'Braveheart' Becomes Role Model for Christian Men

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... atheart_dc

Sat Jan 22, 9:22 AM ET

By Nigel Hunt

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Movies like "Braveheart" and "Legends of the Fall" are on the viewing list for men in a growing Christian movement that calls for them to throw off their "nice guy" personas and emulate warriors.

The book which inspired the movement, John Eldredge's "Wild at Heart," has already sold 1.5 million copies in English and been translated into 16 languages, most recently Korean.

Eldredge believes many Christian men have become bored, "really nice guys" and invites them to rediscover passion by viewing their life's mission as having a battle to fight, an adventure to live and a beauty to rescue.

"The modern era has brought up immense conveniences but at what price. The human heart is desperate for something more than a quicker serving of popcorn," Eldredge said in a recent interview.

Eldredge calls on men to be prepared to take risks and rediscover their dreams but does not provide a specific route to find, for example, an adventure to live. Career, marriage and family become heroic quests rather than chains which bind.

He focuses on how men can become less passive and "engage" those around them, particularly their wives and children.

"The guy who sits in front of the television is unengaged. That man is a bad man. They (children) need engagement whether it is playing on the floor with your 1-year-old or tougher games when they are 15 (years old)," he said.

Eldredge said he has been astounded by the response to his book with momentum gathering steadily since the book was published in 2001 by Christian publisher Thomas Nelson.

Men have been flocking to retreats and forming small groups to study it. Some are organized by Eldredge and his team, but many are just informally arranged by readers of the book. These groups have sprung up as far away Kazakhstan and even among tribes along the Amazon River in South America.

"It has become something of a grass-roots wildfire," Eldredge said.


BRAVEHEART SWORD


Jim Chase, an advertising copywriter from La Crescenta, California, has had a replica of the sword actor Mel Gibson used when he played legendary Scottish warrior William Wallace in "Braveheart" hanging above his desk since attending a Wild at Heart retreat with 350 other men last year.

"It is just a reminder that we are in a battle every day. It can be just facing boredom and routine, but it is a battle," Chase said.

"Life isn't just about going to work and sitting in front of a computer and bringing in as much money as you can. We all have a story. God has written a story and we are meant to find out what the story is and live it," Chase said.

He said, for example, that the book inspired him to teach his 15-year-old son to ride a motorcycle.

Eldredge, who is a trained counselor and worked for 13 years for Christian organization Focus on the Family, said we are currently living in a "fatherless age" with many men having abandoned their children if not physically then emotionally.

His own father was an alcoholic who after some good years when Eldredge was young became increasingly distant. Chase had lost his father, who he described as "very cold," just a few months before he attended the retreat.

"A lot of what it brings out is how much you are impacted by your own father. What role model he set for you and how God relates to us as the big father," Chase said.

Eldredge said he used characters such as Mel Gibson's warrior Wallace in "Braveheart" because the characters often embody men who are engaging their passions by fighting noble battles, rescuing women and finding adventure.

CHRISTIAN CRITICS

The movement has stirred controversy, attracting criticism from some Christian leaders who fear he may just be reinforcing stereotypes.

While some women have welcomed suddenly receiving flowers and more attention from their husbands, in the long-term there are concerns about the impact on marriages.

"The basic premise that men need a princess to rescue has set back male female relationship in the church by 30 years. He sanctifies a mythological view of 1950s malehood," said Chapman Clark, associate professor of youth, family, and culture at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California.

"It is destructive (to marriages) in the long-term," Clark said, adding that treating women as a figurine rather that the personal image of God will hurt relationships over time.

Clark said Eldredge had tapped into an angst among middle-aged white men who are dissatisfied with their lives and for whom depression had become a very serious problem.

Eldredge acknowledged the movement would be judged based on the impact it has on family life.

"The real test of this ("Wild at Heart") is does it make life better for women? Does it make life better for children? We have received letters from women who are immensely grateful. Marriages have been restored," Eldredge said.

My mom gave me the book referenced in the article for Christmas last year. It has a few interesting items, but it's nothing that I needed to be told.

me wanna be

What's so ridiculous about it? Sounds like to me men that need help to make their lives better being big enough to seek out the help they need. Why is that ridiculous?

And here's the counterweight...

http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlig ... brave.html


Let's face it, Christianity is the opium of some of the masses, and for some of the other masses, its the amphetamine. Whatever you want to believe it is. So it could be the religion of nice guys, or of warriors.

Anyway, I think Braveheart is rockin flick. But Mel Gibson is certifiably insane.

Hell, I would argue Braveheart isn't violent or graphic enough to depict what William Wallace really did. I also wouldn't think a man who slaughtered men, women, & children (for noble reasons or not) would be someone Christians wouldn't want to emulate.

I'm in complete agreement with your last statement.

The FCC has reinstated the Spanish Inquisitions, so why not?!?!

And nothing else matters.

Notice I said I wouldn't think they'd want to emulate them. Obviously my morals are out of touch with Christianity.

well, i love Braveheart, and i'm quite comfortable with the idea of ransoming the energy of the warrior to help us face the battles of existence (i wrote a song about it... heads don't roll, but hearts get crushed; in these strange, modern wars, nothing's clear; of mind games i don't know much...). what i don't like is the fact that the idea was associated with an established religious group, making it not available for everyone. and i don't like that they have misinterpreted the story, where both women Willian Wallace falls in love with are strong enough to defy the oppressors, their own way, at their personal risk (his wife is killed), thus, warriors themselves, not frail ladies waiting to be rescued.

I think that is about the gayest Christ protrait I've ever seen.
If you haven't seen this guy's artwork before, it is fucking hilarious, check it out.

http://www.art4god.com/html/?go=products

Oh Lord, almighty...

--PunkDavid

Maybe this will inspire television writers to create a show where Xtians battle Heathens... I'd watch that show...

A man can dream can't he?

Yes, yes he can.

Considering that the film Braveheart is mostly "fiction" (enhanced for dramatic effect) and William Wallace (while important, was not important on the level that the film in implies, nor did he ever meet with the Princess of Whales), the idea that any aspect of the film or the storyline from the film is somehow being "studied" for role-model emulation is rediculous.

Is there some reason why Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Theresa's works aren't good enough to emulate that they have to emulate fake behavior from a film?

William Wallace did exsist, as did Robert The Bruce. William fought in battles for freedom, but did not lead to the degree in which the film "Braveheart" infers/portrays/implies. Robert the Bruce's brother Edward was briefly put on the thrown in Ireland only to be murdered - no mention of that anywhere, eh?

.right.

.stupid stupid.

Agreed. More examples of Holywood's blatant Anti-English agenda. You can't have Americans, blacks, gays, Arabs or Germans as the baddies any more so lets make another Brit-Bashing film...

Can you remember the last historical film that portrayed England in a positive sense??

I really couldn't care less if England is being portrayed as mean or evil, because hey, they deserve some of that, much as the US deserves a lot of crap for that.

But anyhoo, America as a wole needs to remind itself every once in a while that England used to be really mean, because after all, if it was a just nation, then how could the U.S. defend its split from the mother country?

Personally, I'm all for begging for a seat in the commonwealth because I feel we miss out not having much rugby, and no cricket to speak of.

Hugh Grant movies?

I like those

LOL. Yeah but they're not historical films are they...

Master and Commander was pretty gung ho John Bull, wasn't it?

--Punkdavid