As we psych ourselves up for the release of the new Indiana Jones movie this weekend, read this discussion of the character and of why the first movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” was so good. Note the good lines about how the evil archeologist dared to looked into the abyss of the Ark of the Covenant and “the abyss looked back,” the folly of looking into the face of God, how Indy somehow knew that sometimes one must look away.
This reminds me of the great theological message of that fun popcorn fantasy, which, for all of its lightness and entertainment value, conveyed back to our jaded and secularized imagination in an unforgettably tangible way that God is holy, as poor Uzzah learned when he so much as touched the Ark while only trying to help. We have so abstracted and sentimentalized and domesticated God that we sometimes forget why we need a Mediator to come into His presence.
I’m very much looking forward to seeing the new Indiana Jones movie. Very much wondering if it is as good as episodes 1 and 3, while hoping it isn’t anywhere near as bad as episode 2.
I think I saw “Raiders…” in the theater as a young boy. I wonder if my parents knew how scared the opening of the ark scene made me. I of course I knew all about the ark from Sunday School and I think it did serve as a poignant memory device for my very young and pietistic heart. During that scene I remember peeking through covered eyes at that German face melting away! You don’t want to mess around with a holy God.
But that is exactly what does it for most American Christians these days - just trying to mess around with their spiritual boyfriend Jesus and gaze into his dreamy spiritual eyes. Never mind that they’re shacking up, or trying to cheat their neighbor out of every spare penny, they have a personal relationship with Jesus. They better watch out! Hmm. I wonder that Jesus dying on the cross thing was about?
We have lost much of our awe, respect, and fear of God. When I was a child, I was not allowed in the pulpit area of the church at any time. It was a place set apart and if I crossed the line, I was put in my place. Do parents or even pastors still do that? In our church it’s not as big a deal although it is discouraged.
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About the Blogger
Gene Edward Veith is the Provost and Professor of Literature at Patrick Henry College, the Director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary, a columnist for World Magazine and TableTalk, and the author of 18 books on different facets of Christianity & Culture.
Lucas Cranach, self portrait c.1530.
About Lucas Cranach
Lucas Cranach was the great artist of the Reformation. He was a close friend of Martin Luther. He was a businessman, who first printed Luther's translation of the Bible; a politician, who served on the Wittenberg town council and served the city as its mayor; a chemist, who operated a pharmacy; a teacher, who trained a host of apprentice artists; a family-man, who helped arrange Luther's marriage with the two men serving as the godfathers of each other's children; and an active layman in his church, who gave his pastors important personal and material support. As a Christian who lived out his faith in his many different callings, Cranach thus embodies the Reformation doctrine of vocation, using the gifts God had given him in service to Christ and his neighbor in the church, the family, the workplace, and the culture. In the spirit of Lucas Cranach, this blog will discuss wide-ranging issues of Christianity and culture with a Lutheran twist.
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