The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same

Jessica Ravitz at CNN has written an excellent piece about “new” expressions of Judaism coming out of Generation X and Y.  From tattoos in Hebrew Block Script to “He’Brew: the Chosen Beer” to a “Jewsploitation” (a la Blaxploitation) film, the progeny of the Baby Boomers are  doing a whole new thing; or, are they?  If any world religion knows how to chop,  screw, and remix their traditions, it’s Judaism.   At school, I came across a flyer from the local Hillel campus ministry, and it said something to the effect of “come do Jewish with us.”  Below this was a list of the ministry’s activities, including singing songs, attending synagogue, going to Israel, sharing meals, and going to Dodgers games.  What it means to “do Jewish” has always been in flux.  Judaism has consciously relocated its cultural center(s)  for thousands of years in an attempt to keep the faith alive. (And I mean this on a number of levels).  Even while doing this, there’s something at the heart of Jewish expression that threads through time and space.  Ravitz article provides a window into some of the latest expressions.  You’ll find links to them below.  In the meantime, you just have to love this picture:

Photo: Courtesy of http://baconjew.blogspot.com

Article:

http://us.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/10/28/new.and.emergent.jews/index.html

Video:

http://us.cnn.com/video/?/video/living/2009/10/30/dcl.ravitz.new.jews.cnn

Till Next Time,

R–

Apple’s Rejection of “Me So Holy”–The Thin Line Between Idol and Icon

If “buddy Christ” action figures and “Jesus is my homeboy” t-shirts haven’t made you rethink the boundary lines between the sacred and the profane, check out the “Me So Holy” iPhone application which you’ll have to see to believe.

With the widespread use of the iPhone and other devices, religion in the Web 2.0 world has helped tech savvy users enter into an ancient/future experience in some interesting ways and places.   Church shopping for some Christians is no longer a matter of geography as podcast services and sermons are becoming more widespread. It’s not just megachurches that are taking to  Skype-powered Bible studies, message board reflections, and blog devotionals.  iSalat calculates prayer times for Muslims as well as Qilba directions for prayer.  You can even download Bibles and tefilla.   And as religion, religious people, and their rituals takes shape in various spaces  <cyber-space, so-called sacred space, and even “not-so” sacred places> old questions are returning with a vengeance.  One such question is about the difference(s) between icon, idol, and image.

So Apple calls ‘Me So Holy’ objectionable material because it overlays the face of Jesus Christ with your own.  In some sense, this is ironic in regards to the Christian message.  Are Christians not to participate in imatio Christi?  What type of imitation is a sincere form of flattery and what type of imitation is sinful flagrance?  It should also be noted that many early Christian images were developed out of motifs and models of pagan art work <see Peter Brown’s The Clash of the Gods>, not to mention the similarities between the anthropology of Renaissance Christian and secular images.  All this to say, the lines between sacred and profane have always been blurry.  I wonder what criteria Apple used to draw a line in the sand and cast the first stone against “Me So Holy.”

Till next time,

R–