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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 1988)
Scorsese s god resembles director Gary Longsine’s editorial column (Daily Nebraskan, Nov. 11) main tains that “‘The Last Temptation of Christ' is the most sympathetic treat ment of Jesus of Nazareth ever r Imed.” I agree. Webster’s Dictionary defines sympathy as “having common feel ings.’Herein lies the problem. Direc tor Martin Scorsese has made a film which shows Christ with the feelings Scorsese would expect him to have, and in effect remakes God into Scorsese’s image. The original author of the book the movie is based on was a Greek, and was excommunicated from the Greek Orthodox Church for his efforts. For that author, the book was a very cul tural Greek interpretation of Christ. Classical Greek culture was filled with the ancient gods of mythology. The problem with the Greek gods is that they were loo human. They were merely glorified humans with all the human infallibilities And as a result, they were impotent to save humanity from the frailties with which die gods themselves were beset. “The Last Temptation of Christ" is merely an other attempt to define Christ in clas sical terms. In this sense the movie is a “sympathetic” treatment of Jesus, because he is given all of our feelings, feelings without basis in either the gospels or cxtra-Biblica! documents. Thus, modern man has no problem with a mixed-up martyr, as long as he dies on the cross w ith the victory of resurrection only a dim, unrealized future hope. This same theme can be seen in contemporary cinema. “Out of Africa” is an example. When I left the theater several years ago after watching that movie, I wondered how Meryl Streep’s pity parly would merit rave reviews. Then I realized that the I reviews revealed the classical bias of the reviewers, who were enamored of the “tragic hero” in the ancient Greek tradition.. The tragic hero of Greek thought was interwoven with a philosophical/ religious system. The Greeks be lieved that fate controlled their lives, and that there was no hope for salva tion. All dial was left for the tragic hero was to stand firm against fate, which would ultimately batter and overcome the hero. Scorsese has fash ioned Christ in a tragic hero mold without historical basis. There is a potential danger for all ol us to make a God who is just like us. But that is the essence of idolatry. In Alaska they make totem poles with the images of animals. These animals symbolize the character trails the people themselves value. So ulti mately, the people are merely using the animals as a means of worship ping themselves and their values. Scorsese has done the same thing. He has made a god who would act just like him. This god admits the devil lives inside him, admits he has a confused self-image, and plays the tragic hero w hile being able U> enjoy his sin through fantasy. Such a god is loo human to help with the human condition. Only the Chri.Ni of the Vir gin birth, the sinless life, the empty tomb, and now “ascended into heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father” is able to offer salvation both in this life and in the next. Dave Forman third-year law student B.A. in Theology Hoch’s remarks upset DN reader I am writing in response to Nancy Hoch’s remarks in the Daily Nebras kan (Nov. 14). Believe me, my fealh -- ers were more than a little ruffled. Thank you, Nancy. I’m so relieved to hear that “our football program has earned this kind of wonderful facil ity.” No w, don’t get me wrong—I am fully in favor of the West Stadium Completion Project, but I do have to say I’m a little sick and tired of hear ing how deserving the football pro gram is. And if that wasn’t enough, Hoch went on to say that “We should mirror that for our honors students.” Well excuse me for being down right mad. We non-honors students work damn hard at and for this univer sity, too, and its about time we get a little credit. I am tired of working hard to gel good grades, only to see some thing like this. I would appreciate it if Hoch would acknowledge the fact that there arc others of us at this university who work hard and spend a lot of money to make it what it is. Milissa D. Johnson sophomore English A complete i set of instructions for the firsttime smoker. I Don’t. I - The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others. Letters will be selected for publi cation on the basis of clarity, original ity, timeliness and space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit all material submitted. Readers also are welcome to sub mit material as guest opinions. Whether material should run as a let ter or guest opinion, or not to run, is left to the editor’s discretion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be considered for publication. Letters should include the author’s name, year in school, major and group affili ation, if any. Requests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit materia! to the Daily Ne braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. Imaginative, energized people, the kind who work for BNR (Bell-Northern Research). These are the professionals who will extend the boundaries of telecommunications and business communica tions technology the world over. Our research and development work has helped make Northern Telecom the world’s lead ing producer of fully digital telecommunications systems. And, our continuing work In the most advanced products and services for network switching, business communications, hardware technology and transmission is dedicated to maintaining this leadership position. 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