Pensees: Burlesquing Theology

Burlesquing Theology

To burlesque is not only to treat ordinary material with mock dignity, but to artistically or literarily vulgarize (make common) dignified and high material for the sake of a cheap laugh. Too many otherwise sound blogs do this, I think. Pyromaniacs is a classic example of graphic drollery overkill. Frankly, I don’t see how anybody that is not a fan of Pyromaniacs can take them seriously. And I’m a fan. In the middle of a serious exposition of Scripture or analysis of a deadly error within the Church of Jesus Christ one’s sense of sobriety is assaulted by a cartoonish parody usually involving the ubiquitous Pyromaniacs label. One has to always parse between the slapstick and the serious.

To be somebody in the blogosphere, do we have to print mugs, t-shirts, and trinkets with our names on it? Grandma told me that fools’ names and fools’ faces were always seen in public places. That’s not Bible, nor is it always true. But one wonders why some bloggers have become crazed with their own slogans. TeamPyro is obsessed.

Dan Phillips has got to be one of the top contributors to the blog world of healthy articles that coincide with my own persuasion, but it is hard for one to take his theological missives seriously when one is not a fan since the article is emblazoned with his signature photo where he reveals his secret identity as a Pyromaniac by ripping open his shirt. One has to wonder if this isn’t more like the bowling team from the local pub with all the hype over their slogans, nicknames, and team graphics; the blogging form of Tim Allen-esque chest-beating and snorting.

I haven’t followed closely enough to know where “Coyote” disappeared to, but come on! Since when do we start giving ministers of the Word of God marketable monikers? When do we get to hear the new jingle?

It appears to the non-fans like gamesmanship. That’s the cold truth. I know because enough people have told me this that I no longer refer people to the site for support of an argument that I’m making. Gamesmanship about matters of doctrines that have split churches, turned homes upside down, divided families, and have consequences of such importance that agonized prayer and thought must be invested in the imbibing of them is simply unfunny. It is serious.

I just finished listening to John Piper’s address to the pastors at the Together for the Gospel Conference. This servant of God who has just gone through a brush with cancer and has obsessed himself with the glorification of God in this slaphappy culture heaped holy scorn and disdain on the American urge to be funny. People all over the world read these blogs and, having grown up in Europe, I know that almost everybody with a brain can enjoy parody, sarcasm, and humor. But hee-haw joviality and boyishness from grown Christian men is not all that palatable, especially when those same men clearly want their opinions on lofty themes to be respected.

Frankly TeamPyro doesn’t care what I think, as I don’t care what they think. But I regret that they are undermining their own usefulness by creating a carnival atmosphere around every doctrine. After you have seen the gladiatorial flogging – er – debate in the thread, rush over to the store and buy yourself a commemorative t-shirt. Maybe, just maybe, the Boar’s Head Tavern nemesis you have verbally decimated in cyberspace will be seen in real space. If that happens you want to be sure to have the Pyromaniac label on your beer mug so that he knows where you stand. Ooff. Ooff.

Good grief!

Does it honor Athanasius’ ministry and doctrine to sell a hoodie with his image on it and the words “Orthodox Gangsta?” Does it dignify the great truths of the Reformation to market “Reformation Police” t-shirts with the shaded agent shoving his badge in your face and demanding, “Baptism and Confession, please”?

You don’t know? Then settle for the “Charles Spurgeon is my Homeboy” shirt.

Does anyone really think it does the Doctrines of Grace any good to wear the “Reformation Police” shirt? Puhleeze. It certainly does not help those of us who constantly face the criticism of honest Christians who have come to believe that those of the reformed persuasion are arrogant and obnoxious. The fact that one may purchase a mug with their logo stamped on it may excite their loyal groupies, but it looks more like cheap gewgaw, fandangled frippery, the stuff of gypsy caravans. Next to the sober words of Charles Haddon Spurgeon or their own excellent commentaries (few have the skill to write for Joe Armchair Theologue like Phil Johnson) the incongruousness is as difficult to assimilate as the Macarena dance at a car wreck. Funny thing is many of these same people ridicule the trinkets and gadgets of the Christian bookstore.

Theological truths are not a game. But some blogs with huge readership need to decide whether they want to be a theological forum where humor is interspersed or a Christian circus. But it isn’t helpful to be a circus with theology in the center ring. Team Pyro wants to have credibility and I wish they did. But I don’t think that they realize that most serious thinkers who read their blog not only appreciate their helpful comments and sometimes brilliant insights, but roll their eyes with a “boys will be boys” resignation.

I’m all for humor. I love parody. Sarcasm is often good. Shock effect is effective. Provocative language is useful. I don’t mind the t-shirt with the logo either. But trivializing yourselves with trinkets and comicality while handling serious doctrine seems foolish to me.

Only fans take Pyromaniacs seriously.

That’s my opinion. And I’m a fan.

(And, by the way, there are no Pensées t-shirts for sale.)