In her Screen Time article in the April edition of The Christian Century, Kathryn Reklis (Fordham University Professor of Theology) reviews Robert Eggers's Nosferatu. The title of the article is "The horror of enlightenment." She concludes the article by quoting Willem Dafoe's character, Albin Eberhart von Franz who specializes in "alchemy, mystic philosophy, and the occult."
"We are not so enlightened as we are blinded by the gaseous light of science. I have wrestled with the devil as Jacob wrestled with the angel in Penuel, and I tell you that if we are to tame darkness, we must first face that it exists."
Reklis concludes: "This is a fair summation of Eggers's film - and maybe his approach to filmmaking. We are invited to look past our complacent certainties to other, stranger realities. What we see will likely terrify us."
Made me think of Reviving Old Scratch.
I'm still at "Maybe," but getting closer to "Yes."
This is really helpful, Richard. Thank you. Having just finished Living in Wonder, I agree. That book did offer some updraft for my faith/enchantment/wonder, but it also read like an apologetic for the Orthodox tradition. I don't quite know what to do with the UFO, AI, and demonic stories there right now as I'm walking through disorientation and reorientation on the faith journey.
I've been reading Passport to Magonia by Jacque Vallee. It led me to Kirk's book and now Richard Beck is talking about this. I had no idea that DBH had written his essay. Something is afoot! Dr. Beck your timing is well, fairilogical!
Call us too literal or perhaps enchantment biblicists, but my husband and I think "aliens" are actually demons. And what about pixies? In fictional literature they are treated as malevolent entities. Maybe demons as well?
True, Christian tradition came early on in its development to abominate all the lesser spirits venerated or feared by pre-Christian culture as just so many demons prowling about the world with bad intentions, there is quite another view that might have been extracted from the New Testament, the Pauline corpus in particular; in certain of the epistles, these elemental powers seem to have the character not of malevolent demons but of somewhat mutinous deputies of God, part of the compromised cosmic hierarchy of powers and principalities whom Christ by his resurrection has subdued, but not necessarily condemned as servants of evil; Colossians 1:20 seems to speak of these powers as being not simply conquered by Christ, but actually reconciled with God in the process. From Beck's essay
In an episode to real to ignore a friend and me were deep in a gorge on the Chattooga River when I got the eeriest feeling that it was time to get out of there. Like, "don't take another step" get out. At that exact time my friend walked up and said that he felt like it was time for us to go because he just had a bad feeling. Malevolent or God giving us a hint. We left safely and both remember the strange feeling that came over us both.
This series has really caught my attention. The one thing that has irked me so far is the preferred terminology being used, over against the testimony and terminology that is is used in Scripture, namely "angels/demons". Unless of course biblical "angels" have nothing at all to do with your category of "fairies". If that is so, it would be good to verbalize that. If not, then why not use or at least add this terminology--so that those of us who think in biblical categories when assessing such matters, can connect the necessary dots, in order to actually be open to "reenchantment" where needed. Hope you get what I am driving at.
In her Screen Time article in the April edition of The Christian Century, Kathryn Reklis (Fordham University Professor of Theology) reviews Robert Eggers's Nosferatu. The title of the article is "The horror of enlightenment." She concludes the article by quoting Willem Dafoe's character, Albin Eberhart von Franz who specializes in "alchemy, mystic philosophy, and the occult."
"We are not so enlightened as we are blinded by the gaseous light of science. I have wrestled with the devil as Jacob wrestled with the angel in Penuel, and I tell you that if we are to tame darkness, we must first face that it exists."
Reklis concludes: "This is a fair summation of Eggers's film - and maybe his approach to filmmaking. We are invited to look past our complacent certainties to other, stranger realities. What we see will likely terrify us."
Made me think of Reviving Old Scratch.
I'm still at "Maybe," but getting closer to "Yes."
This is really helpful, Richard. Thank you. Having just finished Living in Wonder, I agree. That book did offer some updraft for my faith/enchantment/wonder, but it also read like an apologetic for the Orthodox tradition. I don't quite know what to do with the UFO, AI, and demonic stories there right now as I'm walking through disorientation and reorientation on the faith journey.
I've been reading Passport to Magonia by Jacque Vallee. It led me to Kirk's book and now Richard Beck is talking about this. I had no idea that DBH had written his essay. Something is afoot! Dr. Beck your timing is well, fairilogical!
Call us too literal or perhaps enchantment biblicists, but my husband and I think "aliens" are actually demons. And what about pixies? In fictional literature they are treated as malevolent entities. Maybe demons as well?
True, Christian tradition came early on in its development to abominate all the lesser spirits venerated or feared by pre-Christian culture as just so many demons prowling about the world with bad intentions, there is quite another view that might have been extracted from the New Testament, the Pauline corpus in particular; in certain of the epistles, these elemental powers seem to have the character not of malevolent demons but of somewhat mutinous deputies of God, part of the compromised cosmic hierarchy of powers and principalities whom Christ by his resurrection has subdued, but not necessarily condemned as servants of evil; Colossians 1:20 seems to speak of these powers as being not simply conquered by Christ, but actually reconciled with God in the process. From Beck's essay
In an episode to real to ignore a friend and me were deep in a gorge on the Chattooga River when I got the eeriest feeling that it was time to get out of there. Like, "don't take another step" get out. At that exact time my friend walked up and said that he felt like it was time for us to go because he just had a bad feeling. Malevolent or God giving us a hint. We left safely and both remember the strange feeling that came over us both.
That is what I chose to believe is the working of the Holy Spirit. Glad you listened.
This series has really caught my attention. The one thing that has irked me so far is the preferred terminology being used, over against the testimony and terminology that is is used in Scripture, namely "angels/demons". Unless of course biblical "angels" have nothing at all to do with your category of "fairies". If that is so, it would be good to verbalize that. If not, then why not use or at least add this terminology--so that those of us who think in biblical categories when assessing such matters, can connect the necessary dots, in order to actually be open to "reenchantment" where needed. Hope you get what I am driving at.