Monday, January 16, 2012

A Great Poem, and a Good Critique

This poem by Jefferson Bethke has gone viral on youtube. Over 12 million have viewed it. It's on the difference between Jesus and religion.


It's very good. Have a look at it. If you're a Christian you'll probably agree with his sentiments. And if you're not a Christian, you'll probably by sympathetic with his critique of "religion."

Of course, poems paint with broad strokes. They are intended to evoke an emotion or two and elicit some kind of gut response. They are not usually intended to be sliced and diced at the most minute level. So we need to be careful not to make too much of them--"to make them walk on all fours," as one of my professors put it.

Still, at risk of engaging in a little "conservative over-analysis and reaction," I think Kevin DeYoung does a [generally] helpful job of digging a little bit deeper in his exploration of the poem:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2012/01/13/does-jesus-hate-religion-kinda-sorta-not-really/