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Apologia Report 15:11 (1,016)
March 24, 2010
Subject: Are Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books edifying?
In this issue:
MORMONISM - can Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books, written "for LDS moms," be edifying for all?
PHILOSOPHY - the contributions of Alvin Plantinga to Christian apologetics
PORNOGRAPHY - online severity and solutions
THEISM - why "an immaterial personal creator with the omni-properties may reasonably be judged inadequate"
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MORMONISM
"Twilight's Vast Gleaming" by John Granger -- explains why someone who "writes for Mormon moms," as Stephenie Meyer does with her Twilight series, happens to find acceptance from such a wide swath of society, having sold upwards of 60 million books. Granger provides a "snapshot of the allegorical meaning of the series: a Harlequin [mass-market romantic fiction] version of Mormon ideas about God and man. Harold Bloom of Yale University once wrote that Joseph Smith, Jr., the LDS prophet and author of The Book of Mormon, is America's only religious genius. I agree."
The real surprise here is that Granger's back story tops all of
that. He is most interested in the how and why of this phenomenon. "One reason why bestselling books are such is that their plots create mythic experiences outside ourselves. ...
"I turn to Mircea Eliade's claim in The Sacred and the Profane [1]
that secular cultural entertainments, but especially reading, serve a mythic or religious function. ...
"If it is true that people read for religious experience, then
those books that have authentic religious content, whether sentimental or profound, will be the most popular. ... The reason that books such as Twilight and Harry Potter work is that they are postmodern epics about apotheosis or divinization through loving sacrifice. In other words, they are the secular equivalent of religious novels. ...
"The attachment and profundity that mark [the] reading of these
books are such that they want to know more about what caused this religious experience." And this is why Granger has authored numerous books that look at the Harry Potter phenomenon
<www.tinyurl.com/yacrjbj>. Granger explains: "C.S. Lewis once said that any book that doesn't get beneath your conscious understanding hasn't penetrated very deeply and doesn't stand much of a chance of having an influence."
In reference to the Mormon component of the Twilight series being seen as a negative influence, Granger says the concern "makes me skittish, no doubt because of post-Potter pandemonium syndrome. It was the question that Harry haters asked about the witchcraft in J.K. Rowling's books, and it caused them to miss the layer upon layer of Christian content and edifying meaning in Harry Potter that directly reflects the traditions of English fantasy literature.
"How about rephrasing the question? If you were to ask me whether the [Twilight] books are edifying, for example, I would answer that they are."
Granger explains all this and more in his new book Spotlight: A
Close-Up Look at the Artistry and Meaning of Stephenie Meyer's
Twilight Saga [2]. In it he stresses that he is "trying to demonstrate how good these books are, as well as how books should be read to reveal their worth." Granger also wrote the book to "explain how to read Meyer as a non-proselytizing Mormon artist, apostate, and apologist. I think this section will challenge conventional ways of reading books, and I hope that it will cause readers to reflect on how they understand not only books, but also themselves in the world." Salvo, Issue 11 - 2009, pp7-10.
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PHILOSOPHY
Alvin Plantinga and Christian Apologetics, by Keith A. Mascord [3] -- reviewer Joshua Seachris acknowledges that Plantinga's presence has "loomed large within the analytic philosophical tradition now for the last half century, and, humanly speaking, he shares a substantial part of the responsibility for the resurgence of Christian philosophy within the discipline. ...
"Those outside the discipline who desire a concise yet accurate
glimpse of the contemporary dialectic in those areas of philosophy
with which Plantinga is engaged would do well to consider this book. However, those without at least some background in philosophy, especially epistemology and philosophy of religion, will be at a disadvantage, though not an insurmountable one. ...
"Mascord's aim is to present and evaluate the philosophical
contributions of Plantinga within the content of Christian apologetics as construed both *negatively* (that is, broadly with the goal of rebutting challenges to Christian belief) and *positively* (broadly with the goal of offering positive evidence and argumentation in support of Christian belief). In service to this aim, he navigates a substantial portion of the philosophical territory relevant to the task of Christian apologetics where Plantinga's presence has been felt."
Speaking of the different philosophical and methodological schools of Christian apologetics, Seachris exclaims that "surely there is much dialogue to be had and progress to be made as we consider the philosophical and theological nuts and bolts of how we are to *contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.* ... Mascord helpfully nudges us in such a direction." Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology, 27:1 - 2009, pp110-112.
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PORNOGRAPHY
"Blindsided Kids" by Marcia Segelstein -- reports that "The average age of first exposure to internet porn is estimated to be 11. Among 15-to-17-year-olds, 80 percent have been exposed to hardcore pornography multiple times. ... There is evidence that much exposure is accidental, often happening in the course of doing homework."
In a book recommended by Segelstein, What's the Big Deal About Pornography? [4], Jill Manning writes that "young people who are exposed to pornographic images at a formative stage of their growth as sexual beings will often come to see sexuality as completely disconnected from relationships, and certainly from any spiritual context. ...
"[St]udies have indicated that during certain periods of childhood,
the brain undergoes a kind of programming for sexual orientation. It becomes 'hardwired' for what the person will be aroused by. So
exposure to unhealthy sexual norms in the form of pornography has the potential to permanently imprint sexual deviance on a child's brain. ...
"Today's pornography has become deviant, vile and graphic. Young people are witnessing rape, torture, and all kinds of degrading material." In describing the negative effects of pornography, Dr. Judith Reisman notes an "FBI study which found that nearly all serial rapist-murderers admit pornography as their major interest."
Dr. Ana Bridges, a psychologist at the University of Arkansas,
notes that "A study of 50 top-selling adult videos revealed the
prevalence of a theme: Women were overwhelmingly depicted as victims of aggression. And if that weren't enough, only a tiny percentage of those aggressive acts elicited a negative response from the victim."
Regarding the predatory nature of porn providers, "searches for 26 popular children's character names such as 'Pokemon' and 'My Little Pony' led to thousands of links to porn sites. Another survey
determined that approximately one quarter of pornographic websites use popular brand names, some of which are specifically aimed at children, such as 'Disney' and 'Barbie.' Another common practice is to use domain names similar to legitimate ones, even official government agencies" by targeting misspelled web address entries.
In suggesting ways to combat the problem, Segelstein recommends <www.enough.org> for parent safety-net resources. Salvo, Issue 9 - 2009, pp18-24.
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THEISM
"Towards a Religiously Adequate Alternative to OmniGod Theism" by John Bishop -- the abstract reads: "Theistic religious believers should be concerned that the God they worship is not an idol. Conceptions of God thus need to be judged according to criteria of religious adequacy that are implicit in the 'God-role' - that is, the way the concept of God properly functions in the conceptual economy and form of life of theistic believers. I argue that the conception of God as 'onmiGod' - an immaterial personal creator with the omni-properties - may reasonably be judged inadequate, at any rate from the perspective of a relationship ethics based on the Christian revelation that God is Love. I go on to suggest that a conception of God as the power of love within the natural universe might prove more adequate, with God's role as a creator understood in terms of final rather than efficient
causation." Sophia, 48:4 - 2009, pp419-433. <www.tinyurl.com/yf5t395>
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, by Mircea
Eliade (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987, paperback, 256 pages)
2 - Spotlight: A Close-Up Look at the Artistry and Meaning of
Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga, by John Granger (Zossima, 2010, paperback, 296 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/y97vb8w>
3 - Alvin Plantinga and Christian Apologetics, by Keith A Mascord
(Wipf & Stock, 2007, paperback, 233 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/cwrp95>
4 - What's the Big Deal About Pornography? A Guide for the Internet Generation, by Jill C. Manning (Shadow Mountain, 2008, paperback, 176 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/yh3wmny>
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