Sweet Spots

The Man Who Invented Christmas

Film 2017

–Review by Jesse Caldwell

     “The Man Who Invented Christmas,” a film about how Charles Dickens created his brilliant chef-d’oeuvre, “A Christmas Carol,” is one of those movies that I wound up loving even more than I hoped. Based on a novel by Les Standiford, Director Bharat Nalluri’s motion picture is a masterfully written, acted, and edited story of how Dickens, and ultimately his world, were “abducted” into the world of his story, and in doing so, how that story transformed the way the world celebrated Christmas.

       When we meet the beloved and successful British novelist Dickens in 1843, he is suffering from several failed books and a mountain of debt. Financially and artistically, he cannot afford another flop. This, of course, leads to even more pressure, resulting in a writer’s block. Like a good preacher, though, he begins to see and hear little things we preachers listen to in the ordinary flow of life that birth the ideas of our sermons, and in his case, of his story: overhearing his chamber maid telling his children a Christmas tale involving ghosts; the cruel and selfish condemnation of the poor by the husband of an admirer; the miserable funeral of a greedy old rich man attended by only two people; stray comments and odd scenes from people on the street; the precious, endearing ways of his crippled little nephew. These ideas swirl around in his head in a maddening, frenzied whirlwind, until the characters of the book veritably come alive in his mind, most notably, of course, Ebenezer Scrooge, beautifully played by Christopher Plummer. The players are assembled but have no script. This cinematic jewel shows us how they not only got their lines but how they become real people, and abduct us into their world. read more…

The Forgotten Jesus: How Western Christians Should Follow An Eastern Rabbi

Robby Gallaty

–Review by Landrum P. Leavell III, ThD.

          Almost ten years ago, Kenneth Bailey blessed us with Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies In the Gospels. Robby Gallaty has added another helpful reminder that despite our cultural myopia, “Jesus was a Jewish man, living in a Jewish land, observing Jewish customs, investing His life in Jewish men and women.” In studying the Bible, many Christians have never learned some of the fascinating Hebraic cultural customs and Jewish idioms and how they affect our understanding of the Bible, which in turn deepens our experience with God and our love for Jesus.

          Gallaty states quite simply that he wants to take us on a journey to rediscover the Jewish Jesus of the first century. Though the vast majority of the current biblio-ecosystem addresses Jesus in this current culture, we often forget that everything Jesus did was “patently Jewish.” D. Thomas Lancaster said, “Any attempt at church reformation—any attempt to return to the original New Testament church—falls short as long as it refuses to acknowledge the essential Jewishness of our faith.” read more…