Craig Detweiler Reviews Paul Verhoeven’s “Jesus of Nazareth”

July 27, 2010 By David Charles 8 Comments

{Paul Verhoeven. Jesus of Nazareth. Seven Stories Press 2010. 304 pages. $23.95}

Reviewed by Craig Detweiler

Imagine this movie trailer:  from the director of ”Showgirls” and “Basic Instinct” comes his most revealing project yet—“RoboJesus.”   One might expect such a seemingly absurd tagline from provocative Danish filmmaker, Paul Verhoeven.    Instead, Verhoeven has written a smart, rigorous and accessible book about Jesus of Nazareth.   While rooted in scientific skepticism, Verhoeven also adds a storyteller’s appreciation for Jesus’ subversive parables.

In 1986, Paul Verhoeven joined the Biblical scholars gathered for the Jesus Seminar with the idea of making a movie.  He was surprised that during the process, “I had become more interested in Jesus himself than making a movie about him.”   While Verhoeven occasionally indulges in the rhetoric equivalent of his Starship Troopers (like following a discussion of how Nazis viewed Hitler as a god, with a discussion of how we’ve inflated the legend around Jesus), his investigation of Jesus of Nazareth is utterly sincere.   On MTV, Verhoeven even claimed his violent RoboCop is actually “about a guy that gets crucified after 50 minutes, then is resurrected in the next 50 minutes and then is like the super-cop of the world, but is also a Jesus figure as he walks over water at the end.”   While marketers may pitch Jesus of Nazareth as controversial, it is a remarkably respectful and even admiring exploration of the historicity of Jesus.    Instead of “RoboChrist,” we get “Jesus the Man,” separated from the supernatural. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , 8 Comments

Elizabeth Scalia Reviews James Martin’s “Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything”

July 27, 2010 By David Charles 31 Comments

{James Martin. The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life. HarperOne 2010. 432 pages.  $26.99}

Reviewed by Elizabeth Scalia

As Bill Creed, a Jesuit spiritual director, once told me, “In the bright sunshine of God’s love, your shadows begin to emerge.”
— James Martin, The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything; A Spirituality for Real Life

Boy, does that resonate with me, and with everyone I know who is serious about deepening their relationship with Christ. Face-to-face with the All-in-all, one eventually comes face-to-face with oneself, in all one’s glaring inadequacy; the soul is planed down through prayer and examination of conscience, and every flaw and burr seems magnified.

The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything is a rather surprising book. Did you know that 35 craters on the moon have been named after Jesuit scientists? Or that Jesuits discovered quinine (the modern anti-malarial called “Jesuit bark” in the 16th century)? Or that they invented the trap door, without which the Wicked Witch of the West might never make her timely exit, and Falstaff might never fall?

Well, that’s not what this book is about, not really. Not remotely. Given those little tidbits, a trivia-freak like me might rub her hands together in delight, anticipating a giddy read.

The Jesuit Guide is a fun read. Fun in the way that sitting with a pal and discussing the exciting, ever-evolving way -the always beginning way- of prayer, and acquaintance and friendship with God can be fun, but also a little humbling and challenging, and ultimately quietening.

Fr. James Martin is a friend, but that’s not why I love his newest book. I love it because what he is writing is true, and warm and genially helpful to the seeker who perhaps has been reading scripture and practicing prayer for a little while -or who hasn’t been practicing at all, but feels a nameless tug for “something more”, and is suddenly feeling like there are too many forks in the road. If you need a bit of centering, this book will help. In it Fr. Martin, who clearly loves being a Jesuit and a priest, shares the Ignatian pathway; the spiritual exercises, practices and perspectives devised by St. Ignatius Loyola and still used today by Catholics and non-Catholics, alike. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , 31 Comments

Martha Baker Reviews “Connecting Like Jesus”

July 15, 2010 By David Charles 5 Comments

{Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling. Connecting Like Jesus: Practices for Healing, Teaching, and Preaching. Jossey-Bass. 232 pages. $21.95}

Reviewed by Martha K. Baker

Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling set out to write Connecting Like Jesus to prove that “relationships can be radically transformed through integrating communication practices with spiritual practices.”

They succeed.

In Connecting Like Jesus, the second book they’ve penned together, Campolo and Darling have produced a text both wise and practical. Theirs is a humble effort, never flying too close to the sun, but well grounded in chapter and verse — or what they call “spiritually charged communication.” They never lose their own connection with Jesus, and, by joining hands and words, they strengthen the readers’ connections. Throughout their good suggestions, helpful hints and recipes, they thread Jesus’ reported words and deeds. For example, in writing about ”other-centeredness,” Darling reminds readers that “Jesus did not force people to change. He was patient, sometimes even silent….” Later, in the chapter on “sacred listening,” Darling cites Luke 24 to show Jesus as the exemplar, then lists four other verses that speak to the power of his listening ear.

Together, they explain what they mean by “connecting like Jesus” in Part One. Separately, Darling, a communications professor at Spring Arbor University in Michigan, writes Part Two, “Practices for Soul Healing.” She addresses “knowing yourself” (“it is about you”), asking questions, and praying. Both write about “shaping narrative,” that is, telling stories. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , 5 Comments
« Older Posts