I am sure you get this all the time Dematteis, but... Do Blue Beetle and Booster Gold pull a Alan Shore and Denny Crane, and have sleepovers in the back of the bug? You know, where they roast marshmallows, and tell ghost stores, and Ted gets incredibly embarrassed that the rest of the league will find out
You know Dematteis, if you were smart, you would go to Marvel and pitch a New Frontier style story that takes place throughout the 70s. THEN, tell them you will need to do research. Reacquaint yourself woth the style, so you will have to reread the comics. Probably listen to some albums, and watch some movies of the era to…just to get the real. Probably have to rexread the Stan-Jack-Romita-Buscema stuff, just so you remember where is was coming out of.
Then, you would have scammed Marvel into paying you to read old comics and way bold movies.
And /or
Start making pitches like, “I was thinking about doing and 80s Daredevil. Really capture the city as I knew it, but I’ll AP have to meet up with a Ann so it gels.”
Maybe, “how about for this Spiderxverse movie, I do a team up where out Spidey meets Spider-girl. Of course….I would probably have several meetings with Mr. defalco.”
Perhaps even, “Great idea! A Chinatown meets Hammer films meets Shaft Blade story. Set in the 70s! Right in time for Halloween! Of course, we will need authenticity. I”ll have to speak with Maev.
Or if they come to you to do a Spidey book, “Great idea! A story during my Spectacular run! But… Sal was a big part of the creation, I may need to spend a week append with him, get the juices flowing.”
Then you are pretty much getting paid to hangout with your friends.
See, who else would give you advice on how to defraud a multi-billion dollar company.
But, seriously, one of the part of the job that still delights me is the fact that I often HAVE to read old comics, or watch cartoons, as research. My ten-year-old self wouldn't believe it!
Well then Dematteis, maybe it is time to pitch the. Dream project you are always talking about (I assume), the Kolchak teams up with Number Six from The Priosner.
Or a radio team up where The Green Hornet encounters Jack Benny. Or he encounters…Dimension X.
Juat pick a series, book, or interpretive dance you want to revisit. And start pitching.
I personally am looking forward to Archie Bunker being confronted by the Man-Thing, at a Yardbirds concert, with an obscure Tibetan Buddhist text being read aloud.
As the future star of your Magnum Opus, Number Six would way, “be seeing you.” He and Kolchak will be a fascinating pair in your hands.
I do ‘t know Dematteis. Karl and Rochester were both rather sober headed fellows. I am not sure I see the, fighting. More likely making peace while their bosses fight. Of course, that fight would be based on a story in the Sentinel that reveals Jack Benny is not 39
We joke, BUT in a world where Archie fought the predator in. Or one but TWO four issue mini series, and Godzilla fought Charles Barkley… well, let’s just say stranger comics exist.
Rumor has it Marvel even has a comic about a guy who can do what a Piper can, swings around New York, and fights criminals who wear garish costumes. Most unbelievably of all… he is a freelancer who can afford an apartment in Manhattan. And they expect people to buy it!
On a slightly related note, I miss when Peter's apartment was a character in itself. It seems like living spaces in comics these days are far more generic by comparison.
Honestly, I think the problem goes beyond Spider-Man or even comics. I think you see increasingly in movies and television have an increased lack of interest in setting up an idea of locations having personality. The MCU for instance takes place a lot in New York and Washington D.C. two of the most interesting places in terms of pure atmosphere on the planet. For the most part, they could take place just about anywhere. Of course, it is not just big budget movies. It seems like any movie not made by an auteur director falls into these traps.
Of course, circling back to comics... there was a time when the Daily or Daily Planet were bustling newsrooms. Now, they mostly just look like offices of any kind, When Peter Parker walked the streets there were people around going by, he swung through the streets just feet above pedestrians or cars. I once asked a commercial artist.comic reader I know about this, and they said it comes from computer aided art for backgrounds. I don't know though. I think it is more complicated. AS I said, iyt goes beyond comics. There was a giant increase of shows that took place in New York, that were shot in New York in the 2010s. For the most part, with massive amounts of scaffolding, even the shows that were allegedly about New York didn't feel that way...with a few exceptions. Same with shows set in Chicago. Cities and metros are different, they have different personalities.
I mean, if you want to talk about the APARTMENTS in New York, I think gentrification could certainly play a part in that. Maybe even the feeling of the city. When you price out the working class, no culture shows up. It is true. But Even that seems too simplistic. I think it is more about how we interact with the world. Phones?? Sure. To a degree. However, I remember a comic written by Dan Slott, who I believe lives in New York. He tried to make it very much about New York. However... it boiled down to a lot of references to then culturally significant things connected to the city. Remember seeing a youtuber talk about how great New York was for things, but when he mentioned immigrants I thought, "that is not unique to New York," but more importantly, it was just a statement. If you were to ask me about Immigrant groups where I live, I would probably talk about the interesting things that they bring to the area...not just a blanket statement. But, let's actually talk more about the immigrant element. They are the only ones who really deserve America. I talked to a Haitian woman last year. She moved to America as a small girl, and grew up in MIami. She currently lives in Hamtramack. But her job includes helping immigrants, and it has taken her across the country. Long stays in multiple cities, including New York and L.A.. She told me America's working class cities were her favorite, because they remind her of the immigrant communities she grew up in. Her favorite city in America...Pittsburgh A friend of mine has family in Queens, she spent a lot of time there. It is actually where her parents retired to from South America last year. Many of her friends in South America married American men, and moved all over the country. SO, she has seen a lot, of it. A lot of the world really. Her grandparents retired to Italy, and she is a world traveler in her own right. She told me her favorite city was Toledo. Citing theaters and museums most Americans don't even know exist, and a more down to Earth than other cities. Toledo and Pittsburgh two cities most Americans look at derisively are where these well-traveled immigrant women love.and neither one can you say was their first experience with the country. Conversely, it seems like many of the people who moved out to Portlnd or Austin in the last decade make it seem like it was more about being a part of a scene, or observing the show. And a lot of the talk of New York seems that way to, or that it was about the job they got. And the job takes residence. Same with San Fran. IS New York still a city with a lot going on? Sure. Of course. However, it does not really matter if the culture around it changes interaction. Like you are there because it makes you "a winner" to be there, rather than actually enjoy the personality.
Fascinating as always, Jack. And then there's the question of a city's reality vs. the mythologizing of that city. Woody Allen's version of New York City is very different from Martian Scorcese's. Each one is projecting their own hopes and dreams and experiences onto the screen of NYC. And you can do that with any city.
Well if you want to take that to the next step…Gotham. Okay, I know Gotham city is fictional, but that is the point. I don’t think none can deny that Frank Miller’s Gotham in Batman Year One and Dark Knight Returns because the dominant for, of the city. However, isn’t it really just 1970s and 1980s New York? Specifically a gritty, Taxi Driver version. But as time went on readers seem to view that as all Gotham is… some writers as well. Which is interesting, because cities are complex, and you are following the exploits of a crime fighter. He would be in the most crime ridden parts. That is where the story takes place. Again, t perhaps that complexity being worn away is how some interact with all cities in the modern era. Like it is a place where things are, not where people are a part of. And from that is is hard not point out how some writers depict real,world places based they have never been to based on strokes and stereotypes. There seem to be many California and. New York based writers of fiction he who have a shallow depiction of Cleveland and Kansas. Again, how we interact with even the concept of a city or town. It is. Or a place where real people live, love and suffer, it is just a place where things happen.
Now, if you want to take this into the real world… There is a lot of talk about “walkable cities” these days. Which is great. I like to walk and I like cities. However… when people talk about them it always seems less about the practicality as the idea of what being “walkable” means. People,chatting as they pet go by. Knowing local vendors. The thing is, that was pretty common once. My Dad grew up in the city of Detroit, my mother is a small town in Northern Michigan, where her mother from immigrant enclave neighborhoods of Chicago and father from Michigan City Indiana moved. And all had somewhat similar growing ups elements. By which I mean things like, knowing some neighbors who would cove over., knowing the name of the local butcher or grocer, having sort of the “news of the neighborhoods…some might call gossip, local meet up places people went to. Hell, this probably sounds like your nogheborhood in Brooklyn. However, around the 70s…especially I. Cities…these elements started to deteriorate. I even remember in the 2010s people saying you don’t talk to your neighbors on New York. These are not gone mind you, just deteriorated in some places. I even recently saw someone on an online thing talking about protests saying we need are bars, pubs, pool halls, libraries, and community centers to meet. I thought to myself…all,those places exist. I have been in all of the, from the largest city to the smallest town, almost every place in America has at least three of those. Again, how we interact
…continued… Now, let me tell you about a place called “Northville, MI.” If you were to parachute into. Northville, you would probably think you were in a scenario small town. It was…prior to WWII, but afterwards, it became one of the small towns transformed into suburbs. In fact, it is where the CEO of GM lives, and for my whole life it was associated with oh rich people. However, it is not surrounded by other rich places. 8In fact 3/4 of its neighbors are working class to lower middle class places. However…downtown Notprtnville has been largely untouched. In 100 years. Yeah, businesses have come and gone, but it is mostly to the same sleepy small town layout. The geography of hpthe area almost makes it a Kandor, semi-isolated, creating a psychological framing of it being the sleepy smal town. Now, make no mistake. The people there are not rippped from the Norman Rockwell painting. But…I think they want to be in that area…while still being close to a city. They want at least the ILLUSION of that close knit community, even if they will never interact that way. It would seem a sense of community, or the illusion, is the most valuable commodity in our modern world. Something throat has traditionally been free. I don’t think it is so unreasonable to believe the disconnect that has caused this has seeped inopto out fiction.
Another development worth mentioning is that as comic art became increasingly detailed it paradoxically gave less space for location personality. More attention to shoelaces, less to the atmosphere.
You're right about Scorcese's NYC vs Allen's, etc. As a kid growing up in Texas any subtleties were admittedly lost on me though. To paraphrase John Lennon on God, NYC was the concept by which I measured the urban unknown.
Bringing several discussion points together, I'm currently reading a novel by Shusaku Endo in which a lapsed Japanese Catholic monk living among the indigenous peoples of Mexico (then Nueva Espana) presents Japanese envoys with his own personal account of Jesus' life. Endo himself wrote A Life of Jesus which is being adapted by Scorcese. His idea was that everyone would have a unique personal account of Jesus and even his book might he very different if written later or earlier.
I imagine the same to be true of Meher Baba, and the various ways he manifests in his followers lives and works, which most certainly includes your writing. Most of what I know of him is through the lens of your stories, and based on that alone I have a high opinion of his divine nature.
In terms of what truth really is to me, after all the religious beliefs that have been around, Christianity has the best evidence and reason for existence. Theonomous epistemology, where knowledge isn't just something we stumble upon or construct; it's something given or at least guided by this higher power. Our ability to understand, our moral frameworks, and even our scientific discoveries might be seen as part of this divine assistance. This view posits that our knowledge has a foundation outside of human limitations, grounded in the omniscience of a creator who knows the beginning from the end.
The Bible is a hyperlink document with more connections than any internet document, yet it was written 3,500 years to 2,000 years ago! The message is consistent from start to finish, with anecdotal history given as examples and connections from one person to the next, or one person to nations. 40 authors. No other document can make that claim. Archaeology bolsters Jesus’ historicity with finds like the Caiaphas Ossuary (1990), linking to the high priest of his trial (John 18:13-24), authenticated by André Lemaire. The Talmud’s “Yeshu” and the Dead Sea Scrolls’ messianic healer (4Q521) align with the Gospels, grounding Jesus in first-century Judea. Edwin Yamauchi notes, “We have better documentation for Jesus than any other religious founder.”
Ontologically, Richard Swinburne’s Bayesian analysis in *The Resurrection of Jesus Christ* argues the empty tomb, appearances, and disciples’ transformation make the resurrection plausible in a theistic universe, redefining existence beyond decay. Hans Urs von Balthasar adds, “In Christ, the infinite enters the finite,” echoing Anselm’s God instantiated historically.
Epistemologically, Gary Habermas’ “minimal facts”—Jesus’ death, empty tomb, and genuine post-mortem encounters—demand explanation. The disciples’ shift from fear (John 20:19) to boldness (Acts 4:13), across 500 witnesses (1 Corinthians 15:6), resists naturalistic dismissal, per J.P. Moreland.
Mathematically, Fred Hoyle’s improbable-life analogy and John Lennox’s fine-tuned universe (e.g., strong nuclear force precision) suggest purpose, with Jesus as its disclosure. William Dembski’s specified complexity mirrors the coherence of Jesus’ narrative.
Metaphysically, Étienne Gilson sees the Incarnation as eternity meeting time, Aquinas’ *actus purus* manifest in Jesus’ acts (Mark 4:39). Athanasius’ “He became man that we might become divine” ties contingent humanity to the necessary divine.
Archaeology, ontology, epistemology, mathematics, and metaphysics—via Yamauchi, Swinburne, Habermas, Lennox, and Gilson—converge on Jesus as divine reality intersecting history, intellectually and existentially compelling.
Just some of my thoughts on here! I respect your views and imagination from a guy who loves your comics about god 🙏🏼
Oh will do! We’ve talked on Twitter a few times, my name is Austin. Just want to know your thoughts on Jesus Christ being the logos. And God at the same time. Much love back to you, friend.
I am sure you get this all the time Dematteis, but...
ReplyDeleteDo Blue Beetle and Booster Gold pull a Alan Shore and Denny Crane, and have sleepovers in the back of the bug?
You know, where they roast marshmallows, and tell ghost stores, and Ted gets incredibly embarrassed that the rest of the league will find out
Jack
Absolutely!
DeleteWhat happened to the third and fourth issues of the fourth volume of Strange Tales?
ReplyDeletePlain and simple: Marvel pulled the plug. A great disappointment. Liam Sharp and I could have continued on that series for a long time,
DeleteAre there any notes/sketches/cuttings of this? So that people can somehow look at this information
ReplyDeleteI think I've got some material. I'll have to look for it and see if I can scan it and post some of it here.
DeletePlease try, okay? Thank you in advance)
DeleteI'll see what I can do!
DeleteThat wasn’t me by the way.
DeleteI know I am usually the one who asks questions about obscure comics from decades ago is me, but this one was not.
Just to clarify. And YES, I am surprised I was not the one as well.
Jack.
I could tell it wasn't you.
DeleteYou know Dematteis, if you were smart, you would go to Marvel and pitch a New Frontier style story that takes place throughout the 70s. THEN, tell them you will need to do research. Reacquaint yourself woth the style, so you will have to reread the comics. Probably listen to some albums, and watch some movies of the era to…just to get the real.
ReplyDeleteProbably have to rexread the Stan-Jack-Romita-Buscema stuff, just so you remember where is was coming out of.
Then, you would have scammed Marvel into paying you to read old comics and way bold movies.
And /or
Start making pitches like, “I was thinking about doing and 80s Daredevil. Really capture the city as I knew it, but I’ll AP have to meet up with a
Ann so it gels.”
Maybe, “how about for this Spiderxverse movie, I do a team up where out Spidey meets Spider-girl. Of course….I would probably have several meetings with Mr. defalco.”
Perhaps even, “Great idea! A Chinatown meets Hammer films meets Shaft Blade story. Set in the 70s! Right in time for Halloween! Of course, we will need authenticity. I”ll have to speak with Maev.
Or if they come to you to do a Spidey book, “Great idea! A story during my Spectacular run! But… Sal was a big part of the creation, I may need to spend a week append with him, get the juices flowing.”
Then you are pretty much getting paid to hangout with your friends.
See, who else would give you advice on how to defraud a multi-billion dollar company.
Jack
Who else? Nobody!
DeleteBut, seriously, one of the part of the job that still delights me is the fact that I often HAVE to read old comics, or watch cartoons, as research. My ten-year-old self wouldn't believe it!
Well then Dematteis, maybe it is time to pitch the. Dream project you are always talking about (I assume), the Kolchak teams up with Number Six from The Priosner.
DeleteOr a radio team up where The Green Hornet encounters Jack Benny. Or he encounters…Dimension X.
Juat pick a series, book, or interpretive dance you want to revisit. And start pitching.
I personally am looking forward to Archie Bunker being confronted by the Man-Thing, at a Yardbirds concert, with an obscure Tibetan Buddhist text being read aloud.
As the future star of your Magnum Opus, Number Six would way, “be seeing you.” He and Kolchak will be a fascinating pair in your hands.
Jack
It's the Green Hornet/Jack Benny story that grabs me. A twelve-issue maxi-series! Jack vs. the Hornet! Rochester vs. Kato! A classic in the making!
DeleteI do ‘t know Dematteis. Karl and Rochester were both rather sober headed fellows.
DeleteI am not sure I see the, fighting. More likely making peace while their bosses fight.
Of course, that fight would be based on a story in the Sentinel that reveals Jack Benny is not 39
Jack
Then, of course, Benny and the Hornet realize it's all been a misunderstanding and join forces to take on the evil that is...
DeleteFred Allen!
We joke, BUT in a world where Archie fought the predator in. Or one but TWO four issue mini series, and Godzilla fought Charles Barkley… well, let’s just say stranger comics exist.
DeleteJack
Indeed!
DeleteRumor has it Marvel even has a comic about a guy who can do what a Piper can, swings around New York, and fights criminals who wear garish costumes.
DeleteMost unbelievably of all… he is a freelancer who can afford an apartment in Manhattan.
And they expect people to buy it!
Jack
Preposterous!
DeleteThat was supposed to be “spider,” not “piper”
DeleteThat was clear in context.
DeleteTo be fair, it wasn't the best apartment!
DeleteOn a slightly related note, I miss when Peter's apartment was a character in itself. It seems like living spaces in comics these days are far more generic by comparison.
David
Interesting thought, David! And think about the Parker house in Queens. Absolutely a character in the story.
DeleteAgreed! The Parker house in Queens is one of the most fully realized settings in comics, inhabited by living memories.
DeleteDavid
Honestly, I think the problem goes beyond Spider-Man or even comics.
DeleteI think you see increasingly in movies and television have an increased lack of interest in setting up an idea of locations having personality.
The MCU for instance takes place a lot in New York and Washington D.C. two of the most interesting places in terms of pure atmosphere on the planet. For the most part, they could take place just about anywhere.
Of course, it is not just big budget movies. It seems like any movie not made by an auteur director falls into these traps.
Of course, circling back to comics... there was a time when the Daily or Daily Planet were bustling newsrooms. Now, they mostly just look like offices of any kind,
When Peter Parker walked the streets there were people around going by, he swung through the streets just feet above pedestrians or cars.
I once asked a commercial artist.comic reader I know about this, and they said it comes from computer aided art for backgrounds.
I don't know though. I think it is more complicated. AS I said, iyt goes beyond comics.
There was a giant increase of shows that took place in New York, that were shot in New York in the 2010s. For the most part, with massive amounts of scaffolding, even the shows that were allegedly about New York didn't feel that way...with a few exceptions. Same with shows set in Chicago. Cities and metros are different, they have different personalities.
continued...
...continued...
DeleteI mean, if you want to talk about the APARTMENTS in New York, I think gentrification could certainly play a part in that. Maybe even the feeling of the city. When you price out the working class, no culture shows up. It is true.
But Even that seems too simplistic. I think it is more about how we interact with the world. Phones?? Sure. To a degree.
However, I remember a comic written by Dan Slott, who I believe lives in New York. He tried to make it very much about New York.
However... it boiled down to a lot of references to then culturally significant things connected to the city. Remember seeing a youtuber talk about how great New York was for things, but when he mentioned immigrants I thought, "that is not unique to New York," but more importantly, it was just a statement.
If you were to ask me about Immigrant groups where I live, I would probably talk about the interesting things that they bring to the area...not just a blanket statement.
But, let's actually talk more about the immigrant element. They are the only ones who really deserve America.
I talked to a Haitian woman last year. She moved to America as a small girl, and grew up in MIami. She currently lives in Hamtramack. But her job includes helping immigrants, and it has taken her across the country. Long stays in multiple cities, including New York and L.A.. She told me America's working class cities were her favorite, because they remind her of the immigrant communities she grew up in. Her favorite city in America...Pittsburgh
A friend of mine has family in Queens, she spent a lot of time there. It is actually where her parents retired to from South America last year. Many of her friends in South America married American men, and moved all over the country. SO, she has seen a lot, of it. A lot of the world really. Her grandparents retired to Italy, and she is a world traveler in her own right. She told me her favorite city was Toledo. Citing theaters and museums most Americans don't even know exist, and a more down to Earth than other cities.
Toledo and Pittsburgh two cities most Americans look at derisively are where these well-traveled immigrant women love.and neither one can you say was their first experience with the country.
Conversely, it seems like many of the people who moved out to Portlnd or Austin in the last decade make it seem like it was more about being a part of a scene, or observing the show. And a lot of the talk of New York seems that way to, or that it was about the job they got. And the job takes residence. Same with San Fran.
IS New York still a city with a lot going on? Sure. Of course. However, it does not really matter if the culture around it changes interaction. Like you are there because it makes you "a winner" to be there, rather than actually enjoy the personality.
Just a thought.
Jack
Fascinating as always, Jack. And then there's the question of a city's reality vs. the mythologizing of that city. Woody Allen's version of New York City is very different from Martian Scorcese's. Each one is projecting their own hopes and dreams and experiences onto the screen of NYC. And you can do that with any city.
DeleteWell if you want to take that to the next step…Gotham.
DeleteOkay, I know Gotham city is fictional, but that is the point.
I don’t think none can deny that Frank Miller’s Gotham in Batman Year One and Dark Knight Returns because the dominant for, of the city.
However, isn’t it really just 1970s and 1980s New York?
Specifically a gritty, Taxi Driver version. But as time went on readers seem to view that as all Gotham is… some writers as well. Which is interesting, because cities are complex, and you are following the exploits of a crime fighter. He would be in the most crime ridden parts. That is where the story takes place.
Again, t perhaps that complexity being worn away is how some interact with all cities in the modern era. Like it is a place where things are, not where people are a part of.
And from that is is hard not point out how some writers depict real,world places based they have never been to based on strokes and stereotypes.
There seem to be many California and. New York based writers of fiction he who have a shallow depiction of Cleveland and Kansas.
Again, how we interact with even the concept of a city or town. It is. Or a place where real people live, love and suffer, it is just a place where things happen.
Jack
Now, if you want to take this into the real world…
DeleteThere is a lot of talk about “walkable cities” these days. Which is great. I like to walk and I like cities.
However… when people talk about them it always seems less about the practicality as the idea of what being “walkable” means. People,chatting as they pet go by. Knowing local vendors.
The thing is, that was pretty common once. My Dad grew up in the city of Detroit, my mother is a small town in Northern Michigan, where her mother from immigrant enclave neighborhoods of Chicago and father from Michigan City Indiana moved. And all had somewhat similar growing ups elements.
By which I mean things like, knowing some neighbors who would cove over., knowing the name of the local butcher or grocer, having sort of the “news of the neighborhoods…some might call gossip, local meet up places people went to.
Hell, this probably sounds like your nogheborhood in Brooklyn.
However, around the 70s…especially I. Cities…these elements started to deteriorate. I even remember in the 2010s people saying you don’t talk to your neighbors on New York.
These are not gone mind you, just deteriorated in some places.
I even recently saw someone on an online thing talking about protests saying we need are bars, pubs, pool halls, libraries, and community centers to meet.
I thought to myself…all,those places exist. I have been in all of the, from the largest city to the smallest town, almost every place in America has at least three of those.
Again, how we interact
Continued…
…continued…
DeleteNow, let me tell you about a place called “Northville, MI.”
If you were to parachute into. Northville, you would probably think you were in a scenario small town. It was…prior to WWII, but afterwards, it became one of the small towns transformed into suburbs.
In fact, it is where the CEO of GM lives, and for my whole life it was associated with oh rich people.
However, it is not surrounded by other rich places. 8In fact 3/4 of its neighbors are working class to lower middle class places.
However…downtown Notprtnville has been largely untouched. In 100 years. Yeah, businesses have come and gone, but it is mostly to the same sleepy small town layout.
The geography of hpthe area almost makes it a Kandor, semi-isolated, creating a psychological framing of it being the sleepy smal town.
Now, make no mistake. The people there are not rippped from the Norman Rockwell painting. But…I think they want to be in that area…while still being close to a city.
They want at least the ILLUSION of that close knit community, even if they will never interact that way.
It would seem a sense of community, or the illusion, is the most valuable commodity in our modern world. Something throat has traditionally been free.
I don’t think it is so unreasonable to believe the disconnect that has caused this has seeped inopto out fiction.
Jack
Great points, Jack.
DeleteAnother development worth mentioning is that as comic art became increasingly detailed it paradoxically gave less space for location personality. More attention to shoelaces, less to the atmosphere.
--David
JMD,
DeleteYou're right about Scorcese's NYC vs Allen's, etc. As a kid growing up in Texas any subtleties were admittedly lost on me though. To paraphrase John Lennon on God, NYC was the concept by which I measured the urban unknown.
Bringing several discussion points together, I'm currently reading a novel by Shusaku Endo in which a lapsed Japanese Catholic monk living among the indigenous peoples of Mexico (then Nueva Espana) presents Japanese envoys with his own personal account of Jesus' life. Endo himself wrote A Life of Jesus which is being adapted by Scorcese. His idea was that everyone would have a unique personal account of Jesus and even his book might he very different if written later or earlier.
I imagine the same to be true of Meher Baba, and the various ways he manifests in his followers lives and works, which most certainly includes your writing. Most of what I know of him is through the lens of your stories, and based on that alone I have a high opinion of his divine nature.
--David
Well said, David. And right on point. Thanks!
DeleteIn terms of what truth really is to me, after all the religious beliefs that have been around, Christianity has the best evidence and reason for existence. Theonomous epistemology, where knowledge isn't just something we stumble upon or construct; it's something given or at least guided by this higher power. Our ability to understand, our moral frameworks, and even our scientific discoveries might be seen as part of this divine assistance. This view posits that our knowledge has a foundation outside of human limitations, grounded in the omniscience of a creator who knows the beginning from the end.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible is a hyperlink document with more connections than any internet document, yet it was written 3,500 years to 2,000 years ago!
The message is consistent from start to finish, with anecdotal history given as examples and connections from one person to the next, or one person to nations.
40 authors. No other document can make that claim.
Archaeology bolsters Jesus’ historicity with finds like the Caiaphas Ossuary (1990), linking to the high priest of his trial (John 18:13-24), authenticated by André Lemaire. The Talmud’s “Yeshu” and the Dead Sea Scrolls’ messianic healer (4Q521) align with the Gospels, grounding Jesus in first-century Judea. Edwin Yamauchi notes, “We have better documentation for Jesus than any other religious founder.”
Ontologically, Richard Swinburne’s Bayesian analysis in *The Resurrection of Jesus Christ* argues the empty tomb, appearances, and disciples’ transformation make the resurrection plausible in a theistic universe, redefining existence beyond decay. Hans Urs von Balthasar adds, “In Christ, the infinite enters the finite,” echoing Anselm’s God instantiated historically.
Epistemologically, Gary Habermas’ “minimal facts”—Jesus’ death, empty tomb, and genuine post-mortem encounters—demand explanation. The disciples’ shift from fear (John 20:19) to boldness (Acts 4:13), across 500 witnesses (1 Corinthians 15:6), resists naturalistic dismissal, per J.P. Moreland.
Mathematically, Fred Hoyle’s improbable-life analogy and John Lennox’s fine-tuned universe (e.g., strong nuclear force precision) suggest purpose, with Jesus as its disclosure. William Dembski’s specified complexity mirrors the coherence of Jesus’ narrative.
Metaphysically, Étienne Gilson sees the Incarnation as eternity meeting time, Aquinas’ *actus purus* manifest in Jesus’ acts (Mark 4:39). Athanasius’ “He became man that we might become divine” ties contingent humanity to the necessary divine.
Archaeology, ontology, epistemology, mathematics, and metaphysics—via Yamauchi, Swinburne, Habermas, Lennox, and Gilson—converge on Jesus as divine reality intersecting history, intellectually and existentially compelling.
Just some of my thoughts on here! I respect your views and imagination from a guy who loves your comics about god 🙏🏼
Thanks for sharing those heartfelt thoughts. Much appreciated.
DeleteIn the future, please leave a name so I know who I'm talking to!
: )
Oh will do! We’ve talked on Twitter a few times, my name is Austin. Just want to know your thoughts on Jesus Christ being the logos. And God at the same time. Much love back to you, friend.
DeleteAustin
Thanks for identifying yourself, Austin! I have a great fondness for Jesus and absolutely see him as an incarnation of the Divine.
DeleteGod is HUGE and His arms embrace many different paths.