Shaw and the Cross

I finally finished plowing through George Bernard Shaw's Androcles and the Lion. Generally, I like Shaw's plays, and his prefaces are also usually quite fun to read. (For those who have never read Shaw, the published versions of his plays usually include a long preface he wrote in which he expounds upon his philosophy of life and how the play illustrates that.)

This play was short, very short--41 pages in my edition.
This preface was long, very long--100 pages in my edition.

The play was just silly. A number of Christians are about to be fed to the lions and within 41 pages, we find out every one of the Christians was merely shamming and that none of them actually believe any Christian doctrine at all.

The preface set out to prove just one point:

Jesus, properly understood, is exactly like George Bernard Shaw. Before Peter started going around telling Jesus he was the Christ, Jesus was just a proto-George Bernard Shaw. But, when Jesus started being told he was divine, he let it go to his head and he started getting absurd and then went and committed suicide on the cross because he really did believe he was God.

Fortunately, Shaw never let his fame go to his head.