{"id":29980,"date":"2017-11-07T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T11:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=29980"},"modified":"2017-11-06T17:57:44","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T22:57:44","slug":"lutheran-satire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/11\/lutheran-satire\/","title":{"rendered":"Lutheran Satire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Lutheran<\/a><\/p>\n

Imagine my surprise, when reading an article by\u00a0Charles Chaput, the conservative Catholic Archbishop of Philadelphia, to read a plug for Lutheran Satire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The article,\u00a0Luther would be horrified by the world he forged<\/a><\/em>\u00a0<\/a>in CatholicHerald.co.uk<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>describes the site like this:\u00a0 \u201cThe brainchild of a US Lutheran pastor, it focuses on Church humour from a Lutheran angle. The goal is catechesis through comedy, and no issue or religious leader is too sacred to poke.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The mastermind\u00a0of the site, Rev. Hans Fiene, describes it this way:<\/p>\n

Lutheran Satire is a project intended to teach the Lutheran faith through comedic videos, music, writings, industrial welding supplies, and other forms of media. Created in 2011, Lutheran Satire is currently the United States\u2019 most popular satirical Lutheran multimedia project and is the United Arab Emirates\u2019 third most popular satirical Lutheran multimedia project.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The website really is a treasure house of catechesis, Christian apologetics, and theological applications.\u00a0 It also carries on the time-honored Lutheran art form of the polemic.\u00a0 But instead of being angry and, well, polemical, the theological battle is carried on by means of laugh-out-loud humor.\u00a0 (Luther actually did that too, though he is best remembered for his personal attacks.)<\/p>\n

Even if you are not Lutheran, I think you will appreciate Lutheran Satire, even in the course of being offended.\u00a0 (For example, watch \u201cFrank the Hippie Pope<\/a>\u201d and then watch the video of Catholics responding to \u201cFrank the Hippie Pope.<\/a>\u201c)<\/p>\n

To give you a sample of Rev. Fiene\u2019s work, I offer you the video that Archbishop Chaput was so taken with:\u00a0 \u201cReformation Piggybackers.\u201d\u00a0 It expresses what Luther was trying to accomplish with his Reformation and how\u00a0the Reformation was co-opted by Zwingli, Calvin, and Henry VIII.\u00a0 Those of you from their traditions might feel a sting, but I hope the humor makes it more palatable.<\/p>\n

But I think Archbishop Chaput\u00a0stopped viewing with the credits.\u00a0 He might not have appreciated the video quite so much If he had watched\u00a0the\u00a0post-credit scene, featuring a dialogue between Luther\u2019s Pope Leo X and Frank the Hippie Pope!<\/p>\n