Having entered the Christmas season, we ask those who find the work of the Mystagogy Resource Center beneficial to them to help us continue our work with a generous financial gift as you are able. As an incentive, we are offering the following booklet.

In 1909 the German philosopher Arthur Drews wrote a book called "The Myth of Christ", which New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman has called "arguably the most influential mythicist book ever produced," arguing that Jesus Christ never existed and was simply a myth influenced by more ancient myths. The reason this book was so influential was because Vladimir Lenin read it and was convinced that Jesus never existed, thus justifying his actions in promoting atheism and suppressing the Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union. Moreover, the ideologues of the Third Reich would go on to implement the views of Drews to create a new "Aryan religion," viewing Jesus as an Aryan figure fighting against Jewish materialism. 

Due to the tremendous influence of this book in his time, George Florovsky viewed the arguments presented therein as very weak and easily refutable, which led him to write a refutation of this text which was published in Russian by the YMCA Press in Paris in 1929. This apologetic brochure titled "Did Christ Live? Historical Evidence of Christ" was one of the first texts of his published to promote his Neopatristic Synthesis, bringing the patristic heritage to modern historical and cultural conditions. With the revival of these views among some in our time, this text is as relevant today as it was when it was written. 

Never before published in English, it is now available for anyone who donates at least $20 to the Mystagogy Resource Center upon request (please specify in your donation that you want the book). Thank you.



January 23, 2010

Poll: Most Blasphemous Movie in Theatres


I have just posted a poll on the sidebar, something which I will do more and more in the future (suggestions welcome for topical subjects), which addresses the question as follows:

"What movie in theatres now with a religious theme is the most blasphemous?"

The choices are:

Avatar
The Lovely Bones
Legion
The Book of Eli
Sherlock Holmes
The White Ribbon
Creation

I have seen all of these movies except two - The White Ribbon and Creation. I hope to see both tomorrow or sometime this week. You can change your vote as you see them all, but voting ends on my birthday which is February 15th.

I was inspired to publish this poll because I have seen a theme of religious content in movies in theatres today, and some are good though others are horrible. This opens up the possibility of producing blasphemous content, as so far all of these movies posted have some sort of blasphemous content in my opinion, though some are not completely bad. Therefore, with the Oscars approaching (March 7th), I thought this was the most appropriate subject to produce a poll on.

My personal choice for most blasphemous movie is one I just saw a few hours ago in the theatre. It blows the other one's away by far in blasphemy that I have so far seen. My opinion may change when I see the two movies I have not seen, but for now the most blasphemous movie in theatres today is by far "Legion". It is so irredeemably blasphemous I just don't recommend watching it. But for those who have and those who are curious, this can be one of your choices.

After submitting your answer and would like to give your reason, I recommend you do so in the COMMENTS section on this post. I encourage it.
Labels: ,

BECOME A PATREON OR PAYPAL SUBSCRIBER


Patreon!