Life Two Quick Things
posted by on October 1 at 20:30 PM
One
Because it is Sunday, I want to bring up (or pick up) Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach, a 19th century German philosopher whose main contribution to thought is the idea that humans, or more precisely Christians, give God the credit for the good things they do or achieve in life and themselves the responsibility for the negative or the bad things they do in life. When we are good, we are close to God; when we are bad, we are all too human. I bring this idea up (or pick this idea up) because on Sunday, America’s church day (with the hours between 9 am and 1 pm being its most segregated hours of the week), is America’s football day. And on TV we see lots young athletes performing amazing physical feats, and, after performing these feats, giving God, not themselves, the credit. Player after player attributes the ability to throw far or run very fast, positive attributes on the field, to the father of Jesus. But, of course, if these same young players are caught driving drunk after a game, or sleeping with a whore, this is now their own fault. “Where did he go wrong?” asks the Christian. “God gave him a gift and he wasted it.”
Amazingly, mainstream American Christianity has extended this God/good association to wealth, to prosperity, which is why there is, in the constitution of the ordinary American animal, no contradiction between making loads of money and being a good Christian—despite the fact that Christian morality is fundamentally the morality of the poor or, as pointed out in Genealogy of Morals, the morality of the slave. (When a black person enters a church in a poor community, that church has much more to do with original Christianity than the church entered by a white person in a rich community.)
Two
The other thing I want to point out is the single reason why, as a practice, philosophy surpasses theology. Not, as Hegel thought, because religion is limited to picture-thinking (parables, allegories, myths, and the like) and philosophy gets to the substance of God directly by abstract reasoning—no, it’s because of this: Socrates, the founder of Western philosophy, knew how to laugh, whereas Jesus, the founder of Christianity, never laughed at all. Through all of the Gospels, Jesus is dead serious, thoughtful, angry, and even cries at one point (his greatest shame), but he never laughs. Even before he was executed by the city of Athens, Socrates, as we are told by Plato, laughed. Now imagine what kind of religion Christianity would be if Jesus had laughed on the cross? Indeed, Gibson’s movie would have an entirely different meaning if the real death of Jesus was, in spirit, closer to the Life of Brian.
(A last note: In the song “Why Should I Love You?,” which features Prince, a Christian of sorts, Kate Bush asks: “…have you ever seen a picture/of Jesus laughing?” Because she hasn’t seen such a picture (and nor have I), she speculates what a smiling Jesus would look like: “…mmm do you think/he had a beautiful smile?/a smile that healed?”)
American "muscular" christianity, as they like to call it, is pretty far removed from real christianity. All that "JAYsus wants YOU ta be RITCH" stuff is about as far from the message of the Gospels as you can get without actually murdering someone.
But it's a MUCH easier sell, Fnarf. Fill the pews, collect that 10% tithing, and you're on easy street - especially if you can have "church" in a school gym or neighborhood storefront. Gives you those "street creds", but doesn't require you to have any overhead.
Oh, I don't know about that. I think Jesus probably had a sense of humor -- I mean, the pun on Peter's name, the miracle of the money in the fish, the mockery of his disciples -- it's just kind of hard to filter out after two thousand years of revisions, emendations, absorption, deification. No one makes Socrates holy; therefore he is allowed to be more human, to laugh. But a self-aware god that laughs seems to mock not only himself but all of his creation, and that's hard to choke down. Who wants to feel fundamentally frivolous?
Interesting post, Charles.
For my part, I like sports, and I'm interested in religion, but the intersection of the two I find really creepy. You hit the homerun, you score the touchdown, and you point to the sky, letting us know you give all credit to God. We in the audience are supposed to think, "what becoming humility, what pious gratitude." Except I always think, "You think that God the almighty, the Creator of the universe, the Alpha and the Omega, actually cares about grown men playing a children's game enough to pick sides and interve on your insignificant behalf? Get over yourself!"
Read "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco - it perfectly addresses your second point.
there is something about laughing. "in smiling, one feels oneself growing small wings. smiling and fluttering are related. you feel distinguished because, among other things, it seems to you that fundamentally you enter into nothing too deeply: that, no matter how deeply you penetrate, you are always moving on the threshold. a sort of toe dance of reason." -w. benjamin
I dunno about this theory: Americans always seem more than a little smug when they thank god, like god likes them especially or something.
actually it isnt american christianity that made this connection but some major protestant faiths that the moved to america to dominate the continent. the idea that, if you are a good christian, god blesses you in this life already (which isn't a very jesus-like thing to think) is a calvinist idea. good christians always have money.
Charles, the gnostic traditions actually have Jesus laughing at several key moments. He laughs at the disciples as they offer up the prayer for that fateful Passover meal that is echoed in the eucharist. He was also said to be standing at a distance (or in heaven) laughing while a substitute (sometimes Simone of Cyrene) is crucified and not Jesus himself. In my opinion, these are key insights into the true nature of Jesus and what he was really about. But, of course, you won't see these in the canonical gospels. And why? Because the gnostic literature confounds those who do not laugh with the Christ--that laugh that contains knowledge--the knowledge that religious systems and philosophy are merely the ornaments on a richly-colored cloak draped over the shoulders of the Unknown Father, the breather of the perennial philosophy.
Christians won't laugh about the wars, poverty, and death. Jews think if your babies foreskin it makes you closer to god.
And even New York public health can't prevent Jews from sucking the blood off baby dick!
Check this out if you want to read weird religious beliefs:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/std/std-bris.shtml
Jews believe in a laughing god. In general Judaism is a more intelligent religion than Christianity. Removing a child's foreskin is a sign of God's sacred covenant with the Jewish people.
A religion based on cutting the dicks of baby boys and not eating bacon bits is fuckin' hilarious IMHO. That's why Jews have all the best humor.
Christianity has always been for those who weren't lucky enough to be born rich and Jewish. That's why Christ's followers in the Bible hated rich people and ate pork.
Do you think Jesus would've been as popular as he was if he'd worn socks with his sandals?
I don't claim to know much about Jesus and I agree that philosophy surpasses theology, but personally, even though Jesus may have been too stupid to get his jokes, I find Jesus extremely funny. For example, he says something like this to a group of doubters, "I know where I am from and where I am going, but you have no idea where I am from or where I am going."
A note on black churches:
I've studied some black churches in the CD recently. At least two have them serve healthy, inviting meals for the homeless and they both have a certain quality of Christianity that differs from mainstream Christianity. As Charles writes, it is because these blacks churches see down to the root of Christianity: faith and the secret.
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