{"id":3908,"date":"2013-04-29T06:47:30","date_gmt":"2013-04-29T10:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?p=3908"},"modified":"2013-04-29T17:47:57","modified_gmt":"2013-04-29T21:47:57","slug":"the-faithful-soul-of-jackie-robinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2013\/04\/the-faithful-soul-of-jackie-robinson\/","title":{"rendered":"The faithful soul of Jackie Robinson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey knew that the first black player in major league baseball was going to go through hell.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the cigar-chomping, Bible-thumping Rickey set out to find a man who would keep believing \u2014 when facing bitter, scathing racial hatred \u2014 that the powers of heaven were on his side. As baseball writers have often noted, Rickey needed someone who could turn the other cheek, as well as turn a double play.<\/p>\n

In writer-director Brian Helgeland\u2019s new epic, \u201c42,\u201d Jackie Robinson states the challenge in blunt terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want a man,\u201d Robinson asks, \u201cwho doesn\u2019t have the guts to fight back?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rickey replies: \u201cI want a man who has the guts NOT to fight back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fit was perfect. In Helgeland\u2019s script, Rickey offers this churchy equation: \u201cRobinson\u2019s a Methodist. I\u2019m a Methodist. God\u2019s a Methodist. We can\u2019t go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the stuff of movies, alright, but this kind of faith reference remains somewhat unusual in a Hollywood blockbuster, acknowledged Eric Metaxas, who is best known for writing the global bestseller \u201cBonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy<\/a>.\u201d The problem, he said, is that \u201c42\u201d omitted many other details that would have demonstrated that faith was crucial to the whole story.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt that Robinson was a remarkable man, argues Metaxas, in his new \u201cSeven Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness<\/a>.\u201d But Robinson was also a remarkably courageous and truly devout Christian man. Thus, he included Robinson\u2019s story in a book that explores the faith commitments of George Washington, William Wilberforce, Eric Liddell, Pope John Paul II, Chuck Colson and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.<\/p>\n

In the classic \u201cChariots of Fire,\u201d which won the Oscar for best picture, the Olympic runner and future missionary Liddell is repeatedly shown preaching, parsing scripture and discussing the beliefs that led to his pivotal decision not to run in Sunday races at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. \u201cTry to imagine that movie without those scenes,\u201d noted Metaxas, in a telephone interview.<\/p>\n

The key \u201c42\u201d scene \u2014 when Robinson meets Rickey on Aug. 28, 1945 \u2014 could have depicted what actually happened at the time. Rickey pulled out a copy of a classic devotional work, \u201cLife of Christ\u201d by Giovanni Papini, and read aloud the passage in which the author discusses the Sermon on the Mount, including the reference that describes the \u201cturn the other cheek\u201d challenge as \u201cthe most stupefying\u201d of the \u201crevolutionary teachings\u201d of Jesus.<\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t have taken long to read the scripture that so inspired Rickey and Robinson, said Metaxas. The Gospel of St. Matthew states: \u201cYe have heard it hath been said, An eye for and eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reason, quite literally, that Rickey \u201cchoose Jackie Robinson was his strong moral character and his Christian faith,\u201d said Metaxas. \u201cThere were other great black players out there. But could they have taken the stand that Jackie took? \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThat first meeting is the moment. That scene is the heart of this story and Jesus is right there in the middle of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would have been wonderful if \u201c42\u201d had also noted the strong faith of Robinson\u2019s mother, Mallie. Then there was a crucial Methodist mentor named Karl Downs who taught the great ballplayer that obeying the command to \u201cresist not evil\u201d was not cowardly, but heroic, said Metaxas.<\/p>\n

But movies are movies and, often, what matters the most are the visual images. Thus, it\u2019s crucial that Helgeland didn\u2019t include scenes in which Robinson is shown doing what he repeatedly said that he did day after day in those tense early years in major-league baseball \u2014 getting down on his knees, praying for strength and patience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying that this is a horrible movie,\u201d stressed Metaxas. \u201cYes, Robinson is shown closing his eyes for 0.87 seconds before he runs out onto the field and he\u2019s hit by the occasional inspirational ray of sunlight. \u2026 But why are people afraid of showing a true American hero getting down on his knees and praying? What\u2019s so scary about that?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like people think that prayer is a sign of weakness. Well, getting down on his knees didn\u2019t make Jackie Robinson weak. That\u2019s what helped make him strong.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey knew that the first black player in major league baseball was going to go through hell. That\u2019s why the cigar-chomping, Bible-thumping Rickey set out to find a man who would keep believing \u2014 when facing bitter, scathing racial hatred \u2014 that the powers of heaven were on his side. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[986,984,985,231,981,982,983,1542,707],"class_list":["post-3908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-986","tag-baseball","tag-branch-rickey","tag-civil-rights","tag-eric-metaxas","tag-jackie-robinson","tag-methodism","tag-movies","tag-racism"],"yoast_head":"\nThe faithful soul of Jackie Robinson<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey knew that the first black player in major league baseball was going to go through hell. 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