Adventures in Jesus-Buying
From Portnoy's Complaint:
"Tacked up above the Girardi sink is a picture of Jesus Christ floating up to heaven in a pink nightgown... What kind of base and brainless schmucks are these people to worship somebody who, number one, never existed, and number two, if he did, looking as he does in that picture, was without a doubt The Pansy of Palestine. In a pageboy haircut, with a Palmolive complexion - and wearing a gown that I realize today must have come from Frederick's of Hollywood!"
There was a time when that was hard to read. Then came experience. Then came wading through an endless morass of hideous religious art, wallowing in the swamp of Catholic aesthetic impoverishment - goofy hymns, barren prayer-barn/prayer-silo churches, tacky pictures, bum-ugly statuary, etc. etc. - wondering how we went from the producers of the best art Western Civ had to offer to this, this bad joke on beauty.
I was so happy to read this on People of the Book, from B16: “Images are also a preaching of the Gospel. Artists in every age have offered the principal facts of the mystery of salvation to the contemplation and wonder of believers by presenting them in the splendour of colour and in the perfection of beauty. It is an indication of how today more than ever, in a culture of images, a sacred image can express much more than what can be said in words, and be an extremely effective and dynamic way of communicating the Gospel message.” Heads up, art-people.
So yesterday, the wife was walking third son around the block while we waited for our most excellent scallop burritos and chicken rolled tacos at El Zarape, when she passed a Jesus picture (in a glorious and enormous frame) outside an antique shop. Very subdued colors, very Jewish Jesus. Big eyes, sunk deep. There was a whiff of piety about it, but by God, at least it offered something to contemplate. She rarely expresses an interest in art, so I encouraged her to buy it. As we left, we thanked the saleslady. "Yeah," she replied. "It's a beautiful frame."
"Tacked up above the Girardi sink is a picture of Jesus Christ floating up to heaven in a pink nightgown... What kind of base and brainless schmucks are these people to worship somebody who, number one, never existed, and number two, if he did, looking as he does in that picture, was without a doubt The Pansy of Palestine. In a pageboy haircut, with a Palmolive complexion - and wearing a gown that I realize today must have come from Frederick's of Hollywood!"
There was a time when that was hard to read. Then came experience. Then came wading through an endless morass of hideous religious art, wallowing in the swamp of Catholic aesthetic impoverishment - goofy hymns, barren prayer-barn/prayer-silo churches, tacky pictures, bum-ugly statuary, etc. etc. - wondering how we went from the producers of the best art Western Civ had to offer to this, this bad joke on beauty.
I was so happy to read this on People of the Book, from B16: “Images are also a preaching of the Gospel. Artists in every age have offered the principal facts of the mystery of salvation to the contemplation and wonder of believers by presenting them in the splendour of colour and in the perfection of beauty. It is an indication of how today more than ever, in a culture of images, a sacred image can express much more than what can be said in words, and be an extremely effective and dynamic way of communicating the Gospel message.” Heads up, art-people.
So yesterday, the wife was walking third son around the block while we waited for our most excellent scallop burritos and chicken rolled tacos at El Zarape, when she passed a Jesus picture (in a glorious and enormous frame) outside an antique shop. Very subdued colors, very Jewish Jesus. Big eyes, sunk deep. There was a whiff of piety about it, but by God, at least it offered something to contemplate. She rarely expresses an interest in art, so I encouraged her to buy it. As we left, we thanked the saleslady. "Yeah," she replied. "It's a beautiful frame."
posted by Matthew Lickona | 8:52 AM
8 Comments:
So where you going to hang it?
In the Jesus gallery, of course! All Jesus, all the time! Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
Actually, that's a good question. We're still discussing.
Matthew,
It's not the bad art rap that the Church has taken lately (and justifiably!) that I can't take in your latest blog-drop - it's being lectured to (albeit through fictin) by a Jew about that art. As bad as it is, one takes offense to someone else pointing out one's own shortcomings. Having not read Portnoy but knowing Mr. Roth's animosity toward religion, I'm sure that Judaism goes in for quite a ribbing, as well.
Since cultural Judaism and Christianity - or their vestiges - are really the "only show in town" - we should expect such criticism (No one is criticizing Hittites or Visgoths anymore, eh?).
And of course that could be part of the "fun" of Portnoy - but since when do we take our cues from decadent non-religious Jews on such matters? Western Civilization was built on Judeo-Christian values - but true and good and beautiful Christian art and literature and culture - well, that all helped out a bit, too.
I suppose its none of my business whether Mr. Roth thinks it worthwhile shooting down Jesus in a pink nighty. At the same time, if you want to talk about the destruction of civilization which led to the Dishy Jesus - and here I carefully pluck a page from E. Michael Jones, so as not to be accused of being anti-semitic - the deracinated Jews have helped more than a little in the dismantling process. Jones makes an excellent case (with the help of some Orthodox rabbis) for what happened when the avatars of cultural Marxism and other misplaced secular messianism got their hands on the porn industry, to cite one example. There are others though: academia, the art world, Hollywood, the legal profession, the medical profession, etc.
Cultural Marxism is a good substitute for an unbelieving Jew's abandoned religion. Witness, of course, what happened when a true representation of Jesus, Gibson's Passion (- contra Roth's lingerie-Christ)was sent "downtown" Hollywood. Who cried the loudest?
The deracinated Jews (read: cultural Marxists).
Perhaps it's an accident that Mr. Roth is also a deracinated Jew, but perhaps not...
I'm sure he wishes that everyone in America was a Nazi - it would make his job that much easier. Alas, we are not. Father Mayer was a Jesuit priest and one of Germany's most famous war heroes who lost a leg in WWI fighting for Germany and courageously and vocally resisted the rise of Naziism. He and Hitler both hated liberalism - but that didn't make Father Mayer a Nazi anymore than it made Hitler a Catholic Jesuit priest....
At any rate, everyone should read Herbert Marcuse - if you think I'm being a lunatic - well, the whole cultural Marxist project - its all in his work. See for yourself.
JOB
I like that verse from Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma":
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred
Linked to this post here:
http://liverevolt.com/redeemthetime/archives/2005_07_29.html#006609
-kodiak
"It's a beautiful frame." No, she didn't really say that? It must be the creation of your Hemingwayesque prose! :) Perry Lorenzo
Oh, she said it. But thanks all the same.
Hey, thanks, Kodiak.
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