Below is a copy of an announcement sent to Father Orthoduck by Fr. Huw. Neither Father Orthoduck nor Fr. Huw agree with the viewpoint in the announcement, however, Father Orthoduck will be discussing this in the next day or so. It is important to note that the comic below is a secular reaction against a certain type of Christian theology, one that is not well regarded in many Christian circles, but one that is most popular in the United States, much less so outside the United States.
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SWORD OF MY MOUTH: Apocalyptic graphic novel about the tyranny of angels
Cory Doctorow at 6:36 AM May 17, 2010
Jim Munroe and Shannon Gerard’s Sword of My Mouth is sequel to Jim’s earlier Therefore, Repent!, a story about the tyranny and horrors visited upon the earth by the angels who come with the Rapture.
All of the pious souls have ascended, and the earth is in turmoil. The left-behinds fall into two camps: those who slaughter and enforce martial law for the angels, and those who join the resistance and fight against God’s tyranny.
Ella was abandoned in Detroit by her husband, who went to fight angels in Chicago. She is raising their son alone, and like many, he has been mutated by the wild magic of the rapture, making her the target of derision and fear by her neighbors. Driven from her home by a fire, she takes up refuge with urban farmers who are contending with a plot by Famine, the Horseman, to destroy humanity’s food supply and make them more dependent on the angels.
Munroe is a fantastic writer in many media (novels, games, films and comics), and his talents are ably matched by Gerard’s stellar illustrations, jagged line drawings that play with time-series and an expressivity of posture to convey emotion with unexpected punch.
Profane and wonderful, Sword of My Mouth and Therefore, Repent! are subversive, smart, and gripping.
It sounds like a brilliant idea, but I am hesitant to read something that is potentially a screed against “those Evangelicals.” It’s the same reason I tend not to join in the cheerleading against Catholics even though I am not Catholic. The truth is an attack on any one of those groups is potentially an attack against the faith in general.
I am sure that it is a screed, a rant, and a dis. I am not recommending that people read it. But, it gives Father Orthoduck the chance to discuss some theology.
We could dismiss the creative backlash from anti-Christian secularism that these books may represent as an enthralling but nevertheless strawman argument. But the truth is that a virulent strain of Dispensationalism is so real and pervasive in American evangelical Christianity is that the strawman fallacy isn’t so convenient a corner to paint this criticism into. Notwithstanding, I, too, get hesitant to toot the war horn against such a poor expression of Christianity because militant Secularism considers no strain of Christian faith a valid and reasonable human expression.