Naming the problem in Africa

What role does sin have as an explanation for world affairs? Back in 2003, CASE held a seminar with UK theologian, Alistair McFadyen, where he argued that the doctrine of sin has the most explanatory power in the two particular situations of child abuse and the Holocaust—it makes more sense of the facts than any other explanation.
Now, in this week’s Guardian Weekly, a Sierre Leone filmmaker, Sorious Samura, says as much to explain AIDS in Africa, without using the s-word.
“The things I said in Living With AIDS [his recent film documentary] about the African male’s sexuality are things that no white journalist can say”, he is recorded to say. In explaining why Africa is trapped in an epidemic, he says, “We should turn around and say this is happening because people are bad to the bone, people are greedy, people are selfish, people are corrupt”.
It’s personal and social sin, the two intertwined and no doubt causing each other, too. Surely the beginnings of a solution in Africa must be to deal with the problem of sin.

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Best Joves

Finally, we discover the secret society behind it all... (thanks, Byron)

Deadly vices and Narnian ransoms

Following up on our C.S.Lewis Today conference, I'm doing some reading on Lewis and atonement. The question has always been whether Lewis continues the view of Origen (3rd C) that Jesus' death was a ransom paid to Satan. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan is a ransom, presumably to the White Witch, to pay the penalty for Edmund's rebellion (they call it the Deep Magic).

There's an interesting essay on this in The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy. The authors defend the Ransom theory, saying it is less offensive when Satan is viewed not as a person, but as pseudo-personal (like a mutant?). N.T.Wright says something similar here. It also helps if God and Satan aren't considered to be 'doing a deal', like business colleagues. I'm still pondering all this.

In this same essay, the writers speak of sinning as a loss of freedom, becoming "a slave to booze, sex or eBay". I love the way eBay has replaced rock and roll in this triumvirate of vices!

Fave Da Vinci film quotes

What are your favourite quotes from the Da Vinci Code film?
Here's mine:

1. Robert Langdon: "I have to get to a library...fast!"

2. Sophie to Robert: “Do you have eidetic memory?”
Robert: “Not quite…but I can remember what I see”

Please add to the list!


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