Alternative Culture: The Theology of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

 

[The following post is dedicated to my wife, who loves Frieren: Beyond Journey's End]

One of the most popular anime nowadays is Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. I even see it traction among the Christian community who often regard it as the anime version of the Book of Acts.

In this post I want to explore the theology of this anime. I have watched the anime until season 2's end, so all my information is based on that. Furthermore, the creators of the series are probably not Christian, so any apparent relation to Christianity is accidental rather than intentional.

So what happens after the journey is completed?

Unlike most stories, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End takes place after the main quest have been resolved. The demon king is defeated by the human hero Himmel and his companions (one of whom is the elf Frieren). As a result, the story is focused on Frieren trying to find purpose after her quest is done (which includes finding and defeating the remnants of the demon king's followers)

This is similar to the Christian religion where Jesus had already defeated death and assured the salvation of mankind. All that is left with persuading humanity of the truth of the gospel. This immediate aftermath is covered in the book of the Bible called Acts.

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. - Acts 5: 41-42

Similarly, Frieren continues to do good with the mantra "what would Himmel do?".

Maturing over time

After Himmel's death (due to old age), Frieren wept. She had spent a good ten years with Himmel but yet she hardly knew him as a person. She understood his battle strategy, his values and his behaviour, but she did not know his personality, his likes and his philosophy. She had kept him at an arm's length, and only at his death she regretted not treasuring him.

Instead of staying at the stage of grief, Frieren moves on and starts her own journey and begins to understand Himmel better.

Similarly in Acts, the disciples of Jesus who once not understood that he was Messiah became transformed by friendship with Jesus and each other. They grew in their knowledge of Christ and became brave even in the face of persecution.

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all - Acts 4: 32-33

Beware false teachers

Another point that the series make is to beware of the lies from the demon mouth. In one instance, a demon loosely uses the word "mother" to appeal for mercy from humans. However, the demons were shown not to share the same morals -- they do not even have the concept of family.

This parallels the concept of false teachers in Acts. They appear to be fellow Christians, speak the same language or share the same values but seek to lead people astray.

I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
-- Acts 20: 29-30

Conclusion

In short, Frieren feels like a fantasy "Acts" because it captures the spirit of continuing the mission after the great victory — traveling, forming community, doing good, confronting evil, and grappling with time, loss, and eternity. That's why it resonates so deeply with Christian audiences even without intending to. 

Just bear in mind that:

A) Frieren is not allegory or propaganda. It's a secular Japanese fantasy with Buddhist/Shinto influences mixed in, focused on melancholy, slice-of-life pacing, and appreciating the present.

B) Acts is explicitly evangelistic and theological, centered on the Holy Spirit, resurrection, and salvation through Christ.

C) Frieren is slower and more introspective; Acts is full of dramatic miracles, persecutions, and church growth.

With Due Respect: Christianity has not stopped violence

 

Screenshot from Attila Total War

"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword."
-- Matthew 26:52

One of the new criticism I heard of Christianity is that it has not stopped violence. This is especially prominent during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. After all, both Russians and Ukrainians are mainly Eastern Orthodox Christians, and the Russian Church has endorsed the invasion.

However, this is myopic political and philosophical position. Just because one major church supports the war, it does not mean that Christianity as a whole has never stopped violence. We would not apply the same standards elsewhere. For instance, just because the Imperial Japanese of the 1940s were Buddhist, it does not mean all Buddhism is violent.

Furthermore, prominent church individuals have condemned the invasion of Ukraine. The former Archbishop of Canterbury (Head of the Anglican Church) condemned both Russian Premier Putin and the Russian Church for their actions. The Anglican Church has offered to open discussion with the Russian church with regards to peace.

Let me go back further and show some examples on how the Church as a system attempted to reduce violence in the world.

A) Papal mediation between Chile and Argentina
While I am not a Roman Catholic, I have to recognize the times when Roman Catholic Church has stepped up. In 1983, the Pope mediated a potential conflict between Chile and Argentina (both countries are majority Roman Catholic) and both countries renounced the use of force.

B) Just War theory (Thomas Aquinas)
In Medieval Europe when most nations claimed to be Christian, there were academic attempts to restrict violence. By giving clear criteria, nation states would need to meet a certain standard when waging war. 

Thomas Aquinas distilled a Just War to three conditions: the authority of the sovereign, the purpose of the war must be just, and finally the conduct and intent of the involved warriors 

C) Inquisition
Unlike popular portrayals on how violent the Inquisition (a church judicial system to root out heresy), the Inquisition was an attempt to reduce violent and rampant accusations of heresy.

In fact the Inquisition is considered to be the first attempt at a universal court system, where evidence is needed for a guilty verdict, and biased testimonies were dismissed. Some historians have even argued that the Inquisition laid the foundation for the modern legal systems of Europe. As a Singaporean, it is interesting to note that Singapore law is based on English Common Law which has parts of its origin in the Inquisition.

Conclusion
While one can claim that the culture of Christianity has led to violence, one must also acknowledge the efforts the church took towards towards peace.

HMS Hermes in flames, 1943

For more reading:
God's Philosophers (2009)

Alternative Culture: 2022 invasion of Ukraine

 

Ix Shen, a Singaporean who chose to stay in Ukraine to support his Ukrainian wife

On 24 February 2022, Russia launched an invasion into Ukraine. In this post, I will write about the actions of some Christians involved in the crisis.

State churches
Unlike Western and Asian nations, religion and state politics are not separate. Thus the Orthodox Churches in both Russia and Ukraine support their state.

This is evident as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, once called the Russian premier, Vladimir Putin, a "miracle of God." He also called on the Russian Orthodox Christians in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus to side with Russia and defend their "historic homeland".

On the flip side, the Ukraine Orthodox Church has called on the international community to defend Ukraine. On Twitter, Metropolitan Epiphanius I, the Church’s primate called on people to pray "for Ukraine, for victory, for our soldiers."

Other church leaders
Some church leaders in the Ukraine had chose to remain in the country to provide humantarian aid.

Vasyl Ostryi, pastor at Irpin’ Bible Church, wrote that he and his family (that includes 4 daughters) decided to provide medical and spiritual support, instead of evacuating. He stated, "if the church is not relevant at a time of crisis, then it is not relevant in a time of peace".

Northern Ireland missionaries, Timothy and Rhonda Sloan decided to stay in Ukraine to provide shelter to the needy. Timothy stated, "Rhoda and I are not leaving - how can we? As an elder in the Church, my responsibility is to shepherd at all times."

Conclusion

Let us pray that the conflict in Ukraine quickly reaches a peaceful resolution.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” - Jesus (John 16:33)

If you are Singaporean, and wish to help, you may find more information about the Red Cross here.

Theology 1.0: What were the crusades?

What were the crusades?

Every now and then, one must deal with the question of the Crusades. The Crusades were a military expedition sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church to invade and annexed territory from Muslims, pagans and heretics. Due to horrific atrocities committed during such expeditions, the Crusades are often used as a sore point to show that Christianity promotes violence.

The word "Crusades" have a negative connotation till this day. The Campus Crusade for Christ changed their name to Cru to avoid the controversy. The Roman Catholic and Orthodoxy churches had bad blood with each other because of the actions of the Fourth Crusade (the Crusaders sacked Orthodox churches during that Crusade).

For this post, I will be focusing the expeditions to the Holy Land (Judea and the surrounding territory) that lasted from 1095 to 1291.

Whose land?
Judea (roughly Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Egypt) once belonged to the Christian Eastern Roman Empire.

With the rise of Islam, Judea fell to Muslim armies during the 600s and 700s. In 1095, the Eastern Roman Emperor Alexios I asked Pope Urban II for military aid. Stirring religious emotion, many knights, nobles and even peasants committed to the cause.

Due to the success of the First Crusade (against overwhelming odds), the attractiveness brought more and more adherents to the cause. This resulted in escalation of violence, which included the massacre of 60, 000 Jerusalem inhabitants during the First Crusade and execution of 2, 000 Muslim prisoners during the Third Crusade,

Points to think about
While the Crusades left a dark stain on the perception of Christianity, let us note the following:

1) The Crusades was a military response to the loss of land
2) Wars have been fought in the name of religion, and Christianity is hardly immune to it
3) Atrocities were committed by all sides.

For further reading:

wikipedia

Alternative Culture: Youth Shunning religion in Singapore

Singapore's leading newspaper, The Straits Times recently published an article about the drop of number of religious believers.

In this post, I will not be questioning the validity of the findings, nor will I be criticising the purpose of such an article.

I simply want to what the article (if true) means in terms of theology.

Religion on the decline

The article claims that that the trend is due to an increasing number of people being brought up in nominally-religious families. This is expected -- if God becomes less important in our daily lives, worship would cease.

According to the article,

"Academics and religious leaders The Straits Times spoke to said the trend of non-religious affiliation is in tandem with an increasingly educated populace, some of whom might move away from religion if it does not connect with their lives and needs."

This is especially true for those in the nominal Protestants, where our sense of tradition is less pronounced than our Muslim and Buddhist friends.

Moral without God

According to a Mr Seah in the article,

"I don't think I need divine guidance to make a right or wrong decision. Reason alone can guide such decision- making"

And if Christianity is simply about making people moral, then Mr Seah is correct. One can carry out moral actions without believing in anything.

What I would argue is that it is hard to have a source of morality without religion. Mr Seah's world view may sound ideal, but it fails to answer the question of whose reasoning should reign supreme. As we all know, everyone reasons differently.

Conclusion
Christianity is more than just moral teaching or tradition. Other religions, and atheism can provide that. Christianity is about knowing the identity of God and loving him.

And I wished more people knew that.

With due respect: Church is not important!

Recently in a taxi ride, I discussed the importance of church with the driver. While my driver so happened to be a Christian, he does not attend church as he feels that attending the church is not important.

Maybe he is disappointed with church leadership, or disillusioned with the friendships he made. Nevertheless, I decided to dedicate this post to explain the importance of church (a community of believers).

God has chosen the church to effect his will
"His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." -- Ephesians 3:10 - 11

Firstly the church is important because God has chosen to made Himself known to the world via the church. Thus to diminish the importance of church is to deny God's will for it.

The community of believers is a pillar of truth
"if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth." -- 1 Timothy 3:15

Secondly, the church provides a structure of support and guidance for believers. As shown above, Apostle Paul writes that in his absence, that Christians should look to the church for instruction.

Conclusion
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
-- John 17: 20 - 23

Ultimately to be in the church is to follow the commands of Jesus. Reading the above carefully, we see that Jesus wanted the believers to be united. And in this way, the whole world will recognise that God loves them.

Alternative culture: The City Harvest Case

St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, July 2011

Recently, five members of the City Harvest Church (including the pastor) were arrested. City Harvest Church is one of the biggest churches in Singapore.

Now, if you came to this site for a legal analysis on what happened-- you will not find it in this blog. If you came over here for a theological discussion and expect me to criticise the theology of City Harvest Church, you will not find it here either. Personally, I have never heard any sermon from City Harvest, so I do not want to write about something I know nothing about.

Nevertheless, some of my friends have approached me to blog about the incident, and I shall obliged them. This my stand, short and simple. I will pray for them.

My temptation
I must confess that I am tempted to cut City Harvest  from the community of Christians, by making sweeping statements like the following:

"It's not my church!"

"They weren't really Christians in the first place!"

But the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthains 12:26:
If one part [of the church] suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

So as a Christian, I must not take joy or self-righteousness from the trials that City Harvest is going through now.

God of justice
Often we Christians just portray God as slow to anger, and abounding in love (Jonah 4:1-2). However, we often forget that God is just.

In his struggles, King David wrote in the Psalms 11:7:
For the Lord is righteous,
    he loves justice;
    the upright will see his face.


As Christians, we should be concerned with social justice (helping the needy and the poor) and legal justice (doing things according to the laws of the state).

Conclusion
So my prayer is this-- if the involved parties are guilty, let them be charged. If they are innocent, let them be free. Above all, God's will be done. That's all I'm willing to blog about the matter.

With Due Respect: The Church persecuted Galileo for his scientific views!

Tower of Pisa, Italy 2009

Galileo, the man, the myth
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) is often portrayed as a man ahead of his time. After all, he was a brilliant astronomer and mathematician. Appointed to the chair of the University of Pisa in 1589, he was spent the next twenty years making groundbreaking scientific discoveries.

The story of the man himself is often used as an example of how Christianity inhibits scientific discoveries. Galileo is shown as a man who was the first to show that objects of differing weights fall at the same speed, disgraced Aristotle's theories, proved Copernicus's ideas (of heliocentrism; the idea that the earth moved around the stationary sun) right, and ultimate irked the Roman Catholic Church with his findings so much that they finally persecuted him. A fascinating tale-- too bad none of it is true (Hannam, 2011).

Wait, what?
First of all, the idea of falling bodies moving at the same speed was already being championed by the scientific community at that time, as part of the project to show that the Greek philosopher Aristotle was wrong among many things. Secondly, Copernicus's ideas had already been proven by Johannes Kepler. And lastly, the Roman Catholic Church placed Galileo under house arrest for political reasons, rather than scientific or theological reasons. For the purpose of this post, I will be focusing on the apparent conflict between Galileo and the Roman Catholic Church. (Hannam, 2011)

Welcome to the 17th century
During the early 1600s, the prevailing view of astronomy were that of Aristotle's. The heavens (which could neither be generated nor decayed) were moving in concentric circles, with earth at the centre.

In 1609, Galileo was making astronomical observations using a brand new scientific equipment-- the telescope. After noticing more stars in the universe than previously thought, he observed sunspots and lunar craters. This suggested that the heavens were not unchangeable and perfect circles as Aristotle thought. More importantly, he noted that the planet Venus had different shapes at different times-- sometimes a complete disk, sometimes a semi-circle, and sometimes even barely visible. This made him conclude that Venus did not revolve around Earth; it revolved around the Sun.

The die-hard Aristotelian professors were eager to reject Galileo findings in advance. His colleague, Giulio Libri (c.1550-1610), Professor of Aristotelian Philosophy at the University of Pisa had trouble seeing through the telescope, and when he died, Galileo remarked that he could probably see the moons of Jupiter "on the way to heaven". This statement suggested how Galileo treated his opponents publicly, and it was no surprise that Galileo had few friends later in his life.

Ironically, it was the Jesuits (the Roman Catholic order of monks dedicated to education) who first warmly received Galileo's findings. The Jesuit Christopher Clavius (1538-1612), the most respected astronomer at that time confirmed his discoveries, and planned to set about ideas to reform astronomy (Lattis, 1994). The problem for Galileo now was that even though his observations contradicted the Aristotelian model of astronomy, he could not prove Copernicus's.

You mean there is another model?
Years earlier, another astronomer named Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) proposed his system of astronomy-- the earth was stationary, the Sun went around the earth, and everything else moved around the sun. After Galileo presented his work in 1611, Tycho's model became the preferred one over Aristotle's, and Copernicus's.

Furthermore, Copernicus's model was already in a bad light--Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino (1542-1621), the 'Consultor of the Holy Office and Master of Controversial Questions', was unconvinced that the Copernicus model was true (as it had yet to be demonstrated) and an Italian theologian Paolo Foscarini (1565-1616) had been aggressively advocating the Copernicus model. Thus in 1616, Copernicus's Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres was suspended from public till it's correction (Hannam, 2011).

Vatican City, 2009

Friends in high places
In 1623, Galileo's good friend, Cardinal Maffeo Barberini (1568-1644) ascended the papacy to become Pope Urban VIII. Earlier that, Galileo published Il Saggiatore ('The Assayer'), mocking Jesuit Orazio Grassi(1583-1664)'s theories about comets. Grassi had argued that comets were further from the earth than the moon, while Galileo insisted that comets were an atmospheric illusion. (Incidentally, modern science concurs with Grassi.) Pope Urban VIII enjoyed the Il Saggiatore, and composed a poem in Galileo's honour.

Taking advantage of his new-found favour with the Catholic Church, Galileo travelled to Rome in 1624 to meet with the pope to explain his advocacy of the Copernicus model. Despite meeting Galileo no less than six times, Pope Urban VIII remained unconvinced. While he did not consider the Copernicus model heretical, he was unsure if it was correct either. He encouraged Galileo to treat the Copernicus's ideas as a hypothesis, rather than a fact, and asked Galileo to publish a book comparing the three models of astronomy (Aristotelian, Tycho and Copernicus). Pope Urban VIII was actually asking Galileo to be more open-minded in this case (Hannam, 2011)

But Galileo took the pope's kindness for granted
So in 1632, Galileo wrote Dialogue Concerning The Two Chief World Systems. In it, he portrays the astronomical debates as a discussion between an academic named Salviati (who represented Galileo), a Aristotelian simpleton named Simplicio and a biased chairman named Sagredo (who always agrees with Galileo's views).

When Pope Urban VIII read the book, he was furious. Some of the pope's doubts and arguments against Copernicus's models were placed in the mouth of Simplicio. Furthermore, Galileo's book omitted Tycho's model entirely, even though Galileo's "evidences" for Copernicus's model could also be applied to Tycho's (Finocchiaro, 1989)*.

And Galileo's punishment? He was NOT burnt, tortured or even flogged. Despite his soured relations with the pope, Jesuits and academia, he was placed under house arrest, and lived in comfort till his death in 1642.

Conclusion
So in the life of Galileo we learnt that
a) Despite Galileo being right about Copernicus's models, he did not prove it scientifically or observationally, although he showed it to be superior to Aristotle's (but not Tycho's).

b) The Roman Catholic Church did not go after Galileo because his findings were a threat to Christianity, but because he was extremely rude to his colleagues and superiors. He was persecuted for personal (and perhaps political reasons).

c) Although this example often crops up a science vs Christianity case study, it is a misrepresentation of issue.

Let me be clear-- Galileo was a great scientist and presenter. He was able to write fluently and present his scientific ideas as a coherent whole. However, his attitude got the better of him.

References
Finocchiaro, M.A. (1989) The Galileo Affair

Lattis, J.M. (1994) Between Copernicus and Galileo

Hannam, J. (2011) God's Philosophers

Further reading
Bethinking

*Galileo's evidences for a rotating earth mainly included the existence of tides in the waters. He argued that tides exist because of the inertia experienced by the waters as the earth moved. However, it was not convincing at that era because if he was right, we would been experiencing great winds all the time. Now we know tides are caused by the moon's gravitational effect on the waters (Hannam, 2011).