Tuesday, July 27, 2021

The coat of many colours

For our esteemed and valued secular readers, it might puzzle them what the to-do is wherein I took a set against Karl Jenkins’s Christology.  Within the Christian camp, so to speak, Bob wrote:
WOW! - Sorry for shouting Mr H. I noticed the word - "Adiemus" in the exercpt about Karl Jenkins. It reminded me of the theme to a series of animated Biblical Stories... Lo & Behold: 


The series was back in the 90s & was ( I seem to recall) superb. The Adiemus music fitted it perfectly & was very uplifting. Good grief. I need to do a bit of 'ferreting'. Thank you for this post Mr H. Stay Sane, Stay Sane. (sic)
The esteemed and valued secular reader might gaze on and wonder how on earth there could be any contretemps whatever over the theology when the music itself is much praised.  DR himself praised the music and regretted its non-inclusion.  Bob, his wife and DR are highly respected in my circle, I value them highly, so why on earth am I rocking the boat on this?

The grounds on which I am are these:


Ariadiamus late ariadiamus da
ari a natus late adua

A-ra-va-re tu-e va-te
a-ra-va-re tu-e va-te
a-ra-va-re tu-e va-te la-te-a

Ariadiamus late ariadiamus da
ari a natus late adua

A-ra-va-re tu-e va-te
a-ra-va-re tu-e va-te
a-ra-va-re tu-e va-te la-te-a

A-na-ma-na coo-le ra-we
a-na-ma-na coo-le ra
a-na-ma-na coo-le ra-we a-ka-la...
a-na-ma-na coo-le ra-we a-ka-la........
ah-ya-doo-ah-eh
a-na-ma-na coo-le ra-we a-ka-la.....
a-ya-doo-ah-eh...
a-ya doo a-ye
a-ya doo a-ye

Pray show me, gentle reader, the Christology in that.  And I straitly charge that Sir Karl also did this avoidance trick over and over … for a particular reason, for which he received his gong.  There was a religiosity to the music, such that gobbledegook lyrics could be overlaid and it was the juxtaposition of notes which carried one away, not any sort of Christology, which it emulated.  To placate the nervously shuffling Christian, just fling in the word Adiemus and that should do the job. 

There was no message of the redemptive power of Christ in there, just a vaguely Messianic feel to it all.

And of course, [trying my friendships even further], I submit that that was the whole intention, just as at a Masonic gathering - deeply sombre, vaulted ceilings, High Church, chessboard marble floor - but lacking the redemptive Christology of one crucified Jesus of Nazareth.

Critics can rightly charge me with avoidance of Christology at this site.  Yes. I can easily build a case against myself in that respect. 

“Good grief, man, it’s just a piece of music, it’s not meant to be religious, it’s just entertainment, all right, it’s beautiful!”

And my reply to that is, “Yes, yes it is.  Precisely.  It’s not meant to be remotely Holy, just spiritual in form, the actual message is irrelevant.”

“So, Mr. Higham, what precisely is your beef about a spiritual experience?”  [The theme to the Gladiator was equally vaguely ethereal and spiritual.]

And my reply is as before: “Yes indeed, a beautiful juxtaposition of notes and chord progressions … but pagan.  The other side.  Do you remember Saruman’s robe, it’s many colours, in what gave the appearance of the purity of white?  Yet lurking behind it was something altogether different to purity.”

In fact, I’m here treading the path of CS Lewis in his addressing of JRR Tolkien, his friend.

“But,” charge my critics on this matter, “it’s just something beautiful to give the secular, including children, some concept of spirituality, not unlike the game of cricket conveying a sense of eternity.”

And again: “Yes indeed.  And does it then lead the secular, including children, to any redemptive Holiness thereafter?”

It does not.  It leaves them right there in the cinema, at the Royal Albert or on the box, where a tear has come to one’s wife’s eye - yet it takes them no further.  It is offered as a complete and sufficient ‘Sunday Service’ in itself.  Weren’t that luvverly?

Thing is - it never ever will lead the godless, including children, to the majesty of a Lord who died on a Cross … for what?  In fact it, plus the Lord of the Rings trilogy as well, in which allegorical themes substitute for any Christology … it leads people to explore the world of elfin paganism, where all are cast as gentle, good creatures, not a nasty bone in the body.

In the minds of the writer and of the producer, the aim is to lead everywhere, anywhere, BUT to Christology. By Thor, anything to avoid that bloody Christian superstition!

And we see in schools just where children are being led today - we see what is touted as “good and sufficient”,  namely this vague, save the planet New Ageism, replete with child sex and designer drugs, a substitute for that which must not be named in this New Society.  Which was the charge not levelled by me but by that writer in the screenshot [in the first post on the matter] at the good Sir Karl.

That the august and much feted chap, beloved of the upper echelons of society, was leading the unsuspecting, including children, either nowhere - walking around in the soft forest clearing … in circles … or else to the inevitable oak grove … that is my charge.  There are those who know precisely that to which I allude.

At which my secular companion says, “Hey, lighten up, man, let’s go avv a pint.”

To which I say, “Why not?  Something to keep us sane, right?  Stay Sane.  Stay Sane. :)”  

[He shakes his head in pity.]  

Time to get up and have some brekky.  Have a lovely Tuesday, all.

1 comment:

  1. Once again I fear that a comment (of mine) may have misfired...?

    I agreed wholeheartedly with what you said in the 'original' post
    and what you add in this one.

    The use of "Good grief" was meant to express my dismay at how I (and
    others?) had been 'duped' by this 'touchy-feely' music...

    The "Stay Sane Stay Sane" - was a deliberate change from my usual 'Stay Safe...'
    as I think the 'sane' bit is of more importance to us at the mo, given that teh (plague) numbers are (apparently) coming down ...

    This interweb blogging thingy is no substitute for face to face conflabbing.
    The danger of being misunderstood is a constant problem.

    Keep The Faith Sir. They Will Not Divide Us. #REEEeeeh

    ReplyDelete

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