"Corruption is why we win"
I wasted no time today in picking up a copy of this wonderfully dense, tense and complex film. A few "very"s need to go in front of complex, because, much like Stephen Gaghan's previous work (Traffic) this film leaves your head spinning so fast that you might be hired by miners to drill through granite. In fact, a second viewing was required for me to more fully understand and appreciate Syriana. Although I definitely enjoyed this film the first time around, the preset awareness in my head when I returned to the theater allowed me to more ably draw connections and pick up on certain finer touches in Gaghan's screenplay. My friend Michael and I both walked away with a certain sense of having partaken in special revelation. Perhaps now I have an idea how the Gnostics got worked up.
How should Christians approach this film? Is there any particular way that it should spur theological reflection? Kelly and I tried last weekend to name movies that would make for good theological discussion in group settings, and although I'll need to wait until I watch Syriana again tonight to be certain, I imagine that this movie can be added to my list. Sure, there is nothing overtly religious in this film - well, at least not when it comes to Christianity. Certainly the movie presents various manifestations of global Islam, be it a Western-educated Gulf prince with liberal democratic sensibilities or an impoverished Pakistani-born suicide bomber taken under the wings of a terrorist cell. But the movie does present and critique two very prominent Western "religions" that find immense support from many confessing Christians: the religion of American global dominance and security, and the religion of prosperity through capitalistic acquisition.
Actually, the movie sets up these two faiths as distinct movements, and then spends two hours meticulously intertwining them until it becomes obvious that the two are in fact merely the faces of one Janus. American intelligence is twisted and military power is employed to protect the profits of American business - all at the expense of supporting so-called "American" and democratic values. Such has proven to be the case on several occasions during the Cold War, and such will more than likely prove to be the case again.
The lesson for American Christians is a hard one that few will want to swallow: the state cannot be ascribed the unquestioned allegiance of believers even if it speaks a language of rights and freedoms that appears largely compatible with many elements of the gospel message. Ultimately, the most supreme value held by each temporal government is the same: self-interest or self-preservation. As long as this is the ultimate good, then any other value is relegated to a second tier and relativized. And this is the value that will always be the ultimate good for a political state. Guantanamo Bay should be evidence enough of how certain commitments can be abandoned in favor of national defense.
So now, as we claim to live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we must be like the newly-baptized followers of John the Baptist in Luke 3 and ask the question, "What now shall we do?" I wouldn't claim to know any great strategy of how to live in response to this broken world. But I do agree with so many other voices that we have to start with the renaissance of the idea of the church as a counter-cultural community, a holy nation and kingdom of priests set apart to testify to the world the fact of its fallenness. Part of this project may necessitate abandoning the aspirations of both socially conservative and socially liberal Christians who want to redeem the world by means of the state - whether that is the state's military and political reach (conservative option) or the state's collected and redistributed wealth (liberal option). It's hard to fix a fallen world through fallen external institutions when there's so much work to be done in sanctifying the very Body of Christ. Let's not put the cart before the horse, here. But let's start thinking about what it would mean if Christians abandoned the assumptions and motivations that drive all of the characters in Syriana.
Great post Chris. I would plainly state something that you implied, that the institutions of the Church need to get themselves "right with God" too. Perhaps a good start would be to separate themselves from the government.
I would love to see the Church in American take this opportunity to speak out against the exploitation of the poor people of the oil producing nations. The Church in America failed in its prophetic role when we slaughtered the Native Americans and failed again on the issues of slavery and civil rights. Seems like history is repeating itself.
Thanks for the post.
Posted by
Luke Purdy |
Sunday, June 25, 2006 4:21:00 PM
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