Comments on: I do not know this Jesus of whom you speak

By: Anastasia

Anastasia — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:26:05 +0000

I used to have (and wear) a button that said “Jesus saves sinners….and redeems them for valuable prizes!” You have no idea how many Christian people would read it, laugh, and then say “You know? That’s really true!”

uhhh yeah.

By: Vance Maverick

Vance Maverick — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:58:11 +0000

Googling “Jesus satisfies” turns up lots of stuff, including a hymn from the ’20s. So if we’re going to let this offend us, we’ll spend a lot of time offended….however, I must admit that the idea of selling religion explicitly based on how it makes you, the prospective or presumptive believer, feel turns me off too.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:57:10 +0000

I’m with you, anon–although it’s that double-entendre that Erica noted that makes them hard to separate (sexed-up Jesus versus customer-satisfaction Jesus, that is.)

Packed with holiness, Jesus really satisfies!

By: anon

anon — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:36:48 +0000

Sexed up Jesus bothers me a lot less than Jesus-as-customer-service-rep. I think one makes up slogans when one has no theology. But then again I’m a medievalist who works on religion, so I’m chock-full-of-bias.

By: HistoryMaven

HistoryMaven — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:30:25 +0000

Chesterfield cigarettes…they satisfy.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:26:34 +0000

Buzz, I think you hit upon the ad slogan that struck me too when I saw this sign! Janice, I think you’re right too–I’ve heard ciggie ads from the 50s in which one cigarette is advertised as the one that “really satisfies.” Which was it–Camel? Marlborough?

And HistoryMaven–good call on the Anne H. reference. I don’t know that poem (or don’t remember it.)

By: Buzz

Buzz — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:00:01 +0000

All I could think of was, “Packed with peanuts, Jesus really satisfies,” based on the 1980s Snickers slogan. But I see transubstantiation jokes everywhere.

Erica—You reminded me of Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Teresa, which has a long history of interpretations in which the ecstasy of the saint’s divine visitation is supposed to suggest an orgasm.

By: HistoryMaven

HistoryMaven — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:43:36 +0000

See Anne Hutchinson’s poem, “As Weary Pilgrim,” in which she employed the bed as a metaphor for here dying body and Christ as a bridegroom: the sexualized nature of the Puritans’ belief in the spiritual marriage to Christ.

Being taught by a student of Perry Miller sure has its benefits for this sort of arcana!

By: Janice

Janice — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:13:24 +0000

Sounds like smokes to me!

By: Historiann

Historiann — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:56:53 +0000

Kathie–there’s a hockey-related joke that goes, “Jesus saves, Gretzky gets the rebound!” Ha!

Erica: good point. Puritan men wrote some surprisingly erotic letters and sermons about being “brides of Christ.”