Tonight Jenni and I watched No Greater Love. We expected it to be another semi-cheesy Christian film, but it’s actually well done. It’s a surprisingly gripping story. Jenni almost never cries when watching movies, but this was different.
I learned about it in mid-January when I received this update from The Master’s Seminary. Jay Underwood, one of their graduates, co-stars in the film.
Conservative evangelicals are different from Fundamentalists, but they are not new evangelicals.
Conservative evangelicals have majored on the centrality of the gospel and the exaltation of God.
Nevertheless, some Fundamentalists have managed to convince themselves that conservative evangelicals are the enemy.
[Some fundamentalist leaders are] recognizing that the Fundamentalist label is no guarantee of doctrinal fidelity. They are aware that historic, mainstream Fundamentalism has more in common with conservative evangelicals than it does with many who wear the Fundamentalist label.
Conservative evangelicals are not our enemies. They are not our opponents. Conservative evangelicals have proven themselves to be allies and even leaders in the defense of the faith.
If we attack conservative evangelicals, then we attack the defense of the faith.
The version of this essay that appeared in my inbox this afternoon concludes with these two paragraphs:
If we believe that we must respond to conservative evangelicalism, then let us begin by addressing the areas in which they have exposed our weakness. Let us refocus our attention upon the exaltation of God. Let us exalt, apply, and defend the gospel in all its fullness. If we were more like what we ought to be, perhaps we would feel less threatened by those whose exploits attract the attention of our followers.
Whatever our differences, I thank God for John Piper. I thank God for Mark Dever. I thank God for John MacArthur. I thank God for D. A. Carson. I thank God for a coalition of Christian leaders who have directed our focus to the centrality of the gospel and the exaltation of God. May their defense of the biblical faith prosper.
Some of Jesus’s parables are so historically remote from us that we don’t naturally feel the emotions and tension that the stories stirred up for the original hearers. These six 15-to-20-minute “Modern Parables” creatively translate the main point of one of Jesus’s parables into our context.
Here is an abridged version of my thoughts on these parable-films after I watched them in September 2008.
1. General Comments on the Modern Parables
Strengths
Thought-provoking. They encourage a consuming preoccupation with God’s word (i.e., meditation).
Parallel. They are based on common, everyday situations (i.e., typical people and events), which parallels Jesus’ parables.
Quality. They are professionally done. They are simple and executed well.
Variety. They are shot in different genres.
Endorsed by scholars. For example, Craig Blomberg, a parable-scholar, highly recommends them.
Qualifications
Unclear. Most of the application videos are surprisingly weak and unclear. Not recommended. (They don’t appear to be available for free online.)
Limitations. Turning parable-texts into these parable-films has some limitations and potential pitfalls. (1) It changes the genre in a way that does not adequately capture the text’s context. For example, not one of the parable-films adequately captures the immediate context of the parable, let alone the broader context of the section and book in which it occurs. (2) It could be abused as a crutch for exegesis and exposition or as something that is more exciting than the God-breathed text.
Missing the gospel. This is definitely not a stand-alone means of evangelism because the gospel is virtually absent in the films. Those who are biblically illiterate could radically misinterpret the films and completely miss the gospel. The videos are only supplementary illustrations to the text. (But they could be extraordinarily useful when used in the right context.)
2. Specific Comments on Each Parable
Hidden Treasure. Substituting oil for hidden treasure communicates more clearly in our culture. The acting is slapstick.
Samaritan. Sobering and convicting. It leaves some gaps in parallels with the biblical parable.
The Shrewd Manager. The biblical parable probably does not connect well with most people in our culture, but this video does.
The Widow and Judge. Slower pace and more artistic license than the previous ones.
The Sower. This isn’t exactly a story. This film is nowhere near as engaging as the others. Probably the least effective.
A 5,000-piece puzzle of “Neuschwanstein and Surroundings”
I am not saying that the Bible is like a jigsaw puzzle of five thousand pieces and that all the five thousand pieces are provided, so that with time and thought the entire picture may be completed. Rather, I am suggesting that the Bible is like a jigsaw puzzle that provides five thousand pieces along with the assurance that these pieces all belong to the same puzzle, even though ninety-five thousand pieces (the relative figures are unimportant for my analogy) are missing. Most of the pieces that are provided, the instructions insist, fit together rather nicely; but there are a lot of gaping holes, a lot of edges that cry out to be completed, and some clusters of pieces that seem to be on their own. Nevertheless, the assurance that all of the pieces do belong to one puzzle is helpful, for that makes it possible to develop the systematic theology, even though the systematic theology is not going to be completed until we receive more pieces from the One who made it. And meanwhile, even some systematicians who believe that all the pieces belong to the same puzzle are not very adept puzzle players but sometimes force pieces into slots where they don’t really belong. The picture gets distorted somewhat, but it remains basically recognizable.
Tonight Jenni and I watched No Greater Love. We expected it to be another semi-cheesy Christian film, but it’s actually well done. It’s a surprisingly gripping story. Jenni almost never cries when watching movies, but this was different.
1. General Comments on the Modern Parables
