One God in American Culture: From Captain Kirk to Captain America

The 2011 Blockbuster hit, The Avengers, caused a little controversy when Captain America says, “There’s only one God, ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.” This line comes when a character suggests the Captain sit out a fight between Thor and Loki, Nordic gods revealed to be powerful beings from another dimension.

In today’s America, such a statement is indeed scandalous. It is the height of arrogance, it is supposed, to assert any kind of transcendent truth claim about spiritual things, especially concerning God. Yet in Captain America’s 1940s, it was rather unremarkable for someone to make such a claim. Even near the end of the 1960s the rather progressive and somewhat liberal television show Star Trek makes a similar statement: 

Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate.

—Captain Kirk, Star Trek Season 2, “Who Mourns for Adonais?”

In that story, Captain Kirk happens upon the god Apollo, revealed to be a powerful space being who visited earth thousands of years ago and was worshipped by the Greeks. When Apollo demands Kirk’s devotion, he rebuffs him with the statement above. It was likely more of a reflection of the 1960s culture than the personal convictions of the network or William Shatner.

Culture changes. The Roman Empire was largely opposed to Christianity until the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century. With the fall of Rome came new opposition in some areas where it had been embraced. Times change, but the Church should not change, at least, not where it concerns the gospel. Whether the culture loves us, hates us, or something in between, we should always be prepared to testify of the gospel of God’s grace.

Book Review: The Kingdom

The Kingdom. By Bryan Litfin. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books. pp. 448. 2012. ($15.99 Print)

**As of June 16, 2012, the entire trilogy (The Sword, The Gift, and The Kingdom) are available for preorder on Amazon.com for $19.59.**

««««« Five Stars

The Kingdom is Bryan Litfin’s conclusion to the Chiveis Trilogy. In these books, Europe has reverted to a somewhat medieval existence hundreds of years after wars and disasters reduced humanity to almost nothing and most of our advanced technologies have been forgotten. The kingdom of Chiveis, rising from the ashes of a lost civilization, has become closed off from the outside world and is ruled by a king under the strong-armed influence of a pagan priestess. It is in this environment that a young soldier discovers a long-forgotten book about a long-forgotten God.

The Kingdom is the longest of the three books, and for good reason: Litfin takes the reader from the Roma (Rome) to Marsay (Marseille), Jineve (Geneva) Sessalay (Sicily), and back to Chiveis for a climactic battle between the pagan forces loyal to the wicked high priestess and the Christiani willing to stop an evil empire from wiping out all knowledge of God from the Mediterranean world.

The book is full of swordplay, romance, and intrigue. It is wholly medieval, yet with vestiges of a long lost world that was once our own. Litfin gives readers a new experience in an old world, something fantastic filling the gap between the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings, with a decidedly Christian plot and message. Imagine if the world was discovering the message of the Bible for the first time. How would they preach a unified gospel message? How would they organize themselves?

One thing I’ve noticed about great books is the idea of expansion, either through back story or new locations. Tolkein and Lewis did it, and even George Lucas did it with Star Wars. Ever since picking up The Sword, I’ve imagined what kind of stories could be told about the lands beyond Chiveis. Each book further expands on locations and people, adding to the mythos. I’ve been somewhat sad about seeing a conclusion to the trilogy, but Litfin has left the door open for further sequels. He’s sold me on them already. Let’s hope there are more journeys into the Beyond in the future.

I requested this book from the publisher for purposes of review.

The Kindle Touch and a Taste of Fiction

My wife did the unthinkable and got me a Kindle Touch for Christmas. Everyone in my family knows that I like to have my laptop with me wherever I go. In fact, I made a point of not touching my laptop over Christmas vacation, which they all noticed and commented on. I need a few more fences in place before I ever get a smart phone or tablet.

My wife caved in and got me a Kindle Touch because it is a lot cheaper than a tablet, has limited use as an internet device, and is primarily dedicated to reading. I now use it for my daily Bible reading, reading books for review, and studying the Gospel of Mark for an upcoming class I’m teaching.

Fortunately, my wife doesn’t believe I’m spending too much time on the device. I’ve been reading more, that’s true, but she doesn’t find that to be a problem, and I’ve actually been doing more with her like playing card games and making her a fan of the show M.A.S.H.

If you don’t own an ereader, I think it’s a worthwhile investment. Although you can find a lot of cheap ones out there, I couldn’t recommend anything but a Kindle or Nook device. The Kindle and Nook stores are the ones with content, and that’s what you want with an ereader.

Crossway currently has a deal (but not for much longer) on all their ebooks in formats that work on both the Kindle and Nook devices. I highly recommend the fiction book The Sword, and its sequel, The Gift. They form part of the Chiveis trilogy (the third book, The Kingdom, comes out June 30). In the story Europe has reverted to a somewhat medieval existence hundreds of years after wars and disasters reduced humanity to almost nothing and most of our advanced technologies have been forgotten. The kingdom of Chiveis, rising from the ashes of a lost civilization, has become closed off from the outside world and is ruled by a king under the strong-armed influence of a pagan priestess. It is in this environment that a young soldier discovers a long-forgotten book about a long-forgotten God. If you liked the Chronicles of Narnia as a kid, you’ll probably like the Chiveis trilogy at a teenager/adult.