{"id":7747,"date":"2021-02-12T08:00:19","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T15:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/?p=7747"},"modified":"2021-02-04T15:33:33","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T22:33:33","slug":"problems-have-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/02\/problems-have-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Problems have solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Image: Amazon<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

I don\u2019t follow many web comics. Okay, I don\u2019t follow\u00a0any\u00a0<\/em>web comics\u2013though I am at least aware they exist. But from what I understand, Allie Brosh\u2019s\u00a0Hyperbole and a Half<\/em><\/a> is one of the good ones. If her newest book\u00a0Solutions and Other Problems<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>is typical, the website is undoubtedly good as well. Because\u00a0Solutions and Other Problems<\/em> is a very, very good book.<\/p>\n

Like her previous book (also\u00a0Hyperbole and a Half<\/em><\/a>),\u00a0Solutions and other Problems<\/em> is funny, thoughtful, and clever in its use of simple art. It\u2019s also fairly bleak in its outlook. I assume that much of what we\u2019re getting here is autobiographical\u2013though maybe I shouldn\u2019t. If I\u2019ve learned anything from compulsively watching\u00a0Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee<\/em>, it\u2019s that people who do comedy for a living care more about the bit that about accuracy. That\u2019s not a shot\u2013they\u2019re allowed to put humor first (heck, I\u2019m a Political Scientist and see the world through the filter of politics). But just because something is said doesn\u2019t automatically make it true. Bill Watterson<\/a> drew the greatest comic strip of the 20th century (and if you disagree, I will fight you) without having children of his own. So again, maybe I shouldn\u2019t assume this is all autobiographical in its details.<\/p>\n

But assuming that the general content and tone are based on fact, as I said this is a bleak, funny, book. It is about wrestling with a world that makes no sense, seems to be out of control, and in which the author cannot see how there can be any transcendent meaning. Brosh even intentionally undercuts the meaning inherent in the structure of a book by dropping out a chapter number (while telling us she\u2019s dropping out a chapter number\u2013it\u2019s number 4, in case you were wondering; cue the numerologists to explain the significance of that omission). The art style, which is again incredibly clever and occasionally straight-up hilarious, contributes to this bleak worldview with its simplicity and spartan design. Of course<\/em> the world is empty of meaning\u2013there are rarely more than two people in it at a time; the setting is usually simple and stark; things happen without explanation (particularly tragedies, of which there are several deeply devastating ones in this book); etc.<\/p>\n

This is a book I would strongly, strongly encourage Christians to read. In addition to being a great read, Solutions and Other Problems<\/em>\u00a0is a window into one of the dominant worldviews of the 21st century. This view is certainly a major one in the world, but I suspect that there\u2019s a streak of it in the church as well. What\u2019s more, it is a worldview that doesn\u2019t lend itself to easy evangelization. Adam Ford<\/a> (in his pre-Bee\/pre-Not-the-Bee days) might have produced a Christian-themed comic along similar artistic lines, but the similar simplicity of style between the two won\u2019t overcome the vast divided between perspectives. The \u201cwe\u2019re all sinners who need to repent\/Christ has paid for our sins on the cross\u201d of Ford\u2019s comic would be at best a jarring contrast if placed in Brosh\u2019s, and at worst an empty statement so disconnected with the reality of the setting that it would sound cruel.<\/p>\n

And while we as Christians believe that there are times when it is more important to evangelize than to worry about contrasts or sounding cruel (as opposed to\u00a0being<\/em> cruel, of course\u2013we should never do that), we should also be careful that we are not being so thoughtless with our words or unaware of our audience that we end up obscuring the goodness of the news we have. \u201cYou need Jesus\u201d is technically true of all human beings, but if that is our gut reaction to the \u201cproblem\u201d we find in\u00a0Solutions and Other Problems<\/em> then even though it is the right solution we will have failed to communicate well. 8\u00b2-(34-20-\u221a36) technically is the answer to \u201c2+2=?\u201d (and it took me an embarrassingly long time to get that where it needed to be), but it\u2019s jarring to see it written that way and not really the way to go about making the case.<\/p>\n

So how should we communicate? Frankly, I\u2019m not sure. With kindness and compassion, certainly (to pick two characteristics I don\u2019t particularly abound in). With understanding and while listening carefully, and also certainly without compromising the truth of Scripture. But also without giving in to the bleakness of books like\u00a0Solutions and other Problems\u00a0<\/em>even as we admit their quality as works of art, enjoy the skill and humor that goes into them, and appreciate the effort of the work and the artist to communicate something deeply personal and important.<\/p>\n

All of that to say, you should certainly read this book, enjoy it, and think deeply about what it tells us about the perspective others have of the world we live in.<\/p>\n

Dr. Coyle Neal is host of the\u00a0City of Man Podcast<\/a>\u00a0and an Associate Professor of Political Science at\u00a0Southwest Baptist University<\/a>\u00a0in Bolivar, MO<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review of “Solutions and other Problems” by Allie Brosh. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1469,"featured_media":7753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1255],"class_list":["post-7747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-humor"],"yoast_head":"\nProblems have solutions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Review of "Solutions and other Problems" by Allie Brosh.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/02\/problems-have-solutions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Problems have solutions\" \/>\n<meta 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