Disney Princess Theology

Yesterday we reflected on one of the reasons why the piece of the Christmas story about Herod murdering innocent children is seldom spoken of in churches. Today we’re looking at the second reason.

In the message on Sunday, Brenna pointed out that seldom do those with privilege identify correctly with biblical characters. As Erna Kim Hackett pointed out:

“As each individual reads Scripture, they see themselves as the princess in every story. They are Esther, never Xerxes or Haman. They are Peter, but never Judas. They are the woman anointing Jesus, never the Pharisees. They are the Jews escaping slavery, never Egypt. For citizens of the most powerful country in the world, who enslaved both Native and Black people, to see itself as Israel and not Egypt when studying Scripture is a perfect example of Disney princess theology. And it means that as people in power, they have no lens for locating themselves rightly in Scripture or society — and it has made them blind and utterly ill-equipped to engage issues of power and injustice.” - Erna Kim Hackett

Those of us with privilege keep thinking we’re the heroes in the story, when it’s far more likely that we are the villains. The apostle Paul speaks to this issue directly: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment. - Romans 12:3

For those of us who have spent more of our lives at the margins of society, disconnected from privilege, there can be an invitation to rethink our places there as well - to make sure we don’t think of ourselves “more lowly than you ought” to flip the script on Paul.

Talk with Jesus today about what it might look like to see yourself in proper perspective.