underworld

i started this blog at dave long's faith*in*fiction discussion board, in the off topic discussions forum. allow me to elaborate further.
 
i caught a movie called underworld last night. it was a vampire vs. werewolf movie, and it was good. i didn't fall asleep in it (as i am inclined to do when movies are predictable or just plain boring).

when are christian writings going to deal with life, myth, legend (and its role in christian life) and not just some "standard" or marketing scheme?

c.s. lewis used dragons, wizards, magicians, and tash, an evil figure, to counterpoint his characters.

i stumbled upon a book called "to dance with God." i almost didn't get it because i thought it was going to be about little g gods, but it is about big G God. (i am tired of bypassing books because they have buzzwords in them which can be interpreted in many ways) and in it gertrud nelson says,

While science pulls us out of our orignial religion, the churches have done their share to push us out [AMEN]. We became particularly vulnerable to the lure of scientism because the churches, resisting the same intellectualizations, entangled themselves in self-preserving apologetics, dogmatics, and morality [did she say cba or church?]. They created a heavy overlay, crusting over the religious mystery, losing touch with their own meaning. In the Catholic Church, the profound mystery of dogmas was distorted by rules and the mandate to believe them on a literal level, because the understanding of the truth of myth was lost. In some churches, religious rituals were abandoned because they reeked of popery, and they were left with an anemic expression. In many Catholic churches, the rich heritage of symbol, of ritual and ceremony, degenerated into dry, mechanical rubrics which were followed by the book and returned little or no meaning to the people.

while an out of context quote does little to convey the magnitude of this work, i find myself strangely understanding and agreeing. perhaps our loss of the mythic realities of life and religion are why it is so easy for this need to be fulfilled and perverted by tales of werewolves and vampires with no redeeming value.  we've abandoned these things to the dark side for the sake of propriety, and "speaking whatever is true and lovely." but the truth and loveliness of God are magnified in counterpoint to these twisted evils.
 
i would like to see the whole of christian writing undergo a massive overhaul. if there were some way to encourage a new breed of writers, artisans, and mystics in the church to do what God would have them do with their art, i believe it would breathe life upon the dry bones of our religion.
 
i am tired of religion. of its propriety, of its prudishness. religion is a rabid dog that needs to be taken out into the yard and shot.
 
i would like to see authentic, integrated christianity lived, breathed, and demonstrated in art. dark and light, struggles and triumphs. myth and truth. 
 
there is more than enough tempered christianity out there. isn't it time for a revolution?