Wednesday, November 27, 2019

HBO Series Watchmen - A Compendium of Everything: Season 1


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Let's take a brief break from daily life and consider all we know, have interacted with over our lifetimes, and perhaps even discussed here at Relevancy22. The HBO series Watchmen might be the perfect time to consider where we are, have been, and might be going in the Age of Pluralism, Disruption, and Imagination.

R.E. Slater
November 27, 2019

* * * * * * * * * * 


Damon Lindelof has created a new series that is much less complicated than his blockbuster TV show LOST that I enjoyed so very much but promises to be every bit as fun and perplexing. Expect some violence as the 1986 comic series it is based off was quite violent as was the 2009 movie as they seem to be asking the question,

“Does violence beget violence or is it a necessary evil used to survive?”

Context is everything. And for a writer, an artist, or even a film producer, having context that has matured with perspective allows the subject matter to be formed (or re-formed) into a more beneficial mode of discussion for societies struggling with confusion, doubt, and fear. All infamous hallmarks, I might add, under the "golden age" of Trumpism.

Having not read any of the 12-part comic series (completed between 1986-87) but having recently watched the 2009 movie series Watchmen for helpful context, I am finding HBO’s Watchmen series a great understatement to approaching the questions American society has been struggling with. Questions such as whether black lives matter (they do!). Or, whether domestic policing can be racist (they can be!). Or, whether our allegiance to Flag and Country can be rightfully questioned against a nationalised patriotism that doesn't recognise the Constitutional rights of all elements of its society (it must be!). Even so, I suspect Damon Lindelhof of twisting the elements of this most modern and yet oldest of tales to address these politic factors of human justice and individual psyche in a way which might help any constitutionally constructed postmodern society in facing up to failures and opportunities for redressing those failures in constructive fashion.

For myself, I fell into Watchmen without any idea of what it was about, who wrote it, or what it was attempting to say. It was an act of happenstance which caught my attention as it addressed issues such as white supremacy, the struggle of human rights over technocratic democracies moving towards soulless consumerism, to corporate governance over the rightful public governance of government, and so forth. I also had read not long ago of the Tulsa, Oklahoma, murders of the 1920s when noticing that the Watchmen rightfully started with this  event based on the actual history of the harm done to 900 black residents of Tulsa of whom 100 were murdered and the other 800 suffering injuries and lost of all property to racist neighbors. When I next discovered Damon Lindelof’s name attached to the series I immediately knew it would be starkly different from the older comic series or the movie by the same name. At that point I was interested and motivated to give it a deeper look as if looking in the mirror of self-reflection asking rightful questions of meaning, purpose and identity.

So here we go, Easter eggs and all. Enjoy!

R.E. Slater
November 27, 2019


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INTRODUCTION - "The Backstory to the Backstory to the Beginning"


HBO Series Trailer


Before watching HBO’s Watchmen here’s what you should know about the comic...


DC COMICS 1986-87 LIMITED SERIES
Wikipedia:


The History of the Watchmen


Did Dr. Manhattan Create the DC Universe?



THE 2009 WATCHMEN FILM
Wikipedia:


2009 Watchmen Movie based upon 1986 Comic
"The backstory to HBO’s Watchmen Series"

Note: Having recently watched this film I found it immediately
helpful to Lindelof's newer story line. Having first watched the
first six episodes of HBO's new series the movie repeated all
that I already knew but still provided a better foundation than
not having watched it at all. - res


Watchmen (2009) Official Trailer


2009 Watchmen - Ten Years Later


Watchmen Film vs Comic Series - 
What’s the Difference?



2019 HBO's WATCHMEN SERIES
Wikipedia:


HBO Watchmen Promo
Trailer





Wikipedia - Racism in America -


The larger context I believe is the struggle we all have with accepting others different from ourselves. In a  word, its known as pluralismBelow is a helpful video that I  loved providing  the contextual framing needed in understanding how pluralism must now become a socio-evolutionary attitude and behavior in human development in order  for large civilizations to peacefully live with one another. - res


08 Pluralism & Society


Trolling White America - https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a29565670/watchmen-hbo-backlash-controversy-white-supremacy/

GZ0 - https://io9.gizmodo.com/hbos-watchmen-wants-to-dig-into-the-heart-of-american-r-1838914665




EPISODE 1 - "IT's SUMMER AND WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF ICE"


Oklahoma, “Pore Jud Is Daid”


Watchmen Promo Episode 1



Review of Episode 1 by Digital Trends (DT1) -

Tulsa's Black Wall Street massacre



The Tulsa Race Massacre; Then and now.


Buzztox1 (BT1)


Breakdown & Easter Eggs Video 1




EPISODE 2 - "MARTIAL FEATS OF COMANCHE HORSEMANSHIP"

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George Catlin, Comanche Feats of Horsemanship, 1834-1835, oil on canvas,
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.487

Watchmen Promo Episode 2




Breakdown & Easter Eggs Video 2




EPISODE 3 - "SHE WAS KILLED BY SPACE JUNK"

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Image result for millennium clock watchmen hd


Watchmen Promo Episode 3





Watchmen Jeremy Irons Interview



Side Note: I found this interview intriguing as Jeremy considered his role as an
actor within the series as well as his career as an actor speaking to the many
masks he has worn personally, professionally, and within himself. I counted
five layers within this complex individual. - res


Breakdown & Easter Eggs Video 3




EPISODE 4 - "IF YOU DON'T LIKE MY STORY, WRITE YOUR OWN"

Image result for if you don't like my story write your own hd


Watchmen Promo Episode 4


"I'd like to ride storms,
kill sharks in the open sea,
drive out the aggressors,
reconquer the [my] country,
undo the ties of serfdom,
and never bend my back
to be the concubine
of whatever man."

-  Lady Triệu


Ba trieu cuoi voi.jpg


Lady Triệu (Vietnamese: Bà Triệu, Sino-Vietnamese: 趙嫗 Triệu Ẩu; 225–248) was a female warrior in 3rd century Vietnam who managed, for a time, to resist the Chinese state of Eastern Wu during its occupation of Vietnam. She is also called Triệu Thị Trinh, although her actual given name is unknown. She is quoted as saying, "I'd like to ride storms, kill sharks in the open sea, drive out the aggressors, reconquer the country, undo the ties of serfdom, and never bend my back to be the concubine of whatever man."[1][2] She has also been called the Vietnamese Joan of Arc.




Breakdown & Easter Eggs Video 4






EPISODE 5 - "LITTLE FEAR OF LIGHTENING"

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Watchmen Promo Episode 5





Breakdown & Easter Eggs Video 5




EPISODE 6 - "THIS EXTRAORDINARY BEING"

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Image result for watchmen this extraordinary being breaking through window of grocery store hd


Watchmen Promo Episode 6


Breakdown & Easter Eggs Video 6




EPISODE 7 - "An Almost Religious Awe"


Watchmen Promo Episode 7


Related image
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"








Breakdown & Easter Eggs Video 7










EPISODE 8 - "A God Walk into a Bar"


Watchmen Promo Episode 8





Breakdown & Easter Eggs Video 8

















EPISODE 9 - "See How They Fly"


Watchmen Promo Episode 9




SEASON WRAP UP


Collider's Interview with Damon Lindelof


Watchmen's Damon Lindelof goes
Comic Book Shopping



The Original Comic Series Watchmen Explained



How Watchmen Broke Alan Moore



Alan Moore talks to John Higgs
about the 20th Century




Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Reflections on Christianity for 2019




Here are my several reflections on Christianity for 2019.


First, I would like to see an updated form of inaugurated eschatology ala Oscar Cullman focused on Christ's presence in this life and throughout all humanity. But without the need for predicated end time schemes.

More specifically, I would like to write of the relentless Spirit of God reaching into humanity's willful struggle with sin and evil that through a process described in the bible as a process of salvation-history, God's  work of atoning redemption might be extended to its fullest affects into humanity's existence. That is, should it be possible before mankind brings itself to a point of extermination commonly termed by biblicists as Armageddon. Which surely will occur if the church doesn't get its act together and learn to love all sinners, serve all sinners, and include all sinners at the tables of Christ.

In attempting this, I would also like to remove all popular end time schematas which reinforce in the church the furtility of being present in a sinful world as it awaits divine judgment. Surely it will if the Spirit cannot empower His faithful to act and work in the place of Jesus. As such, I would like to recast eschatological pessimism with eschatological hope by building on the more contemporary themes of a truly open and relational theology using process theology as its philosophical basis.

By this I mean to rid the bible of its perceived Calvinistic themes of a dipolar God who is actively judging and controlling all lives to a most dreadful end reserved for all who are not predestined or elected to eternal life. This is the crudest, most heinous interpretation of a loving God who seeks all mankind to be at peace through salvation provided in Christ. Though I do not chose the idea of Universalism, I do chose the idea of spiritual responsibility. And in that responsibility to allow all humanity to come to God's outreaching call on every level possible, made possible by Jesus' atoning sacrifice who brings healing and wholeness to all who come to God in their own way.

Connected to that thought is the healing which comes to all communities and nations of the world should they learn to love one another with Jesus' love that wars and hatreds would cease, oppression and cruelty end, that peace and goodwill to all become the operative ethic of the world. Open and Relational Theology is just such a vehicle to urge both church and mankind more favorably forward towards enacting the love of God brought to this world in Christ. It demands we do not wait to die and go to heaven but to be willfully resolved to bring heaven here on earth across all relations, distinctions, disagreements, divisions, and mistrust.

And with this idea to perceive God as the whisper on the wind; the many-hued spectra of light; the silence which runs underneath the noise of creation. Whose divine sovereignty is both weak and strong and built upon the cornerstones of love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, and sacrificial service to the other.

In a sense, many articles housed within this website move along these lines of thought but they all could be written again with a stronger voice underlaid with the foundation of process theology and then across all systematic doctrines, creeds, and traditions of church beliefs. For me, this perception cries out to me that God is there. He is with us. He never will abandon us. That His love is the healing balm we all need in every aspect of our life despite the distracting, if not deceptive, noise of many other beliefs, creeds, and doctrines shouting hate, judgment, oppression, malice, and injustice. This god I do not recognize and will not follow. It is a god made in man's image. An image fallen and depraved. But the God of love is the one I chose best to follow, to re-imagine, and share with those around me.

R.E. Slater
November 12, 2019
Edited March 30,2020



Addendum

Below are several of my old seminary books that served among many others as a basis when looking at The Relationship Between the Testaments. To the 200 page treatise I wrote on systematic theology I also wrote a 17 page summary of the major themes found across the bible. At the time I decided there were twelve such themes under the following subheadings:

  • Two Testaments: One Bible, by D.L. Baker 
  • The Christ of the Covenants, by O. Palmer Robertson 
  • Millennialism, by Charles Feinberg 
  • Remnant Theology, by Gerhard F. Hasel
  • The Presence of the Future by George Eldon Ladd
  • Toward an OT Theology, by Walter C. Kaiser
  • The Messianic Hope, by Charles Augustus Briggs
  • Gospel and Law: Contrast or Continuum, by Daniel P. Fuller
  • Israel and the Church, by Carl B. Hoch
  • Christ and Time, by Oscar Cullmann
  • God's Design: A Focus on OT Theology, by Elmer A. Martens
  • OT and NT Theology: Basic Issues in Current Debate, by Gerhard F. Hasel

These subheadings I might today re-structure into the more general categories:


Subject                Description                                                          Theology               
Revelation           One God: Different Cultural Meanings                Hermenuetics
Salvation              The God of Redemption                                       Redemption
Eschatology         The God of Healing & Wholeness                       Promise
Missional             God's People Who Speak & Act                          Message/Ethics
Relational            The Presence of God                                            Presence
Knowledge          Themes of Continuity & Discontinuity                   Meaning
Christology          The God of Hope                                                   Hope
Holy Spirit           The God of Grace & Mercy                                    Love
Community          The Fellowship of the People of God                    Fellowship
Process               God in Creation's Re-Creation                             Assurance
Teleology            God in Process                                                     Means, Methods & Mode
Apology              God in Discussion                                                 Examination

Overall God has placed creation in relationship with humanity and vice versa. Through this medium of timeful existence the bible shares God's promises through covenant, Messianic event, narrative themes related to sin and salvation, various salvific motifs of salvation-history, and revelatory word.

At the time it seemed all so clear to this young theolog but move forward nearly 35 years hence and I have more questions than answers, criticisms than solutions, reflections than assurances, and urgency than indifference.

For now I have but one simple thought which drives both my faith and my faithfulness and that is "Christ and Christ alone" centered absolutely, positively, 100%, in the "Love of God". When I read the bible, write, preach, teach, act, behave, whatever... all must reflect Jesus as God's mid-point of salvific history and its meaning for us today.

It is Jesus who will deliver this world back to God whole and at peace. And it is our responsibility to obey. Whether we destroy ourselves in the process or whether we repent to work together to make Jesus' gift at once and at one with God, this alone is our mission. Christ, and Christ alone.

R.E. Slater
November 13, 2019
Edited March 20, 2020





Oscar Cullmann

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Oscar Cullmann
Born25 February 1902
Strasbourg
Died16 January 1999 (aged 96)
Chamonix
Known forChristian theologian
Academic background
Alma materStrasbourg seminary
Academic work
DisciplineChristian eschatology and Christology
InstitutionsBasel Reformed Seminary, Sorbonne - Paris
InfluencedJohn Howard Yoder[1]
Oscar Cullmann (25 February 1902, Strasbourg – 16 January 1999, Chamonix) was a Lutheran theologian. He is best known for his work in the ecumenical movement and was partly responsible for the establishment of dialogue between the Lutheran and Roman Catholic traditions. Because of his intense ecumenical work, Cullmann's Basel colleague Karl Barth joked with him that his tombstone would bear the inscription "advisor to three popes."[2]

Biography[edit]

Cullmann was born in Strasbourg (then in Germany) and studied classical philology and theology at the seminary there. In 1926, he accepted an assistant professorship, a position previously held by Albert Schweitzer.
In 1930, he was awarded a full professorship of New Testament. From 1936, he also taught the history of the early church. In 1938, he began teaching both subjects at Basel Reformed Seminary. In 1948 Cullmann accepted a position teaching theology in Paris at the Sorbonne while he continued at Basel. He retired from both in 1972.
He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1960.[3]
He was invited to be an observer at the Second Vatican Council.[2]
Upon his death at 96, the World Council of Churches issued a special tribute to Cullmann to honour his ecumenical work.

Theology[edit]

Cullmann's studies on Christian eschatology and Christology drove him to propose a third position over against the popular positions of C. H. Dodd and Albert Schweitzer, known as "redemptive history" or "inaugurated eschatology". He wrote that Jesus Christ was the midpoint of sacred history, which informs general history and runs linearly from creation to consummation.[2] He stressed the objective reality of sacred history against the existentialist interpretation of Rudolf Bultmann, a fellow German theologian. Cullmann suggested the analogy of D-Day and VE-Day to illustrate the relationship between Jesus' death and resurrection on the one hand, and his parousia on the other.[4]

Selected works[edit]

Among Cullmann's important works are:
  • Cullmann, Oscar (1950). Baptism in the New Testament (trans. of Die Tauflehre des Neuen Testaments: Erwachsenen- und Kindertaufe). Studies in Biblical Theology. 1. London: SCM Press. ISBN 9780334000686OCLC 13521948. - (trans from the Zürich: Zwingli-Verlag, 1948 1st edition).
  • ——— (1951). Christ and Time: the primitive Christian conception of time and history (trans. of Christus und die Zeit: die urchristliche Zeit- und Geschichtsauffassung. London: SCM Press. OCLC 603792847. - (trans from the Zollikon-Zürich: Evangelischer Verlag a. g., 1946 1st edition).
  • ——— (1953). Early Christian Worship (trans. for Urchristentum und Gottesdienst). Studies in Biblical Theology. 10. London: SCM Press. ISBN 9780334003533OCLC 391942. - (trans from the Basel & Zürich, 1944 1st edition).
  • ——— (1953). Peter: Disciple, Apostle and Martyr (trans. of Petrus, Jünger, Apostel, Martyrer: das historische und das theologische Petrus-problem. London: SCM Press. OCLC 603801281. - (trans from the Zürich : Zwingli, 1952 1st edition).
  • ——— (1958). Immortality of the Soul; or, Resurrection of the dead?: the witness of the New Testament. Ingersoll Lecture, 1955. London: Epworth. OCLC 9538428.[5]
  • ——— (1959). The Christology of the New Testament (trans. of Die Christologie des Neuen Testaments). London: SCM Press. OCLC 301386195. - (trans from the Kampen: Kok, 1911 1st edition).
  • ——— (1965). Salvation in History (trans. of Heil als Geschichte: heilsgeschichtliche Existenz im Neuen Testament. New Testament Library. London: SCM Press. ISBN 9780334015598OCLC 17518219. - (trans from the Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1965 1st edition).