About Two-Handed Warriors

Reimagining Faith and Culture One Story at a Time

What Inigo Montoya taught us about world-shaping leadership

Educators, filmmakers, ministers, and leaders of all stripes share a common desire to influence society for good. What we lack is a common language for understanding one another’s perspectives

by Gary & Sue Stratton 

“These were the men who came to David while he was banished from the presence of Saul. They were among the warriors who helped him in battle. They were able to shoot arrows or to sling stones with both the right and the left. Warriors who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.”      -1 Chronicles 12

One of Sue and my all-time favorite movie scenes occurs in William Goldman’s The Princess Bride. It is a comedic fencing duel between two expert swordsmen—Inigo Montoya (played by Mandy Patinkin) and the ‘Man in Black’ (Cary Elwes). Unbeknownst to either fencer, both duelists are fighting with the same secret– a lifetime of mastering swordplay not only with their right hand but also with their left. Under-estimating one another’s prowess, both decide to even the match by fighting with their left-hand.

As the duel builds to its hilarious conclusion, the combatants begin to realize that expertise in single-handed swordplay is completely inadequate preparation for battle with a true master. (Watch the movie clip below.)

Inigo finally exclaims:

Inigo Montoya: “I admit it, you are better than I am.”

Man in Black: “Then why are you smiling?”

Inigo Montoya: “Because I know something you don’t know.

Man in Black: “And what is that?”

Inigo Montoya: “I… am not left-handed.”

Switching his sword to his dominant hand, the tide of battle quickly turns in Inigo’s favor. At least until the Man in Black makes the same revelation, and the ‘fight is on’ once again. It turns out that becoming a two-handed warrior is essential to achieving your life mission—whether that mission is piracy, true love, or revenge.

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The Danger of One-Handed Swordplay

The writer of the book of Chronicles reveals a similar strength in the army of King David of Israel. One reason his warriors were so devastating in battle was their ambidextrous fighting abilities: “They were able to shoot arrows or to sling stones with both the right and the left.”  If one hand was injured, they could quickly switch to the other. If the angle was wrong for a right-handed shot, they could take it with their left. Their holistic preparation gave them a distinct advantage over enemies trained only in their dominant hand.

Sue and I hate to push the metaphor too far, but it seems to us that much of nation’s current failures in faith and culture stem from too many leaders with ‘single-handed’ limitations. Few institutions in modern society prepare men and women for holistic approaches to life. Careers in education, filmmaking, or business often demand a single-minded focus from an early age. Our parents and teachers recognize reward our dominant hand while we’re young and set us on a path that all but guarantees we become proficient in a very narrow range of human experiences.

This one-handed approach is perhaps most pronounced in the realms of faith formation and culture-making. Educational institutions, churches, and filmmaking communities all long to shape society for good, but often from drastically different perspectives.  Our efforts to influence culture often lead to demonizing and scapegoating one another. The most striking lesson of Sue and my seven-year ‘missionary journey’ to Hollywood is the depth of heartache many filmmakers carry due to the rejection and misunderstanding they’ve experienced in their interactions with faith communities and faith leaders.

Faith-Formation AND Culture-Making

This tension often spills over into our leadership roles as well. Leaders adept at culture-making—whether in Hollywood or the Ivy League—are rarely trained in the disciplines of faith formation. Leaders skilled in faith formation—whether in a local congregation or an international relief agency—are rarely trained in the art of culture-making. It is my firm belief that this dichotomy not only creates glaring blind spots in our leadership, it also robs us of a vibrant conversation with those from whom we have the most to learn.

For leaders interested in effecting broad societal transformation this dichotomy is even more devastating. Educators, filmmakers, ministers, often share common goals. What we lack is a common language for understanding one another’s perspectives. I believe that our only hope for leading our society out of our current cultural dead-end is our willingness to learn one another’s stories and the stories that shape us as a culture.

An Enriching Conversation that Sharpens

So we named this site Two-Handed Warriors in the hope it would grow into an ongoing conversation between filmmakers, educators, philanthropists, and faith leaders who aspire to become modern-day versions of the Inigo Montoya. Men and women devoted to expertise in BOTH faith formation and culture-making. Professionals who “understand the times and know what to do,” namely, that redefining faith and culture one story at a time is our best hope for accomplishing our respective missions.

Our friendships with filmmakers have transformed us in ways we could never have imagined. Their stories are so radically different from those of any college educator or spiritual formation professional we know, they help us see life from radically different perspectives.

Our students can tell the difference as well. We started using film in the classroom long before we moved to Hollywood. Now, we cringe when we think of how poorly I understood what I was teaching. Not that I am an expert now, Yet, the new understanding of story I gained in Hollywood pushed my teaching in spiritual formation and theology (two disciplines rooted in story) to an entirely new level. One of Gary’s students recently wrote in a course evaluation:

“[W]hat you are doing with this class is phenomenal. I don’t think I have ever looked as deeply into myself as I did for your course.  It gave me an entirely different perspective of movies and a greater understanding of their underlying worldview. Thank you for the soul-searching this course has awoken in me. God truly does send us guides through unusual mediums.”

None of this would have been possible without the awkward opportunity of learning to fight with our left hands. David’s son, Solomon, grew up in his father’s two-handed warrior household. He learned that swordsmen attain their mastery only where sparks fly. He later wrote, “As iron sharpens iron, so one friend sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).

We dream of TwoHandedWarriors.com helping many would-be Inigo Montoyas master the art of two-handed swordplay. Lord willing, we can not only foster transformational schools, films, businesses, and congregations, and forge lifelong friendships as well.

En garde!

-Gary & Sue