redemption

Culture

Tree of Life, Book of Job

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Structured around a family (mother, father, three children) which suffers a terrible loss, The Tree of Life is an extended midrash, or commentary, on the Book of Job, a verse of which forms the epigraph to the film and which is sermonized upon during an extended scene at a church. At once essentially Catholic and doggedly scientific in its worldview, its central family becomes an archetype, undergoing processes of childlike wonderment, Oedipal lust and rage, the loss of innocence, the loss of faith, and finally, it seems, redemption.

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(A)theologies

Beyond Retribution: Bin Laden’s Death in its Cosmic Context

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At the root of our desire for retribution is the wish that those who have wronged us feel the full weight of what they have done, suffering remorse proportionate in severity to the gravity of their crime. In short, we hunger for their redemption. And so, when the retributive impulse is finally satisfied, it naturally resolves itself into forgiveness. The darkness is lifted, because the evil—the dissociation from the good that inspired the crime—has been destroyed.

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Culture

Michael Vick Walks on Water: Updated

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From his jaw-dropping 88-yard touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson in the first few minutes of the game to what would be a record-breaking performance overall—333 yards thrown, four touchdowns, and a 59-28 blowout against the Washington Redskins—it was Vick’s name that the sportscasters kept coming back to, with awe in their voices. But without the chance to play pro football again and to fill a stadium with wonder, Vick would have been just another celebrity ex-con, not the miracle he’s now judged to be.

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