Wednesday Theology Condensed: Language and Characteristics of the Format

"Part of the problem stems from the fact that language is not static. Language changes, grows, fluctuates, and evolves. Elizabeth Johnson says that 'words about God are cultural creatures.' God may not change, but our ways of speaking of God surely do. Particularly, as Christianity spread through the world its language adapted from Greek to Latin and onward to other languages. Few people, when they proclaim the name of Jesus, take the time to reflect on how nobody used that particular pronunciation of his name to refer to Jesus during the New Testament period. 'As cultures shift, so too does the specificity of God-talk,' says Johnson."

What does all this mean? If we are going to use graphic literature to talk about God, we need to know how the language of graphic literature works.

Ms. Marvel #1

A couple months ago Marvel announced a new Ms. Marvel title with the relaunched hero assuming the form of a teenage Muslim girl. The internet, as you can imagine, had some things to say about this matter. The decision was celebrated by many pining for more diversity in characters and creators in the comic book industry. Others, though, were not so fond of this development.

A pastor I follow on twitter expressed his displeasure with the idea of a Muslim superhero and snidely asked if Marvel even had any Christian superheroes. I, being who I am, replied in the affirmative and listed off a couple prominent Christian characters, such as Daredevil and Nightcrawler. Of course there was no reply to my comment. I assume he intended his snarky comment to be taken rhetorically. I can relate. I am often annoyed when people point out my wrongness when I'm trying to be clever.

But if you say something stupid on the internet about comic books and religion, don't be surprised if I call you out on it.