generation loved escaping into movies like the Matrix and TV shows like Buffy the vampire slayer were there is some greater reality a computer program or vampires that would give us meaning because everything else staring us in the face would pale into insignificance.

It was specifically for generation X males that Chuck Palahniuk wrote the novel Fight Club for. Fight Club is a story of liberation from a society where the only valued role in life is to be an oppressor. Jack the main character in Fight Club works day and night for an unscrupulous company earning good money that he uses to fill his apartment with furniture. Fight Club is a novel for a generation “raised by television to believe that someday we'll all be millionaires and movie stars and rock stars.” (Fight Club the film) A generation raised to believe in the American dream, that we can be anything we want.

In Fight Club liberation comes in the from of the character Tyler Durden who convinces Jack to hit rock bottom. That is, to give up the desire to become a movie star, to not play the game, trying to be famous or powerful, to not even bother with his job or apartment to just drop out of the rat race altogether. For Tyler Durden hitting rock bottom is not a simple submission to the powers around. Rather it is to live in spite of the powers around despising all that they value. For me this is encapsulated in the way Tyler Durden says “you have to give up” to Jack. I could totally imagine Jesus saying this to the “you have to give up” rich young ruler or Zacchaeus the tax collector who gives half of what he owns repays people he has cheated four times what he has taken from them.

Jack is liberated by giving up on the what the rulers, powers and principalities of this world view as important. A respectable job, a nice house and nice furniture to fill it.

Paul famously wrote in Galatians for freedom Christ has set us free. But ask many rich western Xns what they have been set free from and I bet they might struggle. We often we would fall back to our Nazi death camp model and say something like freed from death and freed from judgment. Which is certainly true and will make a difference when we die but it can be hard to see how that can make a big difference while we are alive. What I like about what I see in fight club and in Jesus. Is that rather changing what might happened if you died tomorrow they change what might happen if you live tomorrow.

Fight Club is a violent film, I’d argue it’s Possibly the most violent pacifist movie ever made. It’s tough and confronting liberation is often similar to Jesus when he asks us to give up everything to follow him. Part of the reason why the book Fight Club may resonate with someone who identifies as a pacifist is that no one is forced to join and no one is allowed to just watch. Part of the ethos of Fight Club is to take down the current social order by sacrificing / causing violence to yourself. Participant disturb those around them primarily by hurting themselves and not hurting other people. The only time participants go and fight someone who is unwilling is with the strict instruction that they are to loose the fight. It is an exercise in empowering the other person rather than intimidating them. Like big moment at the end of the film were Tyler blows up empty bank buildings, wiping all debts causing a jubilee. Jesus big moment turning tables in the temple was also a violent act that doesn’t hurt anyone.

But like the Nazi story I started with Fight Club is not a perfect metaphor – It’s going to be hard to find a Xn justification for urinating in food and splice pornography into children’s films.

Probably one of the reasons that we don’t think Jesus when we see fight club is because doesn’t fit into classic penal sub framework. But to prove my point here are some gospel parallels with the film. I’m sure there are more.

Fight Club - Only when Jack truly gives up his will to live is he saved.
Jesus - Luke 14:26. "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”
---
Fight Club - Jack quits job and Tyler Durden destroys all that he owns.
Jesus - Matt 6:24-34. "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
---
Fight Club - Jack has no family, those around him following Tyler Durden and his followers become his family.
Jesus - Mark 4:34-35. "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."
---
Fight Club - The first assignment for fight club members is for them to start a fight and loose.
Jesus - Matt 5:38-39. "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;”
---
Fight Club - "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We are all part of the same compost pile." Tyler Durden
Jesus - Matt 7:1-5. "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?”
---
Fight Club - Tyler Durden destroys Jacks apartment, and destroys the buildings of credit card companies in order to make everything go back to zero so that non one is in debt.
Jesus - Luke 18:22. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

At the end of the film Jack ends up living a life consistent with the beliefs of Tyler Durden. Doing this leads to him attempting suicide. At this moment Tyler (his mentor and example) dies and Jack goes on forever changed by Tyler. Jack asks himself “If you wake up at a different place at a different time could wake up as a different person”

The Theology of Fight Club: A 10 Year Anniversary Screening

If you live in Perth Western Australia. You could come to this event...

The Theology of Fight Club: A 10 Year Anniversary Screening

It's ten years this month since Fight Club hit Australian cinema screens. For many, it is probably the most unchristian film they could think of - violent, subversive and nihilistic. But for some Christians it's actually a theologically important film, and not nihilistic at all.

You're invited to celebrate a decade of this life-changing cult film with a special screening and talk:

"Theology of Fight Club" a talk by Chris Summerfield followed by Fight Club, the movie itself

7:30pm Friday 20 November 2009
Christian Centre For Social Action
879 Albany Hwy, East Vic Park (cnr Canterbury Tce)

Cost: suggested $5 donation to the Centre's aid work in East Timor

Please RSVP so Nathan and I know if we need to put out more than two chairs.

Watchmen and Trying to Solve the World’s Problems

Recently a friend and I went to see the Watchmen and have a coffee where we planned to solve the world problems (that’s kind of what we always talk about doing).

Reviews for the Watchmen seem to be either 1 star and below or 4 stars and above. I can see why the film splits people. It looks and sounds amazing and is very faithful to the original text, which has rave reviews itself. However the watchmen universe is a hard one to get your head around and immerse yourself in.

The film ends with an event that galvanizes enemies together to achieve a common goal. Over coffee my friend and I wondered why is it that we can't get along or work together without some galvanizing event. Why is it we are full of compassion for people who are homeless because of the recent bushfires in Australia but probably don’t think twice about people homeless in our own city. Or why is it that when you go on a camp or similar that a disparate group of people can get along like best friends yet when you take away the camp yet when they leave that camp they'll get on as badly as everyone else. It’s as if we are able to put differences aside in some circumstances but prepared to come to blows over them in others. Why aren’t global warming and poverty similar galvanizing events that make us forget our petty differences?

I Want To Build An Earthship

Last week I watched the film Garbage Warrior. The story of Michael Reynolds, an architect who builds self sufficient homes made out of garbage. The houses are made out of tiyes, bottles & cans. all the power is solar and wind, all the water is collected, recycled including grey water through a vegetable growing green house at front of the house. with angled glass at the sun facing side of the house and a huge thermal mass in the back of the house.

I want to build one.

Apart from the obvious difficulty of building your own house finding a council that will let you build a house out of tyres that is not connected to any services will be all but impossible.

Below are a couple of clips to get you acquainted with Earthship buildings.

Juno - Grunge Joy

Being a parent of very young children means that I haven't been to the movies for a couple of years. So I’ve been looking forward to seeing Juno for a while and it didn't disappoint.

I couldn't help but feel that this was a grunge film as it captured the spirit of the early 90's better than any other film I can think of. Juno is always in jeans and a flannelette shirt, there's a short rendition of Hole's doll parts, a discussion about the fabulous covers record "wish I was a carpenter" and many other references to both early 90s grunge and the late 70's punk that was such an influence on grunge. Perhaps even more grunge was the storyline a messy pro life polemic that would be sure to irritate pro life and pro choice baby boomers a like.

I very very rarely cry in films, I can remember letting out a small cheer in titanic when Leonardo Di Caprio's character died while those around me sobbed, but Juno made me cry. I think it was the present Bleeker got in the mail and the final note Jennifer Garner's character got, that got me going. Both points of revelation manifesting in acts of love.

Some critics have said the dialogue was too witty for a 16 year old. I found that aspect of Juno believable, it didn't bother me as much a Juno's great and very mature taste in music and no obvious way of discovering it. None the less without it this wouldn’t be the wonderful celebration of the grunge aesthetic that it is.

Hands down best movie I've seen for a long time..

Atonement - The Movie

How is it that we make amends for something that cannot be made right? How do we atone for what we have done and how we feel? Somethings can be fixed but the death of a child, disfigurement or even broken trust can be permanent. Whether we have directly done something, big or small or just stood idly by when, in retrospect we wished we'd acted, it makes no difference. Both have the same result, someone else has been hurt and I cannot take my action or inaction back.

Recently I saw the film atonement. A good film that I think could have been a great film if it focused less on being romance and more on the conundrum of atonement.

It strikes me that as a society we have not come up with any way of atoning be that a Xn or secular ritual. Now I realise atonement is the big thing in Xy. Jesus died for our sins etc... But this is about our relationship with god not with other humans. Further more sometime fixing a relationship with God is always easier. You have time on your side with an eternal deity. With humans we don't have that same luxury. I'd love to know what atheist, humanist or other religious and philosophical thinkers have to say about this issue? l have previously expressed my frustration with some Xn ideas about forgiveness. A reconciled relationship with one person or God) doesn't mean reconciliation with another human.

I think a relationship cannot be reconciled without the victim offering forgiveness. But this for good or bad reasons may not be available. How you atone shows how serious you consider your error and how much you value the relationship. The question is still how? After watching the film Atonement this question kept resonating in my head.

Tagged? - The Pharyngula mutating genre meme

Arthur from Five Public Opinions has tagged me again. It seems that he has mistaken me as some kind of well cultured person. To see the rules of this tag visit his blog post. I'm supposed to pass it on but alas it looks like the evolution dies with the Xn ;) I'm just not a pass it on kind of guy. None the less I thought I'd post my answers as it gives some kind of insight in to me.

1. The best murder mystery novel in Magical Realism is…

Lullaby by Chuck Paulanik

(I mutated this from The best time travel novel in Magical Realism is…)

2. The best romantic movie in historical fiction is…

Brokeback Mountain

3. The best love song in industrial rock is…
We're in this together by Nine Inch Nails.

(I mutated this from The best sexy song in industrial rock is…)

If there are any Xn bloggers (or bloggers general even) who pretty much agree with these answers I'd love to hear from you.

The Last Kiss

Last weekend I saw the film The Last Kiss. Exceeding my expectations, it's a great follow up for Zach Braff to the brilliant and understated Garden State. I tackles issues of love and fidelity in a unique mature way exhemplified for me by this quote from the Father in law in the film.

Stop talking about love. Every asshole in the world says he loves somebody. It means nothing. What you feel only matters to you. It's what you do to the people you say you love, that's what matters. It's the only thing that counts.

Do not talk about The Gospel of Fight Club

I remember the first time I got caught reading Fight Club. It was when I was studying Ancient Greek at a rather conservative Xn college. It was only the second lecture and I sat down next to a fellow student who I didn’t know, but none the less looked pretty much as conservative as everyone else in the class with their trousers and a button up shirts. As I was pulling my books out of my bag my neighbour spied a copy of fight club in my bag. “Are you reading Fight Club?” he said in voice that sounded somewhat horrified. Feeling like I’d just been caught with hard core pornography I turned to face my neighbour and expecting a rebuking of some sort. His face was not full of horror but excitement. He just couldn’t believe that he had found a fellow Chuck Palahniuk fan amongst the group. I dropped out of Ancient Greek but we remained friends and I even bought him the novel Choke for his birthday.

I thought of that story immediately when I read a comment on my previous post about Fight Club asking "How do I explain why I watch and love movies like Fight Club to everyday evangelicals (not that I am one)?"

My Solution is I don’t. I very cautiously tread ground mostly, avoid really saying what I think and then I write a blog post about it instead. I guess the real question is why Fight Club kind of films so taboo for evangelicals?

I think the reason why many evangelicals don’t like movies like Fight Club or American Beauty or music like Marylin Manson or Nirvana to name but a few is because evangelicals are usually very conservative and believe that Xy and Jesus is very conservative. For me this was summed up well by an evangelical friend who once said to me, something along the lines of, “I don’t understand why people don't become Xns. They don't have to change anything about their life for most people they just have to accept Jesus.” The assumption behind what he said is that most of us in the west are living Xn lives and all we have to do is just invite Jesus into our hearts and everything will be hunky dory when it comes to the big heaven or hell thing when you die.

I’d like to suggest that not only is Xy much more than that but also something quite opposite to that. The problem that I think evangelicals have with Fight Club etc… is that these movies are rallying against values of our western lives, I think Xy & Jesus is all about that. The Gospel of Mathew especially is all about Jesus clashing with the religious, social and political establishment of his day.

To me it's hard to believe that "family values" people follow Jesus when Jesus said things like...

• (Matt 10:35) For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
• (Matt 10:37) Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
  
• (Matt 12:50) For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
• (Matt 19:29) And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.
  
• (Luke 14:26) "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

I remember when American Beauty (another one of my favourite movies) came out a Xn film review website gave it one of their worst reviews ever and another Xn website even went as far as to suggest that writer Sam Mendes was possessed at the time of writing the movie. Yet to me the film is just full of gospel parallels.

Lester Burnham is just drudging through his meaningless hell of a life. His one dream is to have sex with his daughter’s friend (a minor). Sex with a minor (someone less than half his age) is something that almost everyone would agree as wrong or sinful. Lester is both a slave to the system of western life and a slave to the desire to commit this sin. Along comes Ricky Fitz, a pot selling Christ like figure who’s rejection of his fathers unreasonable authority (Luke 14:5 Then he said to them [the pharisees], "If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?") and freedom from worry of money (Luke 12:24: Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!). He is the only one who is free to live life to the full (John 10:10: I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly) and sees beauty not in the blonde girl Lester lusts after but in a plastic bag blowing in the breeze.

Rikki (with the help of some high grade cannabis) sparks the change in Lester’s life a change where Lester ends up living a life that is both enjoyable meaningful. He tries to seduce his wife instead of masturbating, he starts to pay attention to his daughter instead of her friends and stands up for himself. This culminates when he is put in the position where he finally gets the chance to fulfil his original fantasy of having sex with his daughter’s friend and chooses not to. The film ends with a Lester smiling having found meaning and happiness.

Narratives like Fight Club and America Beauty are all about change and change means confrontation, and a good change narrative that makes us want to change will be confronting. My guess is that many evangelicals (perhaps like the Pharisees in Jesus time) just don't like this. I can remember once reading an interview with Marilyn Manson (despised by many Xns) and he said he wanted the world to end in an apocalypse so their can be the beginning of a new one that’s better. Take away the goth make up and that sounds a lot like what many evangelical Xns might say.

I know this post has been a bit long and rambling and has kind of avoided the original question "How do I explain why I watch and love movies like Fight Club to everyday evangelicals (not that I am one)?" I guess I'd like to say that it's important to remember that narratives like Fight Club are narratives or parables, so they won't be a 100% gospel and That's OK (the Matrix is not gospel and neither is everything Bono has ever said). If the films inspire you to be more like Christ, as Fight Club had done for me then keep reading that kind of book and watching those kind of films. It's probably the inspiring to be more like Christ that's going to be the best starting point if you're talking to an evangelical friend too.

The Gospel of Fight Club

I recently read and watched Fight Club, again both one of my favourite books and films. So I thought I might say a little something of why I like this story so much.

Darby Ray author of "Deceiving the Devil" describes atonement as “the reconciling, redeeming, liberating activity of God in Christ.” I think this is a pretty succinct and broad summary of atonement, covering everything conservative substitutionary atonement through to liberation theology and many other ideas. My guess is that we have too often in the west we have overly focused on the redeeming and reconciling parts and neglected the liberating part of the triad.

Overlooking liberation may have been for good reason. In the west we usually don't think of ourselves as being needed to be liberated. At best we see ourselves as the oppressors from whom others needed to be liberated. For me and many of my peers there is a feeling amongst us that the life of an oppressor is not something we chose but something we inherited. We were born into a world where it was impossible to buy a shoe that had not been made in a sweat shop and where third world inequality and environmental degradation was just seen as part of the natural order. An old friend of mine (white and male) once lamented that he wished he had been born black and female, then he'd at least know what to fight against. We are a generation who have an awareness that there is something wrong with the world. We love escaping into movies like the Matrix and TV shows like Buffy the vampire slayer where the main characters are the only ones who realise there is something really wrong with the world whilst everyone else just walks along like zombies.

Many people have sought to find Christ like atonement narratives in the Matrix and Buffy. Whilst they might be there I prefer to look in Fight Club. Where the Matrix and Buffy set up dualistic universes (a "flesh" reality and a greater "spiritual" reality) Fight Club does not do this. There is no overarching vampire or matrix that we need to discover and fight, rather the evil is being perpetrated by us and the systems that we comply with. In Fight Club Tyler Durden is the Christ like figure who walks into Jacks life. Tyler forces Jack to face the current reality of his world, the injustice, the love of money, the obsession of the trivial and to liberate him, an "heir of oppression" (my term) from that. There is much Xns can learn about atonement from Fight Club.

Here are some of my favourite Gospel and Fight Club parallels...

Fight Club

Only when Jack truly gives up his will to live is he saved.

Jesus

Luke 14:26. "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”

---

Fight Club

Jack quits job and Tyler Durden destroys all that he owns.

Jesus

Matt 6:24-34. "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

---

Fight Club

Jack has no family, those around him following Tyler Durden and his followers become his family.

Jesus

Mark 4:34-35. "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

---

Fight Club

The first assignment for fight club members is for them to start a fight and loose.

Jesus

Matt 5:38-39. "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;”

---

Fight Club

"You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We are all part of the same compost pile." Tyler Durden

Jesus

Matt 7:1-5. "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?”

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Fight Club

Tyler Durden destroys Jacks apartment, and destroys the buildings of credit card companies in order to make everything go back to zero so that non one is in debt.

Jesus

Luke 18:22. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

Author of Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk. Has also written the books Survivor, Invisible Monsters Choke, Lullaby, Diary and Haunted. They are all really good.

Whale Rider

Last Sunday Night I got to watch "Whale Rider" again. An absolutely extraordinary film that blends myth and reality beautifully. I was struck by the Gospel analogies in the story.
• There is a prophet who doesn't look like what people are expecting and doesn't do what they are expecting.
• There is a Death and Resurrection (of sorts) that is all about forgiveness
• There is a doubting Thomas
• And the prophet has a deep respect for the religion yet shakes it up as well.

Watching "Whale Rider" and seeing the Maori tradition started me yearning for some more tradition in Xn life. This is something that we have not passed on well. Evangelical churches don't really have this at all and the mainline churches seem to have traditions that, to me, seem to connect more with the medieval period. Having grown up evangelical I have a strong connection to New Testament expressions of faith – baptism, shared meal etc… Only because I have read about them rather than practiced them. I think we have lost these practices. In mainline churches Baptism has become infant baptism and a shared meal has become a wafer and sip of wine. In evangelical churches Baptism has become a prayer you say and communion has been down graded and seen as something too religious or ritualistic to make central to our Xn practice.

I guess that leaves me with a faith based on a series propositions free from ritual and religion. I get the feeling sometimes that my evangelical upbringing has handed me a bone devoid of meet and that mainline churches around me are offering me a bone wrapped in Tofu. Like many people who identify as “emerging church” types I’m starting the journey of playing with rituals and religious practices to put some meat on my spiritual bones.

Elizabeth Town

With Cameron Crowe writing and directing and with Susan Sarandon as a supporting actor you’d think that the movie would be at least watchable, But no. Perhaps one of the worst movies I have ever seen (and Almost Famous is one of my favourites). Let me explain like this… Have you ever looked at the extras on a DVD and seen lots of extra scenes that got cut from the final movie because they were little tangents or didn’t really contribute anything to the overall narrative. Well Elizabeth town was much like an entire movie of extra scenes with the original narrative being completely gutted from the movie. And, you know how sometime movies have a huge ensemble cast and you feel like you don’t really get to know all of the characters. Well, Elizabeth town was similar only there were really only two characters. Once again Cameron Crowe has chosen a terrific sound track without which I don’t think I would have sat through the first hour or so to get to the final and most watchable part of the film – the road trip. I had no reason to like Orlando Bloom’s character Drew Baylor and whilst Kirsten Dunst’s character Claire was at least likeable I had no idea why she would chase Drew wherever he went. Dear Cam, If it’s not working out on the next movie at least do Almost Famous 2. I know it won’t be as good as the original but at least it won’t be this bad.

Top Sleeper Movies movies

This post was of my favourite movies but that changes all the time, is way self indulgent and I don't think anyone cares anyway. Hence I've changed it to a list of some of my favourite Sleeper movies, the kind of movies you've never heard of but think might be good but your not really sure.

Top Sleeper Movies

• The Station Agent
  
• I Heart Huckabees
• Chasing Amy
• The Shipping News
• Roan Inish
  
• Fun
  
• Molokai
  
• Levity
• Whale Rider
• Saved
• Simple Men
• In my fathers Den
• Mall Boy
• Metrpolis (with Pink Floyd's "wish you were here" as a soundtrack)
• Pi
• Radiance
• So I married an axe murderer
• The Bank
• One Perfect Day
• The Wizard of Oz (with Pink Floyd's "darkk side of the moon" as a soundtrack)
• Thirteen
• Trust
• Noi the Albino

The Station Agent

Mmm what a beautiful movie, definitely in my top 5 for 2004 (Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind is going to be hard to beat). Unlike 99% of movies instead of taking you for a ride that makes you feel like you need a break afterward, The Station Agent left me feeling relaxed, like a burdened had been lifted and left me believing that no matter how different we are or how screwed up our pasts have made us we can still enjoy being with each other.