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It Seems to Me That Nothing Screams ‘White, Eurocentric, Privilege’ Like…
…some wretched (and I use the word advisedly) “guest preacher” at Trinity (Cambridge) College Chapel yesterday, who took the opportunity, during the Evensong service, to expatiate on the matter of Jesus’s sexuality while displaying Medieval and Renaissance paintings (from Europe) in which he focused on depictions of Christ’s penis (which are vague and rather amorphous in several paintings–hardly surprising really, given the subject matter, not to mention the tendency of art “restorers” in intervening centuries to airbrush out such things which might–in their time–have been considered overly-descriptive details.
Once he’d put that ticklish matter to bed, our hero (Joshua Heath, a “junior research fellow” whose Ph.D. work was supervised by former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Atkinson Williams), began to deconstruct the matter of Christ’s wounds as depicted in a series of paintings.
Apparently, penetrative (as in “arrow” or “spear”) wounds remind him of vaginas. And so he lovingly traced the outlines of the wounds in an effort to point out the similarities. (Ugh. I cannot help feeling this says more about him than it does about the artist.)
And then–dispositively:
the sermon displayed three paintings, including Jean Malouel’s 1400 work Pietà, with Mr Heath pointing out Jesus’s side wound and blood flowing to the groin.
I am not sure if Mr. Heath–or Reverend Heath, or whatever the Hell it is one is supposed to call him–is a “gravity denier,” but here is a photo of the image in question:
Apparently, the image of “blood flowing to the groin” is supposed to be indicative somehow of Jesus’s “trans” identity.
I ask you–reasonable men and women all–where else is the blood supposed to flow? Upwards, into His nose?
I really can’t think of anything more stupid than this, a theory that the great artworks of Western Civilization, undertaken a millennium-and-a-half after Christ’s death, should be shoehorned into some idiotic woke theory to suit a 21st-century moron obsessed (and not in a good way) with untoward sex.
Not only does it disrespect the actual facts on the ground–Christ was a Middle-Easterner who likely didn’t resemble any of our traditional representations of Him at all, it also denigrates other cultures whose Christian adherents represent Him in their own way. (I remember some of the very careful and respectful ways in which the Christian missionaries in Nigeria found ways to make Christ relatable and understandable in a primitive culture, without either insulting that culture, or diminishing the Christian message.)
Really, Joshua Heath. If you want a transgender Christ-Hero, draw your own, and leave my Christian art history, and my tradition alone.
Plus, and: Shame on you, Dr. Michael Banner, Dean of Trinity College, who–post flap–said that Heath’s view was “legitimate.”
Information here was sourced from a Telegraph article (behind a paywall) but it’s all over the Internet. From the Telegraph article:
A congregation member, who wished to remain anonymous, told Dr Banner in a complaint letter: “I left the service in tears. You offered to speak with me afterwards, but I was too distressed. I am contemptuous of the idea that by cutting a hole in a man, through which he can be penetrated, he can become a woman.
“I am especially contemptuous of such imagery when it is applied to our Lord, from the pulpit, at Evensong. I am contemptuous of the notion that we should be invited to contemplate the martyrdom of a ‘trans Christ’, a new heresy for our age.”
The worshipper said the audience and choir in the traditional Anglican service, with children present, was “visibly uncomfortable” at the “truly shocking” sermon, which “made me feel unwelcome in the Church” and his partner felt “violated”.
PS: Evensong is my favorite Church of England service. I’ll be damned if this fool is going to ruin it for me.
Published in General
On the bright side, this is so offensive and so blindingly stupid that the chances of people buying into this evil garbage is greatly reduced.
One can only hope. Not sure.
I hope you are right, but, given the direction we seem to be headed, I’m not so sure.
Lord, save us from priests and preachers who live in fear that something they say will not be heard, or something they write will not be read.
Evening prayer contains hymns, Psalms, and a reading from the Bible, and a moment of silence to reflect on the reading. There is no homily. The Divine Office is not a pulpit for Schismatics or Heretics.
That kind just has to mess with everything.
The so-called Church of England probably isn’t actually a church anymore, in most places. From what I’ve heard and read, it may still be OK in Africa.
There is a divide in the Anglican Church. High Anglican (Anglo-Catholic) that still follows the Catholic Church tradition in vestments, and a traditional Mass. Low Anglican is more relaxed in that it follows a more Protestant path. Low Anglican churches tend to have more spartan interiors. Although to be fair there are some Catholic churches that have all the charm of an East German railway waiting room just as many Protestant churches have.
I agree, sadly. They let this sort of garbage be preached from their pulpits and say it’s a legitimate view. Where is Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra when we need him?
If only it were unique in that respect.
Well, it might still be OK in the UK, if only those in authority would have listened to, and elevated, the right people. Here’s who I’d have voted for for the current Archbishop of Canterbury position:
John Sentamu. Retired Archbishop of York, and Primate of England.
This comment seems to contradict the theory of the post you put up this morning.
This is what the cultural marxists want. Truth is not and has never been a goal or value for the Left so any truth or history which gets in the way of their plans is fair game no matter how stupid or false.
I am not seeking ambiance when I enter the church. I am seeking connection to the Divine.
Behind the pulpit is no place for a standup comedian. Particularly one that is as bad at it as this one.
The direction we are heading not only has signposts, but apparently all things relating to American culture must point that way.
This month’s Reader’s Digest, the Dec Christmas holiday issue, features a NYT’s article about the necessity of tolerating books in school and public libraries that contain vivid portrayals of man on man sex, as well as our need to tolerate “Family Fun Night At The Drag Queen Show.”
I mean, for heaven’s sake, if a 15 year old can’t read pornography in the safety of the local school library, or the public one, who knows of the negative consequences for that young lad?
I’m not a prude, but I know I was never upset that back in the day, video rental stores had an X rated section. No one under the age of 18 was allowed to peruse that material.
I doubt this prevented HS aged teens from developing normally.
But now we must either participate ourselves or else look the other way as schools and libraries submerge developing minds into the depths of smarminess. Why?
Because people have been fooled into thinking that a school library is the province of the school rather than the people.
what’s most important about Christianity, more than anything, is the design of their building’s interiors.
Church is a spectator sport and it is the poorer for it.
These reverends are without reverence, and seem not to fear G-d.
They are in need of something to fear. Perhaps it can be parishioners who will not tolerate blasphemy spoken from the altar.
Good grief!
Trinity does have some redeeming features.
I don’t think we visited their chapel, but we lived next door in Trinity Hall.
I watched Trinity’s recent Advent Carol Service (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF-phDcJXOs
Beautiful, moving, and, ahem, traditional. Dr. Banner, more of this, please, and less tendentious nonsense.
Ever notice that the whole LGBT+ group and allies are very sexual focused? Everything reminds them of sex and set organs. They just can not help it.
And what will happen to this church (both sense of the word) to prevent it happening again? We got here by a path, and we continue on the path. I predict more of this sort of thing.
I look for a small group within the Church to hold and promote this view. In a few decades it may become Church law or at least an interpretation of Church Law
In Africa he would have been stoned in the parking lot.
This is exceptionally well put. Thank you.
Oh, thanks. That’s lovely. (The service itself begins about 35 minutes in at this link.) I really miss the services of my childhood. We would celebrate the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at my boarding school, and I loved walking back up the hill to my (chilly) bedroom afterwards.
If the goal is reduced church attendance, then the sermon was probably a smashing success.
I can’t comment on the the specifics of the Church of England, but I am aware of a number of Anglican-affiliated churches in the US that are relatively healthy, orthodox churches. But to your point, I believe at least some of them are affiliated with the Anglican Church in Africa.
You can be snarky about this, but a building devoted to the worship of God should facilitate that worship by elevating the spirit and mind to heavenly things. Beauty matters because beauty is of God.
He or she should visit an Orthodox church sometime.
Agree.
Yes, this is true. It’s a gnarly mess, but some of the history is here.