in the open space: God & culture

"That’s the great thing about brothers: You make mistakes, and they still love you." --Foreman in the "Emancipation" episode of House Recently, I ran across a wonderful kingdom image in the " Emancipation " episode of House , Fox's television series about the aforementioned savant-but-acerbic doctor who solves the most mysterious of medical cases. Foreman, another doctor in the series, is working on a case involving a young boy and discovers his illness is related to an overdose of children's vitamins. Turns out his older brother--who loves him deeply--had been giving them to him under the mistaken belief that it would make him stronger. Foreman reassures him that his little brother will be okay, but the boy groans that his brother will hate him. Foreman smiles and tells him, "That's the great thing about brothers: You make mistakes, and they still love you." Indeed, as the two walk out of the hospital, the younger brother reaches f...

House is about to unwrap the bandages from Apple’s eyes, a cornea transplant recipient who’s just had surgery to remove some tissue that was messing up the signals in her brain and affecting her vision without her knowing it, leaving her with a false perception of the world around her. House: The world is ugly. People kill. They go hungry. . . . People are a**es. Apple: Why are you telling me this stuff? House: Because the world is not as ugly as you think it is. Your transplanted cornea’s fine, your eye is fine. But your brain wasn’t working right. I’m going to take the gauze off your eyes now. It’s going to be bright. Apple (who’s been through this before): I know. House begins unwrapping the guaze from around her head. House (as he unwraps): The brain cells that weren’t brain cells were in the way of processing visual information correctly. After the transplant, you could see, but not see. Apple (not understanding): I could see. I could read. House: Yeah, but it was dull, ...

House is sitting in a conference room staring at a list of his patient’s symptoms on a board. Amber, a former fellow (who has demonstrated herself to be a lot like the selfish and caustic House), walks in. She is dating House's best friend Wilson, and House is sure that her involvement is shadowing an ulterior motive—most likely to get her job back with House himself. Amber walks over to stand between the board and House. Amber: You wanted to see me? House ( picking up his coffee cup ): And you came. Amber: I feel pretty confident it will be something interesting. House: Solve this case and the job is yours. Amber: Is there a “drop Wilson” clause attached to this? House: Standard contract all employees sign. Amber pulls out a chair and intentionally places it in front of House and between the board listing the symptoms. She sits in it, her back still to the board, and looks at House for a moment. Amber: Why do you have to believe I have an ulterior motive? House: For the s...

Last night, my hubby and I caught this week’s God-talking episode of House , Fox’s medical drama that follows the cases of recent Emmy-winner Hugh Laurie as the eccentric, caustic, damaged but brilliant doctor . The show occasionally dips into the realm of religion and faith, with House always the skeptic (though, at least in my opinion, seems to at some level harbor a glimmer of hope that he might be proven wrong). Most of the God-talk in this episode, which focused on House’s interaction with a rape victim named Eve, was murky and felt rather token (what I wouldn’t give to see faith portrayed as at least somewhat reasonable rather than just a feeling or need to believe). But there was a moment in the show that I thought captured something to which followers of Jesus can (and should) relate. That moment came as Eve was chastising House for lying to her about an abusive experience he supposedly endured, which he lied about in order to appear as if he was identifying with her own rape ...