Amazing Grace Movie Study Guide

Wezlo's Musings: Amazing Grace Sunday School Class

Movie was fairly well-done. It wasn't overly preachy, it kept the luster of 18th century political language present without whacking your head with it, and the summary of Wilberforce's life at the end was at least mildly thought-provoking (the sermons delivered by free African-Americans are even more so but I'll have to get to that after I finish Wilburforce's biography). At any rate, in a climate of political power-mongering and the impending collapse of the Evangelical™ political machine I thought it might be good to watch this movie with Christians and have it spark conversation. If anyone shows up, I'll be starting it this Sunday (it's likely that anyone who doesn't read this blog won't show up - because no one in my church pays attention to announcements for I don't want to knock people for trying - it's a difficult thing to write a decent curriculum for a small group (I know, I've done it). It's even more difficult to write decent "discussion starter" questions for a movie without being completely leading and hokey. I'm sorry to say that, on quite a few levels, the Amazing Grace study guide doesn't accomplish it's goals. Why is this? Because the guide springs from Evangelical™ roots - roots which are incapable of the type of introspection a movie like Amazing Grace deserves, and the world . The guide is a launching pad to make people feel able to be "world changers." While being "world changers" isnt' such a bad goal (provided the "change" is Kingdom oriented and brought though peace - but when you get Evangelicalism™ talking about world-changing the distinct lack of introspection leaves the call feeling rather shallow. This makes me rather depressed, because there was a well-done push to make people aware of present-day slavery alongside of the movie which didn't make the jump to the study guide. I don't know why, it just didn't. to be commended. It's just that in reading the materials (which are salvageable - kinda), I'm reminded again as to why I really am not part of Evangelicalism™ any more - it's not my world. I'm still looking forward to the class, though, 'cause the material is so wonderfully though-provoking and intersects with Scripture in some wonderful ways. Sometimes people describe me as "Wezlo the Orthodox Baptist." Partly because I'm pretty stringent on dogma (read: Trinity and Incarnation) and partly because, well, there are times when I wonder why I'm in a Baptist church instead of an Orthodox one.

Amazing Grace, William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery

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