"What Jerry has done, in a masterful way, is go through and select portions of the Scripture and put words in Jesus' mouth that are legitimate because they already appear in the Bible"
About this Quote
LaHaye is trying to do a careful two-step: praise the craft while policing the borders of authority. Calling Jerry's work "masterful" flatters the technique, but the real labor of the sentence is legalistic. "Select portions" and "put words in Jesus' mouth" name the potential scandal outright - inventing speech for the divine - then immediately launder it with a procedural defense: "legitimate because they already appear in the Bible". The phrase turns inspiration into compliance. Jesus can be ventriloquized, LaHaye implies, as long as the script is pre-approved.
The subtext is anxiety about mediation. In many evangelical contexts, Scripture isn't just source material; it's the guarantor of doctrinal safety. So LaHaye frames the project as collage rather than imagination, a curated remix that pretends not to be a remix. "Already appear" is doing heavy lifting, suggesting that the act of rearranging, emphasizing, and recontextualizing doesn't change meaning - a claim that any reader knows is false in practice. Selection is interpretation, even when every word is canonical.
Contextually, this reads like an endorsement tailored for a marketplace where religious products must advertise fidelity: books, films, dramatizations of Jesus' life. LaHaye is offering consumers a warranty: you can trust this portrayal because it stays within the textual fence. It's a savvy move from a clergyman and culture warrior: bless the adaptation, but only by redefining creativity as faithful quotation.
The subtext is anxiety about mediation. In many evangelical contexts, Scripture isn't just source material; it's the guarantor of doctrinal safety. So LaHaye frames the project as collage rather than imagination, a curated remix that pretends not to be a remix. "Already appear" is doing heavy lifting, suggesting that the act of rearranging, emphasizing, and recontextualizing doesn't change meaning - a claim that any reader knows is false in practice. Selection is interpretation, even when every word is canonical.
Contextually, this reads like an endorsement tailored for a marketplace where religious products must advertise fidelity: books, films, dramatizations of Jesus' life. LaHaye is offering consumers a warranty: you can trust this portrayal because it stays within the textual fence. It's a savvy move from a clergyman and culture warrior: bless the adaptation, but only by redefining creativity as faithful quotation.
Quote Details
| Topic | Bible |
|---|
More Quotes by Tim
Add to List
