One local church has adopted a new tactic to explore the big questions in Christian thought.
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TORRINGTON – One local church has adopted a new tactic to explore the big questions in Christian thought.
The Rev. Nate Johnson, pastor at Christ Reformed Presbyterian Church, has launched two programs designed to spawn discussion while at the same time offering an entertaining get-away. One program starts Saturday, when the community is invited to a special showing of the movie, “Shane,” arguably one of the best known and most popular Westerns ever made.
“Shane, from what the experts say, is the classic of all classic Westerns,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing that comes close to its prominence.”
The film also has the distinction of staying true to the book it’s based on, with just a handful of deliberate deviations from the original story, he said. That makes it an almost perfect vehicle to explore social and even theological symbolism.
“I read some interviews with the author of the book which pointed out the movie may have, as its counterpart, some Christian symbolism,” Johnson said. “The author said, ‘Yeah, I’d see where you could see that. But there was no intention for me as a writer to tap into the Christian story.’”
One significant difference Johnson pointed out is in the opening scene. In the book, the title character is seen in a valley, described as wearing clothing that are worn and covered in dust. But, in the opening shot of the movie, he’s seen riding from the high reaches of the Tetons and his clothes are almost pristine.
“Why did they do this?” Johnson said. “It seems unreal if he’s coming from the back woods and all.
“Movie reviewers claim there’s five or six issues, things the director did that had mythic ties to the Christian world view,” he said. “The rider coming down into the Jackson Hole valley, wearing pristine, undusted, untainted leather garments is really – he’s coming down into an Eden, into an idyllic garden. Definitely the Christian world view is being
tapped here.”
That’s just one example, Johnson said. And he hopes to use those differences to springboard into a broader discussion of what it means to be a believer in the modern world.