Robert L. Short in his book 'The Gospel According to Peanuts' pointed out that "Charlie Brown" may have been a cleverly devised literary device for cartoonist Charles Schultz to inject the ideas of the great twentieth century theologian "Karl (Charles) Barth (Brown)."
Since he was one of my heroes, I always secretly hoped that since he was from Minnesota, Schultz was Lutheran, but I think actually he may have belonged to the Church of Christ or something like that.
So what if Schultz wasn't a surrealist! Reformation and Halloween are the same day, so I'm allowed to take a little license. I always felt that Linus was more like Kierkegaard, but Barth's hair is kind of crazy like Linus's is in this picture. Really, Dietrich Bonhoeffer's face and head look more like Charlie Brown, but how can you satirize someone who eas martyred by the NAZI's, I mean, come on, some things are sacred.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
It's the Great Pumpkin, Karl Barth.
Posting the 95 theses
No Surrealist exhibition would be complete without something by Dutch mathematician Maurits Cornelis Escher! I'd like to think God gave Brother Martin a helping hand, don't you?
510 Years Ago today...
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, German theologian and professor at Wittenberg, posted his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg and thereby ignited the Protestant Reformation.
The Ninety-five Theses were a series of propositions dealing with indulgences which Martin Luther drew up as the basis for a proposed academic disputation. They were written in reaction to abuses in the sale of a plenary indulgence by Johann Tetzel, who gave the impression that it would not only remit the guilt and penalties of even the most serious sins, but that its benefits could be applied to the dead in purgatory. Luther challenged this teaching because it led people to believe that forgiveness could be bought and to neglect true repentance.
Read them Here
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Lutheran Surrealism en Español
So, I thought I was done, but in honor of all those Latino-Lutherans out there, I thought I'd give you "Frida Kahlo's self portrait with C.F.W.Walther" (as opposed to Trotsky).
Now I don't know if the WELS and ELCA Lutherans will know who he is, but he came over to St. Louis in the 1840s and helped start the Lutheran Church Miserable-Sinners (LC-MS).
Re: Continuing the Surrealist Lutheran theme
Okay, last one. I call this, "Melanchthon descending a staircase."
You can decide for yourself if you think he's nude.
Keep being Lutheran,
Keep being Surreal!
Happy Reformation Day
Surrealist Lutheran
Continuing the Surrealist Lutheran theme
I call it "Bach song."
Happy Reformation Day Eve
I'm Ted, I'm a high school Art teacher and recovering Lutheran Youth Fellowship counselor. Concordia, Seward, class of '93.
I found your blog, Lutheran Surrealism (http://lutheransurrealism.blogspot.com) intriguing. It's inspired me to Lutheran-ize some paintings in PhotoShop.
Attached you'll find "Persistence of Liturgy." Feel free to use them if you like, or ignore them if you prefer.
Keep writing and pissing people off, Kierkegaard would be proud of you!
Happy Reformation Day Eve
--
_____________________________
Pirate Prayers at:
http://malloryprayer.blogspot.com
Ted's cartoons, artworks, photos, and commentary at:
http://tmal.multiply.com
"The gospel is meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." ~Garrison Keillor
Monday, October 29, 2007
'Religious Right' finally faltering
...Just three years ago, the leaders of the conservative Christian political movement could almost see the Promised Land. White evangelical Protestants looked like perhaps the most potent voting bloc in America. They turned out for President George W. Bush in record numbers, supporting him for re-election by a ratio of four to one. Republican strategists predicted that religious traditionalists would help bring about an era of dominance for their party. Spokesmen for the Christian conservative movement warned of the wrath of “values voters.” James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, was poised to play kingmaker in 2008, at least in the Republican primary. And thanks to President Bush, the Supreme Court appeared just one vote away from answering the prayers of evangelical activists by overturning Roe v. Wade.Read the rest of the article at; Evangelical Movement - Religion and Politics - Presidential Election of 2008 - Christians and Christianity - Voting and Voters - New York TimesToday the movement shows signs of coming apart beneath its leaders. It is not merely that none of the 2008 Republican front-runners come close to measuring up to President Bush in the eyes of the evangelical faithful, although it would be hard to find a cast of characters more ill fit for those shoes: a lapsed-Catholic big-city mayor; a Massachusetts Mormon; a church-skipping Hollywood character actor; and a political renegade known for crossing swords with the Rev. Pat Robertson and the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Nor is the problem simply that the Democratic presidential front-runners — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator Barack Obama and former Senator John Edwards — sound like a bunch of tent-revival Bible thumpers compared with the Republicans.
The 2008 election is just the latest stress on a system of fault lines that go much deeper. The phenomenon of theologically conservative Christians plunging into political activism on the right is, historically speaking, something of an anomaly. Most evangelicals shrugged off abortion as a Catholic issue until after the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. But in the wake of the ban on public-school prayer, the sexual revolution and the exodus to the suburbs that filled the new megachurches, protecting the unborn became the rallying cry of a new movement to uphold the traditional family. Now another confluence of factors is threatening to tear the movement apart. The extraordinary evangelical love affair with Bush has ended, for many, in heartbreak over the Iraq war and what they see as his meager domestic accomplishments. That disappointment, in turn, has sharpened latent divisions within the evangelical world — over the evangelical alliance with the Republican Party, among approaches to ministry and theology, and between the generations...
We finally finished Chapter One!!!
Okay, you're right, it really shouldn't take 3 weeks to get through one chapter. But then again, there is SO MUCH good stuff in this book!
Here's what I got out of this week's passage-
"Never let them see you sweat"
or how about, "Don't Flinch!"
The bottom line is, don't be intimidated. Don't panic.
If you remain calm and can keep your cool while everyone around you is loosing yours- here's what's going to happen;
- You'll get through whatever you have to face
- The people who were trying to intimidate you are going to be intimidated BY you, without you ever having to become hostile or confrontational
- Other people are going to at least take your side, if not start looking to you as a leader.
Philippians 1:27-30 (New International Version)
27Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel 28without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. 29For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him,30since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.
That's great stuff- especially just before Halloween, when between horror movies and superstition, we can begin to be anxious about Satan and his demons. Don't sweat it. In honor of Reformation Day (also October 31) here's a song lyric to drive home this point;
A Mighty Fortress, by Martin Luther
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
But I also found verse 29 interesting too. Paul tells us that not only is it a PRIVILEGE to even believe in Jesus (we can only come to believe with the help of the Holy Spirit) but it is- get this, a PRIVILEGE to SUFFER for Jesus. Wha??!!
Wouldn't you be honored to get to say you were there at the Diet of Worms with Luther and stood up for the truth, even in the face of being burned as a heretic? Wouldn't you have been proud to have been in a concentration camp in NAZI Germany with someone like Corrie Ten Boon or Deitrich Bonhoeffer? Wouldn't it be a privilege to have been arrested with Martin Luther King Jr.? Wouldn't you be proud to say you were part of a team that did their absolute best in some championship, even if several of the players were injured and you ached the next day? Doesn't it feel good to get a major job done especially when you're helping someone, even if it's difficult at the time?
Nothing worthwhile comes easy. No Pain, no gain. That's some of what I talked about last week when I pulled up verses like Romans 5:3-5 and 8:28. Look back at your life so far, you wouldn't be who you are if you hadn't been through what you've gone through.
And yet Paul also tells the Philippians that they're going through the same thing he'd been going through. Not only does God know that He can use whatever you have to cope with to make you stronger and more useful- but He's willing to let you see some of what it was like for Him when He suffered for us. Our suffering doesn't make us any more "justified" (it cannot save us) only what Jesus already did can do that, but it can and will serve to "sanctify" us, that is to make us more like Christ and more useful to Him.
It's hard to understand, especially if whatever you're going through is really hard. But trust me, and trust Paul, it's a beautiful thing.
And here's my prayer for you:
"May the God of peace sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."- 1 Thessalonians 5:23
