Review of Bishop Robert Barron`s “Seeds of the Word”

The book “Seeds of the Word” by Robert Barron dissects films, books, politics and

culture in a way that is fundamentally motivated by the love of God, truth, and the

Church. The book is divided into four sections. The first part, “Imago Dei,” talks about the

pop culture and its relationship with philosophy and religion. Barron demonstrates that

even the most recent blockbusters utilizes elements of theological truth. The second

section, “Take and Read,” analyses books such as The Hobbit and The Shack throwing

some religious questions to season the discussion. “City on the Hill,” my favorite part, is

where Barron unveils his political and religious agenda. He avoids the “Fetishes of

dialogue” by showing his defense for the Catholic Church, that, according to him, is

currently under attack of people with blind tolerance and unintelligent discourse.

Definitely, the Church is not just something he and his crew work by – it’s clearly

something they live by. Barron closes the book with “Rays of truth,” where he presents

us with a miscellaneous of subjects and how they are all under the influence of the

grandeur of God. He does it in an energetic, sophisticated, and exciting way. “Seeds of

the Word” is a book to return whenever you finish watching, reading or listening to one

of the subjects in the spectrum of discussion that it provides us. Robert Barron invites us

to leave our personality behind and, temporarily, see through the eyes of others, to look

at the world with a brand-new perspective.

Superman, General Zod, and God v. The Clark Kent Theory

On the chapter “Superman, General Zod, and God,” Barron question the tension

between a state-controlled society and the individual autonomy, a dualism present in the

movie Man of Steel. The society throughout history has been falling into one of those two
ideals, freedom v. tyranny. Baron states that God surpasses both, since “any attempt to

deify the state, the king, or the self-asserting ego results in spiritual calamity.” He defends

a “theonomy,” in which God is the inner principle of law and justice in one`s life.

The Superman`s theory is fascinating; it says that all Superhero`s myth has a hero

and its corresponding alter-ego. Batman is Bruce Wayne. Spider-man is Peter Parker; they

need their uniforms and masks to become someone else, a super-hero. And, in that

sense, Superman differentiates from the others. He wakes up in the morning as

Superman, he was born this way, his uniform was made from the blanket that was

covering him when the Kents found him. His Alter-ego is Clark Ken. Superman disguise

himself as an insecure, fragile and weak man to blend between us, humans. That`s the

way Superman sees us, Clark Kent is Superman`s critique of the whole human race.

When Barron says that in the end, all the ideologies must kneel to God, I

understand. But God is not the Church. The church is to God what Clark Kent is to Super-

Man. A way to approach the divine, the incomprehensible, to men. We shouldn’t bow to

the institution, but to the ultimate values of God`s Grace.

The Gospel According to the Hobbit

On the chapter “The Gospel According to the Hobbit,” Robert Barron highlights

the influence of the Bible on Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit, and how the path of the

self-sacrificing love can lead to the teachings of Jesus Christ. A great evil power doesn`t

need a greater worldly power to be overthrown, but the opposite of that. Acts of kindness

can be responsible for the greatest changes. Gandalf says in the first Lord of the Ring`s

book that “Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it
to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment”. It is not up to us to

decide one`s fate. Is up to us to break the cycle of revenge and violence, through acts of

love, nonviolence, and forgiveness. Like the One Ring represents sin and corruption, often

bringing the worst in people. The pureness and loyalty of the Hobbits present a perfect

contrast to the evil in this world. “Many are the strange chances of the world,” said

Gandalf, “and help often shall come from the hands of the weak.”

Tolerance, Choice, Argument, and Religion v. The Beauty of the Broken

On the chapter “Tolerance, Choice, Argument, and Religion,” Robert Barron

manifest his ideas regarding the polarization between blind tolerance and unintelligent

discourse. He states that some things are given and not chosen. But to recognize the

“moral absolutes,” we must make a reconciliation with our thought. Overcome our

prejudices and realize the presence of God and how it transcends our traumas and fears.

Lasting reconciliation is achieved by emotional self-awareness, by embracing the

change agent of trauma. How they irreversibly reorganize elements of personality,

identity, and social reality. This idea of embracing our wounds our brokenness is

manifested quite poetically in the Japanese mending practice of Kintsugi, literally

meaning “Golden Joinery.” Kintsugi is the art of fixing broken pottery with lacquer resin

dusted or mixed with powdered gold. A technique that dates from the 15th century.

The art of kintsugi became famous for turning broken objects into pieces more

beautiful than the original product. The philosophy follows from a broader Japanese

aesthetic called Wabi-Sabi that finds beauty not in traditional in western ideals of
symmetry or geometry, but in Buddhist concepts of impermanence and imperfection.

The fractures on the ceramic bowl don’t represent the end of that object`s life, but rather

an essentials moment in its history. The flaws in its shape aren’t hidden from inspection

but emblazoned with golden significance.

The amazing art of kintsugi, a fading art like so many handcrafts, symbolizes the

truth that repair requires transformation. That the pristine is less beautiful than the

broken, and the shape of us is impossible to see until its fractured. Until a wound like a

crack runs its length. That`s when we need God as the ultimate criterion of truth and

justice. The “Moral Absolutes” that Barron present to us. Because, only with the absolute

virtues of God, we can find the gold to mend our brokenness.

“The World breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong in the broken

places.” – Ernest Hemingway

The cover

I found interesting how the cover of the book “Seeds of the word” relates to one

photography project that I made some time ago. They both question the status quo of

the pop culture. How it is all about appearances. How the deeper meaning is on our faces

and blurred at the same time. Often, consumers don’t know how to distinguish elements

of truth in popular works in our culture, even if it was based on the Gospel itself.
 The Picture #1 is all about the idea of advertisement`s elements and its function:

How it was supposed to be and how it is in fact. The billboards at the Times Square loses

its marketing function since it has become the landscape itself. Those elements are what

provides the identity of the space. Therefore, by cutting the billboards out of the picture,

and adding a negative copy on the background, the work highlights the idea of non-

function, of hyper-reality; a place where is impossible to relate for its uniqueness,

although it can be easily recognized. The spectator feels like a flanêur, a man in the crowd.

The Photography #2 composition-wise is the opposite of the first work but reinforces the

concept. This work is all about the negative, the white spaces. The only thing that

remained was the billboard`s shapes that were filled with distorted images of Time

Square. Again, the Billboard is what makes that space recognizable, even with its non-

existence, after all, its voids are all that remained.