{"id":1575,"date":"2008-04-03T19:52:57","date_gmt":"2008-04-03T23:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=1575"},"modified":"2008-04-03T19:52:57","modified_gmt":"2008-04-03T23:52:57","slug":"the-incarnation-and-film-noir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=1575","title":{"rendered":"The Incarnation and Film Noir"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve got to note <\/strong>that it got up to about 55\u00b0 (13\u00b0 C.) today, and it was just lovely.<\/p>\n

Considering the way I\u2019ve been griping, I felt I ought to mention that.
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More today on the \u201cBody and Soul\u201d topic.<\/strong> I wanted to say more yesterday, but I thoughtfully chose not to throw a huge post at you all at once.<\/p>\n

When I said that the doctrine of the Incarnation is the center of my theology, I felt awkward. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s actually any competition for \u201cThe Number One Christian Doctrine,\u201d because Christian doctrine is like a Chinese puzzle\u2014it all fits together in a particular way, and if you miss one piece, the whole thing doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

But it seems to me that the doctrine of the Incarnation occupies a special place. When the Apostle John wrote, \u201cThis is how you recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God\u201d<\/i> (1 John 4:2-3), he gave us a puzzle that\u2019s troubled many of us. \u201cAren\u2019t there heresies that say that Jesus came in the flesh?\u201d we ask. Well, yes, but I think I glimpse John\u2019s point afar off.<\/p>\n

In general, historically, the great heresies have gotten this particular doctrine wrong. They either overspiritualize or underspiritualize the nature of Christ. They either say He wasn\u2019t fully human, or they call Him just a great prophet. The doctrine of the Incarnation seems to be (to mix metaphors) the fulcrum on which Christian doctrine balances, the touchstone that tells you whether the gold is pure or not.<\/p>\n

And the human heart testifies to this by responding to the concept of incarnation on a profound level.<\/p>\n

What is it that moves us when we look at that beautiful new car in the showroom? That wonderful new house we want? It\u2019s more than just, \u201cThis car will get me from place to place really fast,\u201d or \u201cThis house will be a comfortable place for my family to live.\u201d It\u2019s a feeling that in this car or this house we\u2019ll find something new, something fresh, something that will satisfy us on an profoundly existential level. Something that will make our lives more joyous and meaningful.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re looking for a physical thing that satisfies a spiritual hunger.<\/p>\n

This is especially true in the arenas of sex and love. I\u2019ve been watching several Noir films recently, and I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that (with certain exceptions) I don\u2019t like them much. The classic Noir (this isn\u2019t always true) tells the story of a fairly ordinary mug who gets the opportunity to make a big financial score and win a beautiful dame\u2019s love. All that\u2019s demanded of him is his soul. He has to make a little moral compromise. Usually just a small one at the start. But it leads him down the road to murder and his own death.<\/p>\n

Well, what\u2019s this mug doing? He\u2019s trying to find his spiritual aspirations incarnate in the dame.<\/p>\n

This, as any theologian could tell him, is an attempt to get the benefits of the Incarnation without submitting to the true Incarnate One. (That\u2019s why most Noir films are essentially moral. I may not like them much, but I\u2019ll admit they\u2019re generally moralistic stories.)<\/p>\n

And the reason the stories are almost always tragic is because all people, even movie people, understand that real happiness can\u2019t be found where we think it\u2019s found.<\/p>\n

This is the tragedy of human life, and one of those places where human tragedy can be an opening for the gospel. In the words of Augustine, “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve got to note that it got up to about 55\u00b0 (13\u00b0 C.) today, and it was just lovely. Considering the way I\u2019ve been griping, I felt I ought to mention that. More today on the \u201cBody and Soul\u201d topic. I wanted to say more yesterday, but I thoughtfully chose not to throw a huge … Continue reading The Incarnation and Film Noir<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}