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November 30, 2005
Some must read quick hits.....
Frank Peretti and Spiritual Warfare
I was reading over at The Thinklings, Jared's post, When Innovation Becomes the Default. In this post Jared stands by his claim:
....I stand by the claim that when the average evangelical thinks about spiritual warfare these days, it is not any passage in Daniel or Isaiah that comes to mind, but rather the comic-booky conflict of This Present Darkness and its sequel, in which angels swordfight demons and the battle’s outcome is dependent upon the frequency and fervency of someone’s prayers.
For those of you who don't know Frank Peretti is, well now you can read up on him.
In 1991, former Fuller professor of New Testament, Robert Guelich wrote an article for PNEUMA: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. If you can find it online, then good luck, but I have had no luck. But here is the reference taken from their site, Guelich, Robert A. "Spiritual Warfare: Jesus, Paul and Peretti." Vol. 13 (Spring 1991): 33-64.
It is a fascinating article, and a must read. You will walk away realizing just how much of your views on spiritual warfare have been more based on the popular culture of Peretti's work, rather than on the actual teachings of Jesus, Paul, or the bible. Very enlightening.
Guelich closes the article by saying this:
In sum: "Peretti's" accent on spiritual warfare as the fundamental description of the Christian life risks turning the "Prince of peace" into the "Commander-in-Chief," a role that fits the messianic expectation of Jewish apocalyptic eschatology more than the Christology of the Gospels and the Pauline corpus. It leads to numerous distortions about the person and work of Christ, the believers' role in proclaiming the gospel with its personal and social implications, Satan and his hosts and the nature of evil. Indeed it can even harm the cause of the gospel, while attempting to serve that cause, and it can create severe trauma to individuals while seeking to bring them health and wholeness. In the end, by falling into C.S. Lewis' second error we can become victims of Satan's own "battle plans!"
C.S. Lewis and the Narnia Film
BoingBoing has an article up today which says that Lewis wrote a letter stating that he never wanted Narnia made into a film. Here is the letter, which I pasted from here:
The Kilns,
Headington Quarry,
Oxford
18 Dec. 1959
Dear Sieveking
(Why do you 'Dr' me? Had we not dropped the honorifics?) As things worked out, I wasn't free to hear a single instalment of our serial [The Magician's Nephew] except the first. What I did hear, I approved. I shd. be glad for the series to be given abroad. But I am absolutely opposed - adamant isn't in it! - to a TV version. Anthropomorphic animals, when taken out of narrative into actual visibility, always turn into buffoonery or nightmare. At least, with photography. Cartoons (if only Disney did not combine so much vulgarity with his genius!) wld. be another matter. A human, pantomime, Aslan wld. be to me blasphemy.
All the best,
yours
C. S. Lewis
[Letter to BBC producer Lance Sieveking (1896-1972), who has written at the top: 'The Magician's Nephew' and, after the address, the phone number "62963".]
It would be interesting to know if Lewis still held to those convictions....surely the portrayal of his characters with today's movie technology has come a long way since 1959. And speaking as someone who is a book purist, and doesn't think the movie adaptations ever pan out...I can say that I am looking forward to this movie. But if you haven't read the book yet...do it now.
Posted by rhett at November 30, 2005 12:14 AM
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