Entering my office door recently I found a Birthday card with my Bat-likeness on it, and the following cryptic missive:No Batman it's not your birthday It's time to explain your theology.
Is Robin the son? Is Alfred the father?
Are you moving in the Spirit, Batman? What motivates you to save the city?
Is your cosmos confined to Gotham City? Are you a Southern Baptist in disguise?
Here is an easy one Batman:
WHO AMI?
I am three yet I am one
For theologians I'm a sum
One makes three and three makes one
(To Freud and Jung I am none)
Most explanations are unsatisfactory
Nicene defines me as homoousion to patri
Unless you answer simple and plain I'll tell the world that you are... Bruce Wayne!
The Riddler
I am three yet I am one
For theologians I'm a sum
One makes three and three makes one
(To Freud and Jung I am none)
Most explanations are unsatisfactory
Nicene defines me as homoousion to patri
Unless you answer simple and plain I'll tell the world that you are... Bruce Wayne!
The Riddler
?
Holy conundrums Boy Wonder! Let's see what comes out if we run it through the Bat Computer. The first four lines refer to the Trinity, but from then on it seems to be the Son who is in view ("homoousion to patri" meaning "the same as (in the sense of being of one essence with) the Father. As for the identity of the Riddler (aka Edward [E.] Nigma) I thought at first it was one of my Introduction to Theology students but the reference to Freud and Jung makes me wonder if it might be one of my Apologetics students instead. Hmmm, the plot thickens.
To help you with process of elimination, I can emphatically state that it's not me.
ReplyDeleteThough I know none of the usual suspects (your students or colleagues, for instance), I'd have to say that regardless of "The Riddler's" seeming knowledge of Nicene theology he (I'm assuming The Riddler is male...everyone knows Batman has female archrivals like Catwoman and Poison Ivy, for instance) is truly a sick, evil, cruel villain. Who else would call a Wesleyan pastor-theologian a Southern Baptist! Happy Birthday, Batman.
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