De hartstocht van Batman, deel 6

Dit is de zesde, en def., deel van mijn hulde aan Batman. Zorg ervoor u de vijf vorige posten Batman alvorens in de post van vandaag hebt gelezen te graven. Morgen, Batman begint opent in nationale theaters. Ik hoop dat mijn zes deelpoging zal helpen uw het bekijken ervaring verdiepen.

WELKE HATH
STAD GOTHAM
MET JERUZALEM?

Ik heb geprobeerd om dat te tonen in De Winst van DarkKnight, Herinterpreteert Frank Miller het verhaal en de traditie van Batman,
gebruikend Christelijke beeldspraak om Batman als een Messiaans cijfer te tonen dat
brengt redding aan een wereld die uiteenvalt. Molenaar? s het gebruik van godsdienstige beeldspraak onderstreept zijn hervorming van
grappig boekgenre. Op dit punt, wil ik
om een beetje van bekijken te vertrekken Donker
De Winst van de ridder door de lens van geloof, en bekijk misschien ons geloof een beetje
door de lens van Donkere Ridder
Winst. Terwijl het buiten is
hoofd argument van dit document, zou ik kort aan twee dingen willen richten wij kunnen
leer van Molenaar? s het werk.

Contextualizing het Verhaal van Christus opnieuw

Ik denk veel kan worden geleerd van
Molenaar? s benadering van het herzien van het verhaal Batman. Terwijl gelovig het blijven aan de volledige Batman traditie, Molenaar kan
om nieuwe toe te voegen elementen die Batman maken? s verhaal dat in ons dwingt
generatie. Geoff Klock schrijft,
„Batman? s (en Molenaar? s) de strijd moet geen schurk maar aan meester controleren
voorafgaande visies van zich en zijn traditie.“[1] [[The]]
De donkere Winst van de Ridder is een oefening in revisie. De details van Batman trekken aan? t verandering-hij
isn? t gegeven een nieuw kostuum, of een nieuwe naam. Miller is able to change the meaning of the Batman by placing him in a
new context-making Miller?s work fundamentally an exercise in
contextualization.

While we most certainly must be
careful, in doing so, I believe Christians need to consider how we could learn
from Miller?s achievement and approach the gospel afresh. This is obviously fraught with danger, since
the Batman is merely a fictional character who exists for our entertainment,
whereas Jesus Christ is both historical and the object of our worship. But if we are faithful to both the story of
the gospels, as well as the past two thousand years of tradition, perhaps
theologians can tell the story afresh in new contexts. After all, isn?t this what each of the gospel
writers did? They each relay a message
that is fundamentally the same, yet unique-being shaped by the concerns of
their intended audiences.

This will result in greater
faithfulness-not less-for it requires us to engage the gospel before we
intentionally reinterpret it for our generation. Often, the gospel is reshaped unintentionally
by pragmatism or the felt needs of our society. We, like Miller, should go through this process intentionally, as to
make sure that our telling of the story is faithful to who Jesus Christ was and
is.

Understanding the Conflict between the American Monomyth and the Gospel

If,
indeed, the story of the Batman has become a mythic story in our culture-encapsulating
and expressing dominant cultural values-then we need to take the message of the
Batman seriously. In talking about the
American superhero myth, John Shelton
Lawrence and Robert Jewett write, “The connection of these superhero materials
with the American religious heritage illustrates the displacement of the story
of redemption. Only in a culture
preoccupied for centuries with the question of salvation is the appearance of
redemption through superheroes comprehensible. The secularization process in this instance did not eliminate the need
for redemption, as the Enlightenment had attempted to do, but rather displaces
it with superhuman agencies. Powers that the culture had earlier reserved for
God and his angelic beings are transferred to an Everyman, conveniently
shielded by an alter ego.”[2] For many, then, our cultural superhero myths
have taken on religious importance. This
isn?t to say that people worship the Batman-but it is to say that the Batman
expresses the new spiritual and religious sensibilities of our culture.

Frank Miller epitomizes this
sensibility when he writes, “I?m in love with heroes, not because I think there
are that many, or that there is any one
individual who could do what Batman does…but because I think we?re at our best
when we?re autonomous.”[3] One of the religious values which the Batman
incarnates is that of autonomy or self-sufficiency. Americans have traditionally valued rugged
individualism. And there is no character
more ruggedly individualistic than the Batman is. In this, he is distinctively American: “[In
comic books] the American Hero is portrayed as the lonely individual
confronting the forces of evil without support from a cowed or corrupt or
impotent community…”[4]

Another religious value embodied by
the Batman is his utilitarian use of evil and violence. Miller writes, “We?re not simple
creatures. We all have God and the devil
in us. Batman makes his devils work for
the common good.”[5] Miller wrote this long before 9/11…but this
sentiment could easily be said of the USgovernment in its response to
terrorism. How else could we justify a
pre-emptive military strike against Iraq-by definition and unjust act-unless we
felt that it were for the common good? Many Americans do unethical things because the “ends justify the
means.” While this sentiment isn?t
unique to our nation, it is perhaps prevalent enough to be considered a part of
the American ethos.

This ties in to my previous
statements about being intentional in our re-interpretations of the Gospel. If we aren?t intentional, than the traits of
the American monomyth (Batman is one of many incarnations of this myth), will
infuse our understanding of who Christ is. This, in itself, isn?t the problem. The problem is when the values infiltrating the gospel are
anti-Christian-which the Batman is. The
Batman secures justice by inflicting violence. Jesus secured justice for us by receiving it.

One
area in which I believe our values have infiltrated the gospel is the dominance
of the penal substitution view of the atonement. In our view of justice, where the question of
guilt is paramount, the guilty are displayed throughout the media as Americans
everywhere demand punishment for their heinous crimes. As the media has become more pervasive, so
has our cynicism. Evil things happen all
around us, and our desire for not only justice, but also punishment, grows.[6] It isn?t my aim to say the penal substitution
view isn?t biblical. I am saying,
however, that it isn?t the only approach to the atonement. Nevertheless, it is often presented by
evangelicals in this country as THE view of the atonement. As theologians, we need to reflect over how
much of our understanding of the faith is being shaped by values which are
antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Batman brings to light the cultural values which have been shaping
our understanding of the gospel.

for further reading . . .

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