Ms. Zoba’s article about Fred Rodgers uses the fact that he was
ordained by the Presbyterian
Church as an evangelist to
work with
children and families through the mass media.and that Rodgers studied
theology with Dr. William S. Orr to support the argument for Rodgers'
use of
television as an evangelical medium. She then goes to
suggest that while his parents wanted him to be a minister he found a
way to use television to infuse his believes with children’s
programming, helping others along the way.
Anyone who grew up in the church can philosophize about the idea that,
while their parents went on to pursue the ministry through traditional
means, their life is a testament to how Christ is doing something new
in these last days of the Church, and their lives show how you can
serve god outside of those four walls. Take Denzel Washington whose
father was a minister. This is what he had to say in an interview to
Anne-Marie O'Neill, senior editor of
People Magazine, in a show aired
on CNN,
WASHINGTON: I was taking a semester off from school involuntarily. And
I was sitting in my mother's beauty shop, so I was looking in the
mirror here and I could see this woman looking at me. She said that she
was having a prophecy, which I probably didn't even
know what that
meant at that time. But she just said to me that, you know, I was going
to preach to millions of people, that I was going to travel the world
and I'm going to have something very important to say to millions of
people. Well, at the time, I was flunking out of college, so I was more
interested in like, do you
think I'll be in -- back at the school in
the fall semester? Do you see anything there?
They move onto
other topics but come back to the subject, much later,
WASHINGTON: For some
reason, I kept the piece of paper. I still have it. And I always felt
since that, you know, I do have a purpose and so I try to apply that to
what I do, to stay humble. And you know, for years, I thought, well, am
I supposed to go like become a preacher now in church. And life isn't
over. Maybe I will. I don't know.
Think of all of the
individuals in today's society that are famous whose parents worked in
the ministry; It is easy to see how the charisma and confidence that
comes from having that conviction and belief in god carries over to
those that surround you, and your own immediate family. In spite
of the positive roles that Denzel plays on the big screen it isn't his
faith that you think of when his name comes to mind, in contrast, there
are some key differences between Rodgers' work and that of other
self-proclaimed ministers who work in the secular environment, as
opposed to working for CBN, TBN or some other entity. For one
Rodgers did finish his theological training, something I doubt he would
have done had the calling to preach the world, one way or another was
not heavily upon his heart. Also, Rodgers took advantage of every
opportunity to help others along the way, something that many
Christians who are self-proclaimed fail to do, in spite of the fact
that they want to be perceived as such.
Zoba concludes the article by weaving together ideas about a
(television) programmer's responsibilities to their audience with
hubris of how found the perfect medium for which to pursue his calling
in television, yet when she attempts to support her premise by printing
Rodgers’ response to her asking him if the Neighborhood was indeed a
metaphor for heaven; she is ahead of herself as he did not answer the
question directly,
RODGERS: We deal with a lot of gritty stuff on the
Neighborhood —death, divorce, the need for childcare, separation, The
Neighborhood is not a Pollyannish state. When I think
about heaven, it is a state in which we are so greatly loved that there
is no fear and doubt and disillusionment and anxiety. It is where
people really do look at you with those eyes of Jesus.
This
examples the difficulties in illustrating the synthesis
between Christ's preaching and good values, because while Rodgers
stated that he was dealing with issues that impacted children by
digressing to the mindset of a child he was not specifically suggesting
that the Neighborhood was man's incarnation of heaven here on earth,
therefore the differences of opinion between those doing god's work and
those enamoured by the idea of someone doing it in a creative way.
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