Book Review: Arguing Religion by Robert Barron

Arguing Religion: A Bishop Speaks at Facebook and Google by Robert Barron

In 2017, Bishop Robert Barron was invited to Facebook headquarters in Silicon Valley to give a presentation. He decided to talk about one of the great challenges of our time, how to have a civil conversation on a topic people disagree on, in this case, religion. He was then invited to Google where he talked about how religion opens up the intellectual world, not closes it down. These two talks have been combined into this short book.

A lot of fruitless encounters happen on-line, with people virtually shouting at each other. Barron has experienced this first hand as he engages the broader culture through social media. He makes a lot of great points about how religion is falsely perceived in our culture (like it isn't rational or it is a private matter not meant for public discourse) and shows ways that can bear a lot of fruit in mutual understanding, a requisite first step in persuading other people about anything. He urges readers to follow the example of Thomas Aquinas, the 13th-century theologian and philosopher. Aquinas often quoted others he did not entirely agree with, like the ancient Greek pagan Aristotle, the medieval Jewish thinker Maimonides, and the medieval Muslim philosopher Avicenna. Aquinas found good and salient points in these thinkers and was able to integrate them into his own thought, even if he didn't agree with their conclusions or some of their principles. Thomas is a model of fruitful intellectual dialogue.

In the second part of the book, Barron describes how human nature is aimed at the true and the good because we humans have intellect and will. We want to know the truth because it is good in and of itself. Everyone desires happiness even if they don't all agree on what creates happiness. Barron explores the classical ideas of human fulfillment (wealth, power, prestige/honor, pleasure) and how they are never fully satisfying. They are all finite goods that cannot give full satisfaction. Only an ultimate good will ultimately satisfy our longing for goodness, for happiness. 

The book reads very quickly and is very on-point. Barron's text is persuasive and concise. This is well worth reading.

Highly recommended.

Movie Review: Longlegs (2024)

Longlegs (2024) written and directed by Osgood Perkins

Young FBI Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) has a talent or instinct that helps her investigative work. She can sense where the problem is. The agency tests her ability to see if she is psychic or at least has psychic-like abilities. She goes through the test in the same detached way she deals with everything else--her job, her home life, her mom (Alicia Witt). Her mother is a bit distant but they talk on the phone often, her mom typically asking if Lee says her prayers. Lee is evasive at the beginning of the movie about this issue, eventually admitting that she does not pray. At work, she becomes involved in tracking a serial killer named Longlegs (Nicolas Cage) who has a strange modus operandi. Families are killed, usually the father killing mom and the kids and then committing suicide. Longlegs leaves letters in a cryptic alphabet with his signature in regular letters. Other than the letter, he leaves no physical evidence at the scene. All the families have daughters born on the 14th of the month and the murders happen close to their birthdays. Harker sifts through the evidence while she works with her supervisor, Agent Carter (Blair Underwood). The mystery gets weirder and more disturbing as Harker has flashbacks to her childhood when Longlegs came to her house.

The movie is a clear homage to Silence of the Lambs, with the rookie female FBI agent up against a truly deranged killer with the aid of an only moderately-supportive agency. The tension is very high with hardly any bits of comic relief. Longlegs is a different sort of killer. Sure, he manipulates people into killing for him like Hannibal Lecter or John Doe from Se7en, but he is a Satan worshipper and seems to have demonic abilities. The story is vague enough about this possibility to make the situation more excruciating (which is what you want in a horror film, right?). The ending has plenty of twists that also ratchet up the tension. While not as great as Silence of the Lambs, it is a solid homage and also its own film.

The story moves at a strong pace which helps to paper over some plot holes and inconsistencies. I was wondering about several possibilities that I felt like the characters should also wonder about though they never did. The larger story does not make a coherent whole when thought about. But there are so many interesting ideas in the film, especially the conflict between the subtle Satanism and the need for prayer as protection from evil. These ideas are not spelled out for the viewer. Their presentation is clear but their resolution is left for the viewer, which I think is a strength of the film. This is the sort of film that sticks around in your head for days afterward in a good way.

Recommended.

The movie's religious implication are discussed in this fascinating article from Word on Fire. 

Movie Review: Midsommar (2019)

Midsommar (2019) written and directed by Ari Aster

Dani (Florence Pugh) is the very needy girlfriend of Christian (Jack Reynor), though not without some justification. Her sister is more troubled than she is (the sister has a bipolar disorder) and, right at the beginning of the film, the sister kills herself and their parents. Dani is devastated and Christian, who has been looking for a way out of the relationship, is very supportive in spite of his misgivings. He's an anthropology student who hangs out with three other students. One member of the group, Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), is from Sweden and is going home for a special summer festival in his small, remote town. He invites the other guys. Christian tells them he's extended an invitation to Dani, which they are disappointed with (they also want the couple to break up). She hems and haws about the trip but goes anyway. They have a long drive north from Stockholm in mid-June. On the outskirts of town they are greeted by the young people of the village who are getting high before getting to town. Dani reluctantly joins in the drug-taking. Once they get to town, the nine-day festival starts with a lot of folksy activities. Things take a darker turn when one of the rituals has an old couple jump to their deaths from a local cliff while everyone watches. The outsiders are horrified and some want to leave, but there is no leaving this festival.

The movie follows in the tradition of The Wicker Man, presenting a pre-Christian society whose superficially charming surface masks a much darker, much grimmer situation. The locals are very welcoming but not forthcoming about what is about to happen. They seem oblivious to how outsiders will view their ceremonies. Since the visitors are anthropology majors, they bend over backwards trying not to judge their acitons even when the locals do clearly barbaric things. Their attitude leaves them stuck in a trap they probably could have escaped. Instead, they become entrenched in the proceedings, leading to a horrible ending.

While the movie is well crafted and acted, I have a hard time finding a justification for watching it. The mystery is sort-of interesting but if you have seen The Wicker Man, you know exactly where this is going. Dani and Christian are sort-of sympathetic, though she really needs a therapist and he needs some backbone and a lot more honesty with other people. A lot of the situations are very preposterous and only drug-induced stupidity could possibly explain why people went along with the bizarre ceremonies. After watching the film, I read online that people in Sweden laughed at this film as a black comedy (because it really has nothing from the Swedish Midsommar festivities) rather than shuddered at it as a visceral horror. The Swedish probably have the right attitude toward the film, though I doubt the filmmakers share that attitude.

Not recommended, unless you want to see a second-rate Wicker Man.

The movie's religious implications are discussed in this article from Word on Fire.

 

Book Review: Vibrant Paradoxes by Robert Barron

Vibrant Paradoxes: The Both/And of Catholicism by Robert Barron

This collection of short essays (most are three or four pages long) is a good representation of Bishop Robert Barron's spiritual understanding. He is the main voice of Word on Fire, a Catholic organization dedicated to engaging the broader culture. The essays cover a wide range, from current events to literature and art in all its forms (music, painting, movies, etc.). He relates these bits of contemporary (and earlier) culture with the history and theology of the Catholic Church. The essays read like short homilies or brief editorials, explaining or introducing new perspectives on singular topics.

The book is divided into sets which focused on two items that do not immediately seem to go together or are historically seen as antithetical, like Sin and Mercy or Freedom and Discipline or the classic Reason and Faith. Barron shows through practical everyday examples how these disparate concepts are united in a faith-filled understanding of the real world and of God. His writing is delightfully straightforward and relatable. A reader can't get lost in technical jargon or arcane, overdrawn arguments. Barron takes complicated situations and makes them easier to understand or, at least, provides some insight into how an inscrutable situation can make sense. 

Recommended.

Book Review: To Light a Fire on the Earth by Robert Barron

To Light a Fire on the Earth: Proclaiming the Gospel in a Secular Age by Robert Barron with John L. Allen, Jr.

This book is based on a series of interviews conducted by journalist John Allen in 2016 right after Robert Barron, a priest of the Chicago archdiocese, became an auxiliary bishop in the Los Angeles archdiocese (he has subsequently been moved to be bishop of Winona-Rochester). After a chapter describing Barron's life, the book delves into his views about the Catholic faith and how best to communicate that faith to others. He explains the three transcendentals, the attributes that every thing has--truth, goodness, and beauty. For contemporary evangelization, our culture is put off by people claiming to have the truth or to put forth a moral code, so Barron advises starting with beauty. No one has ever been converted by arguments from canon law or by being told what to do. Beauty has a natural appeal that can open hearts and minds to further questions. While works of art like a Chartes Cathedral or Michelangelo's Pieta come first to mind, the heroic lives of contemporary saints like Oscar Romero or Mother Teresa have an appeal that begs for further investigation. The intellectual and moral imaginations are engaged, leading into a discussion of the true and the good. It's a foot in the door letting all the rest make it in.

Barron provides a lot of other insights to understand and proclaim the gospel, especially using new technology and the amazing variety of media available these days (YouTube, podcasts, etc.). Engaging the culture happens best where it is readily found. Using these tools goes hand-in-glove with his target audiences--lapsed Catholics, people with no religious affiliation (the "nones"), and the New Atheists (who have done quite a bit of their own evangelizing). He has gathered a small but growing group of clergy and lay people under the aegis of the Word on Fire. His goal is to bring more people to Christ and his method is to develop this cadre to engage the culture, maybe having centers in various big cities that draw like-minded people to pray together and work to present the faith to others.

The book is a fascinating look at Barron's ideas for the evangelization and for growing in faith.

Recommended.