Great article, Michael. You are right on the money with your comments about Compass.
I did have one thought though, and that is that the rites, millinery and facial hair are very often direct expressions of the doctrines of any given religion.
So, where Compass focusses on the exotic externals to put religion in a tidy box, the modern western Christian thinks he can divest a religion of its expressions and boil it down to some timeless "Greek-style" ideal.
(See my post "Communist Theology": http://www.bullartistry.com.au/wp/2009/07/13/communist-theology/
Despite their abominable doctrines, these exotic, alien religions are often more in touch with the physical world, and the symbolic nature of the creation, than we are. Their doctrines unashamedly create culture. Our Christianity is very often like the scientist, attempting to be detached and objective. Bereft of any biblical inspiration, our culture of worship becomes just like the mall.
Great article. Thanks for getting it 'out there'. I do wonder though if there's more to the silly hats than you say. What I mean is that ritual may actually be more important - and perhaps even foundational - in religions other than Christianity (like Islam). Perhaps the distinction is not so much that silly hats don't matter, but that they don't matter to us.
5 comments:
Thanks for publishing that article.
Thanks, too, for all other thought provocations throughout the year.
A nice job that's worthy of a more sympathetic read than it seems to be getting!
Great article, Michael. You are right on the money with your comments about Compass.
I did have one thought though, and that is that the rites, millinery and facial hair are very often direct expressions of the doctrines of any given religion.
So, where Compass focusses on the exotic externals to put religion in a tidy box, the modern western Christian thinks he can divest a religion of its expressions and boil it down to some timeless "Greek-style" ideal.
(See my post "Communist Theology":
http://www.bullartistry.com.au/wp/2009/07/13/communist-theology/
Despite their abominable doctrines, these exotic, alien religions are often more in touch with the physical world, and the symbolic nature of the creation, than we are. Their doctrines unashamedly create culture. Our Christianity is very often like the scientist, attempting to be detached and objective. Bereft of any biblical inspiration, our culture of worship becomes just like the mall.
Thanks Michael. Really helpful article. I linked the original link in my blog, hope that's ok?
Great article. Thanks for getting it 'out there'. I do wonder though if there's more to the silly hats than you say. What I mean is that ritual may actually be more important - and perhaps even foundational - in religions other than Christianity (like Islam). Perhaps the distinction is not so much that silly hats don't matter, but that they don't matter to us.
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