Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim) (28 page)

Campus evangelist
Curtis Chang
explains this rhetorical strategy as threefold: “1. Entering the challenger’s story, 2. Retelling the story, 3. Capturing that retold tale with the gospel metanarrative.”
[40]
He writes that the challenge of each epoch in history is a contest in storytelling, a challenge to “overturn and supplant the inherited story of the epoch with its own metanarrative…The one who can tell the best story, in a very real sense, wins the epoch.”
[41]

The defense of the gospel in this hostile epoch requires muscular Christians to enter into the narratives of our culture and retell those stories with bold fresh perspectives. I have repeatedly used J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis as examples of subversive authors who entered into the genres and mythology of pagan worlds to harness them for Christian imagination. Tolkien’s Middle Earth abounded with the mythical Norse characters of wizards, dwarves, elves, giants, trolls, and others. Lewis’s Narnia is saturated with a plethora of beasts from assorted pagan mythologies, deliberately subjugated to the Lordship of Aslan.

I am a filmmaker, so I think in terms of movies. We need more storytellers to tell vampire stories with a Christian worldview (
The Addiction
); more zombie stories with a Christian worldview (
I Am Legend
); more demonic stories with Christian redemption (M. Night Shyamalan’s
Devil
); more post-apocalyptic thrillers that honor God (
The Book of Eli
); more subversion of adultery (
Fatal Attraction
), fornication (
17 Again
), unbelief (
Paranormal Activity
), paganism (
Apocalypto
), humanistic anti-supernaturalism (
The Last Exorcism
), and our “pro-Choice” culture of death (
The Island
).

I will e
nd with a question and a charge. With two exceptions, why were all these movies that subversively incarnate the Christian worldview made by non-Christians instead of Christians? Rise up, O Christian storytellers and subvert ye the world’s imagination!

About the Author

Brian Godawa is the screenwriter for the award-winning feature film,
To End All Wars,
starring Kiefer Sutherland. It was awarded the Commander in Chief Medal of Service, Honor and Pride by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, won the first Heartland Film Festival by storm, and showcased the Cannes Film Festival Cinema for Peace.

He also co-wrote
Alleged
, starring Brian Dennehy as Clarence Darrow and Fred Thompson as William Jennings Bryan. He previously adapted to film the bestselling supernatural thriller novel
The Visitation
by author Frank Peretti for Ralph Winter (
X-Men, Wolverine
), and wrote and directed
Wall of Separation,
a PBS documentary, and
Lines That Divide
, a documentary on stem cell research.

Mr. Godawa’s scripts have won multiple awards in
respected screenplay competitions, and his articles on movies and philosophy have been published around the world. He has traveled around the United States teaching on movies, worldviews, and culture to colleges, churches and community groups.

His book,
Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment
has been released in a revised edition from InterVarsity Press. His book
Word Pictures: Knowing God Through Story and Imagination
(IVP) addresses the power of image and story in the pages of the Bible to transform the Christian life.

Find out more about his other books, lecture tapes and dvds for sale at his website
www.godawa.com
.

Caleb Vigilant is 6th in a Series!

Sign up to Receive News and Updates of the Series with each New Volume!

www.ChroniclesOfTheNephilim.com

Watch the trailers, listen to the audio commercial, stay informed.

Enoch Primordial
is one chapter of the series saga
Chronicles of the Nephilim
that charts the rise and fall of the Nephilim and just what their place is in the evil plans of the fallen sons of God called, “The Watchers.”

Book 1,
Noah Primeval
, reveals the hero’s journey of Noah that leads to God’s first act of justice against this diabolical plan of the Watchers: The Deluge.

The Prequel, or Lost Book 2,
Enoch Primordial
tells the forgotten story of the original descent of the Watchers on Mount Hermon and their introduction of the Nephilim into the created order.

Book 3,
Gilgamesh Immortal
tells the story of the first Giant King after the Flood, Gilgamesh of Uruk and his epic search for eternal life.

Read the rest of the series to discover just how far the Seed of the Serpent will go in its war on the Seed of Eve.

BOOKS BY BRIAN GODAWA

When Giants Were Upon the Earth: The Watchers, Nephilim, and the Biblical Cosmic War of the Seed
By Brian Godawa

The Appendices of the
Chronicles of the Nephilim
Together in One Book.

The bestselling Biblical fantasy novel series
Chronicles of the Nephilim
has opened a door for Christian imagination and theology like none other. But many have appreciated the appendices of each novel as much as the novels. In those appendices, author Brian Godawa shares the Biblical and ancient historical and mythical research that undergirds the fiction. Now all those appendices have been placed together in one book for those who want serious study of the topics of the Watchers, Nephilim, and the Biblical Cosmic War of the Seed
.

This book has the special bonus of a previously unpublished chapter on the Book of Enoch, as well as a newly expanded chapter on the Sons of God. But it also contains the appendices of the last two Chronicles,
David Ascendant
and
Jesus Triumphant
before their release!

Chapters Include:

1) The Book of Enoch: Scripture, Heresy or What? (Bonus
Chapter)

2) Sons of God (Newly expanded from
Noah Primeval
)
3) The Nephilim
(from
Noah Primeval
)
4) Leviathan
(from
Noah Primeval
)
5) Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography in the Bible
(from
Noah Primeval
)
6) Retelling Bible Stories and Mythic Imagination
(from
Enoch Primordial
)
7) Gilgamesh and the Bible
(from
Gilgamesh Immortal
)
8) In Defense of Ancient Traditions
(from
Abraham Allegiant
)
9) Mythical Monsters in the Bible
(from
Joshua Valiant
)
10) Canaanite Baal and Old Testament Storytelling Polemics
(
Caleb Vigilant
)
11) Goliath was Not Alone (from
David Ascendant
)
12) Jesus and the Cosmic War (from
Jesus Triumphant
)

To order books and products by Brian Godawa,

as well as FREE articles, just go to the STORE at:

www.godawa.com

Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment
By Brian Godawa

With the sensibilities of an award-winning Hollywood screenwriter and the sensitivities of a thoughtful Christian, Brian Godawa guides us through the place of redemption in film, the "tricks of the trade" that screenwriters use to communicate their worldview through their stories, and the mental and spiritual discipline required for watching movies.
Hollywood Worldviews
helps us enter a dialogue with Hollywood that leads to a happier ending, one that keeps us aware of our culture and awake to our faith.

Endorsements:

“Provocative and challenging. Even when I find myself disagreeing with Brian Godawa in his evaluation of a particular film, his cinematé and sophisticated point of view command attention.”

— Michael Medved, Film critic and author of
Hollywood Versus America
.

“Brian’s analysis is insightful and stimulating. Our Biblical values are colliding with worldviews in the movies, and Brian shows us why. Those values are also illuminated by intersecting with movies, and I find that especially exciting. We might even understand the Bible with more insight from seeing these connections.”

—
Ralph Winter, Producer
X-Men 2, Planet of the Apes, X-Men

To order books and products by Brian Godawa,

as well as FREE articles, just go to the STORE at:

www.godawa.com

Word Pictures: Knowing God Through Story & Imagination
By Brian Godawa

In his refreshing and challenging book, Godawa helps you break free from the spiritual suffocation of heady faith. Without negating the importance of reason and doctrine, Godawa challenges you to move from understanding the Bible
“literally” to “literarily” by exploring the poetry, parables and metaphors found in God's Word. Weaving historical insight, pop culture and personal narrative throughout, Godawa reveals the importance God places on imagination and creativity in the Scriptures, and provides a Biblical foundation for Christians to pursue image, beauty, wonder and mystery in their faith.

Endorsements:

“Brian Godawa is that rare breed
—a philosopher/artist—who opens our eyes to the aesthetic dimension of spirituality. Cogently argued and fun to read, Godawa shows convincingly that God interacts with us as whole persons, not only through didactic teaching but also through metaphor, symbol, and sacrament.”

—
Nancy R. Pearcey, Author,
Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity

“A spirited and balanced defense of the imagination as a potential conveyer of truth. There is a lot of good literary theory in the book, as well as an autobiographical story line. The thoroughness of research makes the book a triumph of scholarship as well.”

—
Leland Ryken, Clyde S. Kilby Professor of English, Wheaton College, Illinois. Author,
The Christian Imagination: The Practice of Faith in Literature & Writing
.

To order books and products by Brian Godawa,

as well as FREE articles, just go to the STORE at:

www.godawa.com