This post is part 2 in a series on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, nones, dones and religionless Christianity. Part 1 can be found here.

In the last post, we left off with the question, "Can we speak meaningfully about God without religion?" For Bonhoeffer, religious language is often a mask or a shield that protects us from saying what we actually mean. It allows us to hide ignorance behind certitude:

“Religious people speak of God when human knowledge (perhaps simply because they are too lazy to think) has come to an end, or when human resources fail — in fact it is always the deus ex machina that they bring on to the scene, either for the apparent solution of insoluble problems, or as strength in human failure — always, that is to say, exploiting human weakness or human boundaries. Of necessity, that can go on only till people can by their own strength push these boundaries somewhat further out, so that God becomes superfluous as a deus ex machina.”

Deus ex machina literally translated is, “God from the machine.” This is a reference to ancient Greek plays, where at the end of a play, sometimes a god would be lowered from onto the stage by a crane to resolve loose plot twists. If Bonhoeffer was writing today, he might use the phrase “God of the gaps.”

An illustration may make this clearer: Prior to modern medicine people thought illness was caused by the “black magic” of the devil. Spiritual problems require spiritual solutions, so of course, people appealed to God for help through the “magic” of the church: taking communion, being anointed with holy water or oil, or being blessed by a pastor or priest (for more on this, Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age is a must-read). When the germ theory of disease was finally accepted in the late 1800s, it changed the way people thought about God. We no longer needed to appeal to the devil to explain why we were sick, and we no longer needed direct intervention from God to explain our recovery. The gap we once filled with God, we now fill with knowledge.

But a God of the gaps is no God at all. If we appeal to the divine to explain things we don’t yet understand, what will happen when human knowledge increases and we gain a scientific explanation? When doctors perform thousands of surgeries flawlessly, when antibiotics turn once fatal illnesses into minor inconveniences (take two pills, twice a day for three weeks), desperate prayers for miraculous intervention are gradually replaced with lesser prayers that God would “guide the doctor’s hands,” or that “the medicine would work,” until ultimately, these prayers disappear completely.

he was offered sanctuary in the U.S., Bonhoeffer believed that he needed to be present in Germany during the war to have any role in healing and rebuilding the nation when it was over. He was eventually imprisoned by the Nazi regime for avoiding military service ​(his interpretation of the gospels led him to be a pacifist)* and executed. His Letters and Papers from Prison have been collected into book form. Put it on your reading list.

In April, 1944, Bonhoeffer wrote: ​
​
We are moving toward a completely religionless time; people as they are now simply cannot be religious anymore. Even those who honestly describe themselves as "religious" do not in the least act up to it, and so they presumably mean something quite different by "religious."

Book Review: Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue
​By Robert K. Johnston

​Summary
Robert K. Johnston’s Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue explores the play between the words “real” and “reel.”  Real spirituality is that which is true, authentic, and genuine.  Reel spirituality is the spirituality that is attached to cinema, or film reels.  The question this book seeks to answer is, “Is reel spirituality, real spirituality?”  It is quickly apparent that the answer this book makes is an unabashed “yes.”  Citing examples from more than 700 films, author Robert K. Johnston draws on the theological framework of “common grace” to illustrate how the axis of our experiential, or “Spirit oriented” and critical, or “Word oriented” human characteristics connect us with the reality of God interwoven in film.[1] 
            In referring to spirituality, Johnston is not referring to religious acts performed or implied onscreen. It is rather the transcendent experience of the Holy had by the viewer that is in focus.[2]  When we watch films, we have the opportunity to vicariously experience more of life than we could without the stories, visuals, and audio cues onscreen.  Films can transport us "to a more central region where life takes on a richness and texture not ordinarily experienced.”[3] Moreover, through both the mundane (watching film) and the depiction of the mundane (the film itself), the Holy Spirit draws and instructs us (Is. 23:23-26, 29).  As Johnston puts it, “God might attempt to bring the best out of us through the work of our wider culture (including the film industry).”[4]  The truth in film’s story, as it is shaped by the various aesthetic and dramatic effects, resonates with us in the core of our being.  The Spirit uses it to engage and teach us in “all of life.”[5]  When this happens, reel spirituality is real spirituality.
Critical Dialogue
            While there are many strengths in Reel Spirituality, this review will focus on only one, what I am calling  Johnston’s realism (as opposed to idealism).  Realism is a humility which is uncharacteristic to many Evangelicals.  Whereas an idealist approach pigeonholes films with keywords like "Christian" or defines the reaction viewers “ought” to have, Johnston’s realism accepts that people may have a wide array of responses to any given film. This realism does not prescribe reactions; rather, Johnston describes his own reactions and waits for others to declare what they experience. As noted above, Johnston’s pneumatology allows his realism to take this broad perspective: “Christians need not claim that non-Christian filmmakers are covert Christians or simply appropriate from their movies what is congenial to or congruent with their understanding of the Christian faith.”[6]  Viewers are free to accept and contemplate the real effects any film has on them; there is no need to cognitively reduce spiritual experiences to so-called “Christian films,” nor is there a need to suggest that all of our “spiritual” experiences are clearly and explicitly Christian in content.[7] This approach is manifested in Johnston’s own descriptions of the films that have affected him.  As we read his stories, we are drawn into the narrative of his own personal experiences with film.
             For anyone who has grown up in an overly-realist theological culture, this book offers a breath of fresh air by allowing us to acknowledge our participation in the Spirit in films’ affective influence. Moreover, reel spirituality frees film viewers to partake in conversations about film without feeling pressure to arrive at a predetermined conclusion. Finally it allows us to begin probing the hearts and minds of fellow viewers to discern where the Spirit is moving through the magical medium of film.




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[1] Robert K. Johnston, Reel Spirituality (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006). 282.
[2] Johnston, 97.
[3] Johnston, 266.
[4] Johnston, 99.
[5] Johnston, 94.
[6] Johnston, 100.
[7] Johnston, 56.
[8] Johnston, 22.

I hate to admit it, but the people linking Daesh with the end of the world are right. Not in the way they imagine, of course—yesterday's violence is not a sign of the apocalypse or the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy (unless you count Lamech ).
 
These attacks mark the end of the world only for those whose sense of peace and security is now forever altered, for those who will never feel safe in a concert hall again, for those whose loved ones will never return, and most of all, for those whose lives were tragically cut short.
 
For the victims of these attacks, the world has already ended. The safe, modern Paris they once inhabited is gone. Carefree nights strolling along the Seine, eating and drinking at the bistros and nightclubs will be replaced by anxious meals at home. Concerts that once provided entertainment and a sense of escape will now trigger only flashbacks. Happy dreams will be replaced by nightmares. Some will even move away from the city, returning to small town life with a haunted look in their eyes.
 
They now exist in a different world, a world where nothing is safe, a world already inhabited by every rape victim, every domestic abuse survivor, every combat veteran, every innocent child whose cries were stifled, every person traumatized and scarred by violence.
 
But while their world has ended,
 
                                          …ours has not

Global life expectancy is on the rise. Since 1990, life expectancy has increased from 65.3 to 71.5. Over the next decade and a half, it is expected to climb another ten years to 81. This average includes countries like the U.S. that have seen a steady increase every year since at least the 1930s, as well as areas like East Asia where life expectancy skyrocketed by thirty years in a short period of time. In other words, it's a great time to be alive!

While unexpected deaths still occur even in the most developed countries, they are not nearly as common as they have been throughout history. Accidents, diseases, and infections that once caused sudden death can now be cured or prevented, and despite public perception, deaths caused by war have been in steady decline since the end of the Cold War. As a result, people are are not only living longer, they are dying slower. Medicine and modern health care are able to detect the signs of fatal maladies early on and often slow their progression, effectively easing us gently into the ground. ​

In the dark about the Syrian refugee crisis? Here's a short video explaining how it started and what it means:

In a recent episode of On Being, Krista Tippett noted that, "Soundtracks, for some of us, become the music of our church." Where churches, temples and mosques function as communal gathering places to reflect and be transformed through encounters with the divine, to those who have ears to hear, the theater is a place where inspired storytelling experiences become vehicles for the Transcendent.