{"id":2045,"date":"2013-06-15T08:18:10","date_gmt":"2013-06-15T14:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?p=2045"},"modified":"2013-06-15T08:18:10","modified_gmt":"2013-06-15T14:18:10","slug":"superman-coming-to-a-church-near-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2013\/06\/superman-coming-to-a-church-near-you.html","title":{"rendered":"Superman: Coming to a Church Near You"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>There was an interesting article on the CNN belief blog yesterday. It\u2019s about the marketing effort Warner Bros. is making toward pastors in an effort to get them to help market their new Superman franchise entry Man of Steel, via their pulpits this Father\u2019s Day. I would love to get my hands on the study guide by theologian, writer\/filmaker Craig Detweiler. I took Craig\u2019s theology and film class a few years back. It was the best sustained conversation about theology and culture I\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n

Craig blogs at Patheos \u2013 Doc Hollywood<\/a>. One of his unique gifts is the ability to break down films, analyzing their themes and images, considering the spirituality and back-story of the directors and writers, and thinking about the whole picture theologically. He\u2019s also a really good teacher and a humble guy (He\u2019s \u201cDoc Hollywood\u201d but he\u2019s not all Hollywood if you get what I mean). I often wish I could get him to break down films for me when I\u2019m done watching them\u2026 my own personal Detweiler \u2013 he\u2019s pretty insightful.<\/p>\n

Superman\/Jesus references are nothing new. There\u2019s an interesting UK blog post on Top 20 Reasons Superman is Jesus<\/a>. It\u2019s mostly silly stuff\u2026 he has a beard, his dad has a beard, he was betrayed for money, he can walk on water, he willingly sacrifices himself for humanity. I think the strongest similarity is rarely mentioned: the Superman motif has this man of sorrows<\/em> kind of feel to it. Not as much as Batman does, but it\u2019s there in Superman and really all of the comic book movies. There\u2019s a lot to work with to be sure.<\/p>\n

Still something in me wants to resist this just a little bit. It\u2019s not that I object to using movie themes, or that they are marketing to churches. It\u2019s certainly not that I think Christianity shouldn\u2019t engage culture \u2013 I love that part of this story. The critique mentioned in the CNN story seems a bit off to me:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026other Christians are heaving a supersized sigh at the movie marketing. \u201cAny pastor who thinks using `Man of Steel Ministry Resources\u2019 is a good Sunday morning strategy must have no concept of how high the stakes are, or very little confidence in the power of God\u2019s word and God\u2019s spirit,\u201d writes P.J. Wenzel, a deacon and Sunday School teacher at Dublin Baptist Church in Ohio. \u201cAs they entertain their congregants with material pumped out from Hollywood\u2019s sewers, lives are kept in bondage, and people\u2019s souls are neglected,\u201d according to\u00a0Wenzel, who said he was e-mailed information about the movie.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don\u2019t resonate with that at all.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been trying to put my finger on why marketing Man of Steel to churches bothers me a bit. I think my hesitancy has to do more with the churches than the movie. I think its the fact that the Superman franchise \u2013 and the character itself \u2013 is always pretty violent and usually wins by winning, not by losing. The two narratives \u2013 Jesus\/Superman \u2013 don\u2019t have the same trajectory, which is fine. Yet, to make too close of a comparison is to risk pushing a fully Americanized, puffed up, super-human, triumphalist Jesus, not the Jesus of the gospels, of Mt. 5-7. (I\u2019m nitpicking\u2026 if you are running with it this Sunday \u2013 go for it. I hope it goes well.)<\/p>\n

I think this could be fine in the hands of a pastor who is willing to make a distinction between the two narratives (I\u2019m guessing Detweiler does this in his notes\u2026 If you have them send them to me!). However in churches where Jesus is a blonde haired, blue-eyed bad-ass with a conceal and carry permit draped in an American flag ready to kick some ass and take some names, this movie could exacerbate a few of the all too common misunderstandings of who Jesus really was and is. (My disclaimer is that I\u2019m not steeped in the comic book movie genre, so there might be something to this that I\u2019m missing.)<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, I\u2019m glad Detweiler is getting some pub because we need to be paying attention to his work. We need more people involved in this industry, people who can teach us to think theologically about movies, because films of all kinds are exerting incredible influence on culture.<\/p>\n

\u2026the effectiveness of the campaign? I\u2019m not a huge superhero fan, but I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m going to see the movie now. Well played Warner Bros.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an excerpt from the article at CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Baltimore, Maryland (CNN) \u2013 As the new Superman movie takes flight this weekend, filmmakers are hoping the Man of Steel lands not only in theaters, but also in pulpits.<\/p>\n

Warner Bros. Studios is aggressively marketing \u201cMan of Steel\u201d to Christian pastors, inviting them to early screenings, creating Father\u2019s Day discussion guides and producing special film trailers that focus on the faith-friendly angles of the movie.<\/p>\n

The movie studio even asked a theologian to provide sermon notes for pastors who want to preach about Superman on Sunday. Titled \u201cJesus: The Original Superhero,\u201d the notes run nine pages.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow might the story of Superman awaken our passion for the greatest hero who ever lived and died and rose again?\u201d the sermon notes ask.<\/p>\n

(Disclaimer: CNN, like Warner Bros., is owned by Time Warner.)<\/p>\n

Similar campaigns to corral the country\u2019s large number of Christians into the movie theater have been used for \u201cLes Miserables,\u201d \u201cSoul Surfer\u201d and \u201cThe Blind Side,\u201d all of which had at least some faith angle.<\/p>\n

Baltimore pastor Quentin Scott is among dozens of ministers who received an e-mail invitation from Grace Hill Media, a Hollywood-based Christian marketing firm, to an early screening of \u201cMan of Steel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an actual push to say `We\u2019re putting out something that speaks to your group,\u2019 \u201d said Scott, one of the pastors of Shiloh Christian Community Church in Baltimore.<\/p>\n

At first, Scott said, he didn\u2019t buy the religious pitch. Then he decided to attend a free midweek screening in Baltimore.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I sat and listened to the movie I actually saw it was the story of Christ, and the love of God was weaved into the story,\u201d said the pastor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was something I was very excited about that with the consultation of our senior pastor, we could use in our congregation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grace Hill\u2019s sermon notes are specially designed for churches like Shiloh that integrate multimedia into their services.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s take a look at the trailer for `Man of Steel,\u2019\u201d the notes suggest after briefly introducing the movie\u2019s history and themes.<\/p>\n

The man behind the notes, Pepperdine University professor Craig Detweiler, has prepared similar material for films like 2009\u2019s \u201cThe Blind Side\u201d and \u201cThe Book of Eli\u201d from 2010.<\/p>\n

The spiritual themes in \u201cMan of Steel\u201d are abundant, Detweiler said, and his notes enable Christians to thoughtfully engage with pop culture instead of shunning it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll too often, religious communities have been defined by what they\u2019re against. With a movie like `Man of Steel,\u2019 this is a chance to celebrate a movie that affirms faith, sacrifice and service,\u201d Detweiler said.<\/p>\n

It will be hard for even casual Christians to miss the messianic metaphors in \u201cMan of Steel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie focuses on the origins of Superman, who was sent from the planet Krypton as an infant to save his species.<\/p>\n

He is raised by surrogate parents who help him grapple with his special powers, even though they don\u2019t fully understand the source of his extraordinary abilities.<\/p>\n

When he turns 33, Superman must willingly sacrifice himself to save the human race.<\/p>\n

Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s not enough, as a boy Clark Kent is shown wrestling with his superpowers, and asks his earthly dad, Jonathan Kent, \u201cDid God do this to me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomewhere out there you have another father and he sent you here for a reason,\u201d says Jonathan Kent.<\/p>\n

Even the visuals hammer home the messianic motifs.<\/p>\n

During a fight with his archenemy, General Zod, Superman plunges down to Earth, his arms outstretched as if he were being crucified. Of course, he rises again.<\/p>\n

Detweiler writes in the sermon notes, \u201cWhat Jesus and Superman both give us, through their `hero\u2019 actions but also their `human\u2019 actions \u2013 is hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a very good thing that Hollywood is paying attention to the Christian marketplace,\u201d said Ted Baehr, who runs Movieguide, a website that reviews family friendly films from a Christian perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere it gets sticky is when they try to manipulate the market and when Christians try to manipulate Hollywood. But here I think we have the right balance.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was an interesting article on the CNN belief blog yesterday. It\u2019s about the marketing effort Warner Bros. is making toward pastors in an effort to get them to help market their new Superman franchise entry Man of Steel, via their pulpits this Father\u2019s Day. I would love to get my hands on the study […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[666,665,303,664,667],"class_list":["post-2045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-craig-detweiler","tag-man-of-steel","tag-non-violence","tag-superman","tag-warner-bros"],"yoast_head":"\nSuperman: Coming to a Church Near You<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There was an interesting article on the CNN belief blog yesterday. 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