A fitting halftime show for the first Super Bowl attended by a president — especially *this* president.
I’m curious about your thoughts regarding the He Gets Us commercial. It misused “Personal Jesus” (which I interpret as a criticism of Christendom, no matter how much I love the Johnny Cash cover), and there’s the obvious objection that spending upwards of $12 million on advertising doesn’t exactly align with Christian ethics, even if I appreciate that the ad seemed to take the MAGA movement’s concept of ‘greatness’ to task.
Hey Zach, yeah that ad is complicated for me, but I think I am ok with seeing it in a bit more straightforward way due to the idiocy and idolatry to which it is meant as a response. So, yes, lots of better ways to spend the money to help those in need, and yet given where we are as a society, I think finding ways to raise awareness to the vocal Christian opposition to what currently passes as "Christianity" (but is just Christian nationalism) is really important. Moreover, I do love the subtlety and yet confrontational antagonism regarding "greatness." As for the song, which I also find compelling as a challenge to Christendom, writ large), I actually think that it "can" be read in this context as a sort of appropriately secular conception of who Jesus is as a social reality. To "follow the way of Jesus" need not be theologically conceived within a pluralistic democracy, but instead can stand as a means of making sense of kindness and service as a public virtue. So, in that sense, the question is not so much the abstract "Who or What is God?" and might become more of a deliberative performance of democracy in action: "Will you model neighbor love where you are as a matter of being part of society?" If read that latter way, then I think becoming someone's "personal Jesus" might be a cool shorthand for interrogating the objectivist mode of discourse that so often ends up underwriting the interests of capital over humanity in its brokenness.
That makes sense. But if anything, the commercial may have been *too* subtle. And it came off as a little tone deaf to me shortly after Trump pulled funding for things like food, clean water, and basic healthcare that millions of folks around the world rely on. (Something the group behind the commercial couldn’t have known for certain in advance, to be fair.)
I like your interpretation of the song. I hear Johnny Cash’s cover of it as ironic (even if he didn’t intend it that way), and I considered that the commercial was using it ironically, but this isn’t the time for irony — unless, as Kierkegaard argues in Two Ages, enthusiasm becomes ironic in an age devoid of essential passion. You’re right, though: when we “[l]et Christ be Christ” (to quote Bonhoeffer), which means not adhering (too closely) to an objectivist, onto-theological conception of Christ’s being, we ‘show up’ as a personal, ethically incarnate Christ to the other — and the other ‘shows up’ as a personal, ethically incarnate Christ to us — by embodying neighbor love and “bearing each other’s burdens” to “fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
Sadly, the commentary was lost on so many. But what a performance. i have always like Kendrick's use of social commentary and his beats. The visuals as well. King level trolling having Serena Williams dance during Not Like Us (for those who don't know - Drake dated Serene).
It was the reminder that not all is what we see in the headlines and there is always hope somewhere. The fact that this was on Fox with all the Fox News ads and in front of the president is amazing to me. Just amazingly brilliant.
Interesting feeling watching the spectacle I have been told my entire life most represents what it is to be my American self and to see not even one person who looks like me…
A fitting halftime show for the first Super Bowl attended by a president — especially *this* president.
I’m curious about your thoughts regarding the He Gets Us commercial. It misused “Personal Jesus” (which I interpret as a criticism of Christendom, no matter how much I love the Johnny Cash cover), and there’s the obvious objection that spending upwards of $12 million on advertising doesn’t exactly align with Christian ethics, even if I appreciate that the ad seemed to take the MAGA movement’s concept of ‘greatness’ to task.
Hey Zach, yeah that ad is complicated for me, but I think I am ok with seeing it in a bit more straightforward way due to the idiocy and idolatry to which it is meant as a response. So, yes, lots of better ways to spend the money to help those in need, and yet given where we are as a society, I think finding ways to raise awareness to the vocal Christian opposition to what currently passes as "Christianity" (but is just Christian nationalism) is really important. Moreover, I do love the subtlety and yet confrontational antagonism regarding "greatness." As for the song, which I also find compelling as a challenge to Christendom, writ large), I actually think that it "can" be read in this context as a sort of appropriately secular conception of who Jesus is as a social reality. To "follow the way of Jesus" need not be theologically conceived within a pluralistic democracy, but instead can stand as a means of making sense of kindness and service as a public virtue. So, in that sense, the question is not so much the abstract "Who or What is God?" and might become more of a deliberative performance of democracy in action: "Will you model neighbor love where you are as a matter of being part of society?" If read that latter way, then I think becoming someone's "personal Jesus" might be a cool shorthand for interrogating the objectivist mode of discourse that so often ends up underwriting the interests of capital over humanity in its brokenness.
That makes sense. But if anything, the commercial may have been *too* subtle. And it came off as a little tone deaf to me shortly after Trump pulled funding for things like food, clean water, and basic healthcare that millions of folks around the world rely on. (Something the group behind the commercial couldn’t have known for certain in advance, to be fair.)
I like your interpretation of the song. I hear Johnny Cash’s cover of it as ironic (even if he didn’t intend it that way), and I considered that the commercial was using it ironically, but this isn’t the time for irony — unless, as Kierkegaard argues in Two Ages, enthusiasm becomes ironic in an age devoid of essential passion. You’re right, though: when we “[l]et Christ be Christ” (to quote Bonhoeffer), which means not adhering (too closely) to an objectivist, onto-theological conception of Christ’s being, we ‘show up’ as a personal, ethically incarnate Christ to the other — and the other ‘shows up’ as a personal, ethically incarnate Christ to us — by embodying neighbor love and “bearing each other’s burdens” to “fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
“Resolute openness” — entschlossenheit — thus becomes an ethico-religious virtue rather than merely a philosophical/phenomenological one.
Sadly, the commentary was lost on so many. But what a performance. i have always like Kendrick's use of social commentary and his beats. The visuals as well. King level trolling having Serena Williams dance during Not Like Us (for those who don't know - Drake dated Serene).
yes. so so so much happened in this few minutes. I will likely spend hours unpacking it in my classes for years to come!
It was the reminder that not all is what we see in the headlines and there is always hope somewhere. The fact that this was on Fox with all the Fox News ads and in front of the president is amazing to me. Just amazingly brilliant.
Interesting feeling watching the spectacle I have been told my entire life most represents what it is to be my American self and to see not even one person who looks like me…
Right. It is so important to remember that the "we" is always someone's "them."
And the entire stadium singing A-Minor was wow.
YESSSS
https://youtu.be/TgKsG6NZSIo?si=PCRsGbdUmBX2KjlC just in case someone needed to be told to watch this