I’m waiting with baited breath for The Rev. Victoria Weinstein’s segment on Nightline. . . . (I knew her when, sniff)
Rejoice with her at her Beauty Tips for Ministers blog.
The other segments: about Colors, the worker-owned cooperative restaurant created by the surviving members of the Windows on the World restaurant and GodMan, the real-guy evangelical ministry that makes some good points about the institutional church but gives me a big case of the creeps. Muscular Christianity all over again. Culture trumping — grappling, conquering? — the Gospel, I’d guess.
Wasn’t she absolutely gorgeous?
As far as GodMan…It also struck me as a revival of the Christus Victor motif, where Christ is the conquerer who crushes evil and liberates the cosmos from evil’s grip–but strongly dominated by contemporary masculine insecurities. (I’m fond of Christus Victor, not so of GodMan’s Jesus, Built Ford Tough.) On the other hand, there’s also clearly some need that is being addressed and which the Church needs to look at.
I have a Harrowing of Hell icon over my right shoulder. Very “First Action Hero” and the step before the Christus Victor (which I also love) in the Christian story arc. In each case, I respect and respond to the loving power (a) without it being my power and (b) without Jesus’ maleness being its origin.
As for GodMan (a.k.a. Cur Deus Hetero): I’d like to know who funds them. That wasn’t an aw-shucks production. And yes, they are saying something the church isn’t saying, but I remains to be seen if it goes anywhere.
Those guys just seemed so hostile, that’s what bothered me the most. I appreciated that the pastor said that they consider themselves equal partners with women, but it just seemed to pump up the mistaken idea that Christ was a Warrior King. Did you get a load of that guy who was like, “I like to blow things up!”?
Scaaaa-ry.
Yes, Jesus wasn’t a whimp. But he wasn’t into swaggering, hostile machismo, either, which is what I felt emanating from this group.