Disney Princess Theology

It was an all too familiar scene.

A little kid in the grocery store who wanted something that his parents weren’t going to buy. Dad picked him up to carry him away, and immediately, he began screaming. And I do mean, screaming. Top of his longs, echoing across the store, furious, screaming.

Many people nearby, myself included, turned in concern that someone was hurting the child. He sounded like he was being slaughtered! But then we saw the parents dealing with a full-blown tantrum in the middle of aisle seven and we all knew.

We knew because we had been there. We could sympathize.  It’s practically a rite of passage, isn't it? The public tantrum of a child you are responsible for.

Later, I considered how easily we had related to the position of the parent. I wondered, though, if we ever relate to the position of the child? 

Are there not also occasions when we throw tantrums? When we are disappointed or angered even over not getting something we wanted, something perhaps we even prayed for, something we expected from God? Don't we, too, sometimes have a fit, behave badly, or get out of control?

It is certainly more comfortable to relate to the parent example than the child. Especially if the parent is handling it well. We want to think of ourselves like them. We want to think of ourselves like the one who’s doing the right thing, even if they’re struggling, rather than like the one who’s in the wrong. 

This reminded me of a quote I came across the other day:

"White Christianity suffers from a bad case of Disney Princess Theology. As each individual reads Scripture, they see themselves as the Princess in every story. They are Esther, never Xerxes or Haman. They are Peter, never Judas. They are the woman anointing Jesus, never the Pharisee. They are the Jews escaping slavery, never Egypt.

"For citizens of the most powerful country in the world, who enslaved both Native and Black people, to see itself as Israel not Egypt when studying Scripture, is a perfect example of Disney Princess Theology. And it means that as people in power, they have no lens for locating themselves rightly in Scripture or society - and it has made them blind and utterly ill-equipped to engage issues of power and injustice. It is some very weak Bible work." - Erna Kim Hackett, Liberated Together

It’s funny because it’s true.

Churches preach a lot about the Pharisees as an example of what not to do, without realizing their own Pharisaic tendencies and behaviors. They preach on humility, without recognizing their own pride. They preach on purity, without seeing their own sins. This is why the non-believing world often sees the Church as hypocrites. And perhaps, rightly so.

We want to see ourselves as the hero in the story. We want to believe we are the good guys.

But, what happens when we’re not?

What happens when we're the ones in the wrong?

In the story of David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel, after King David did wrong by taking (basically raping) Uriah's wife and then bringing about her husband's death so he could have her as his wife, God sends the prophet Nathan to rebuke him. Nathan tells him a story about a rich man who took a poor man's beloved sheep. David is incensed and demands the rich man be punished. Only then does Nathan reveal the rich man is David. And he took far worse than a sheep.

David didn't see himself in the story. He didn't see himself as the bad guy. He was so full of pride and privilege and power that he was unable to see his own failings.

Are we like David in this example? 

Are we so full of pride and privilege and power that we can't see our own failings? White Evangelical Christianity has been the dominant culture in the US for a long time. That has come with a great deal of privilege. And now, there is a strong push in our country to change things, to make society more equitable, and the Church is pushing back (primarily through politics, law-making, and legal battles). Thus, the surrounding culture is seeing us more and more as the bad guy.

But we don't see it.

We still think we're the hero.

If we can't find a way to refocus our lens, we will lose a lot more than a "culture war". 

We may just lose our soul.