A new book recently released through WinePress Publishing called Star Wars Jesus: A Spiritual Commentary on the Reality of the Force. The book is written by Caleb Grimes. I haven’t read the book, so please do not take this post as any kind of statement for or against this actual book. I promise this is not a review!
But of course, I do have something to say: This kind of book, the one that takes one piece of pop cultural fare and squeezes every last spiritual truth out of it, is always a strange journey for me. On one hand, I think it’s cool that someone is able to watch both trilogies of Star Wars and see a thread of Christian thought throughout. To be honest, you don’t have to be brilliant to notice a semi-Christian message in many parts of the movies. Then again, you might have to be Christian, but you most definitely don’t have to be brilliant.
Here’s the deal; there’s the part of me that wonders if by doing a “hunt for Jesus” within every corner of popular culture whether or not we’re doing a disservice to the art and the artist. In other words, are we doing the art justice by literally outlining every possible Christian theme and turning it into a lesson for the faithful? And when does that stop? I mean, it’s pretty easy to take every good story that deals with the battle between good and evil and harness some kind of Jesus-infused faith out of it.
It’s one thing to look at Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings and decipher the Christian themes–both writers were Christian and they obviously allowed their faith to influence the allegory they wrote. But I guess I feel like sometimes Christians, in our longing to see the story of Jesus painted creatively in the culture at large, get a little over the top in trying to see Jesus in every work of art.
I do it, too, sometimes–perhaps more than I realize. But once in a while though, isn’t it nice to just a let a good story be just that–a good story? And by doing that, we’re allowing the one who partakes in the art to come up with their own conclusions. Sometimes–not always–this kind of product is as obnoxious as those Christian billboards I see when I drive from Nashville to Knoxville on Interstate 40–supposedly trying to point me and everyone who passes, to Jesus. Many of these types of books are like that for me, it’s like you’re enjoying a good movie and suddenly a billboard pops up and asks, “Hey you! You just missed Jesus in that scene between Darth Vader and Luke–he was there!”
Like I said, I’m guilty of it, too; seeing an advertisement for “Star Wars Jesus” just made me think of it.
Am I the only one who is at times bewildered by this?
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I totally agree with you. We all have our moments with this, but I feel like it is almost worthless. If you and I were to sit down and look at piece of art, we would both probably walk away with different interpretations. That is the beauty of art. What we fail to remember and comprehend is, God created the artist creating the art work. So of course we are going to see some or alot of God in a person’s artwork. Pointing out Jesus in art is like saying grass is green. I guess my point is people are making a lot of money right now from stating the obvious. I think if we just stopped every once in awhile and looked around us we would see alot of God (Jesus) in just about everything. Maybe, because he is the one who created it?
Glad I’m not on an island with this one, Scott. One of the beauties of art is the fact that two people can look at the same thing and come away with two different conclusions. Good art should have a thousand conclusions perhaps. However, those who take it and mold it up into a package to make it easier to digest for the faithful can get old very fast. Anyway, thanks for the comment, man. Peace.
Thought provoking post here which I will need more time to fully digest.
I think most will agree that the church has often been a cheerleader of didacticism. It is also painfully obvious that such a tool–the sledgehammer of moralism–can be hard to leave in the tool box. But I have come to suspect that even the emergent or emerging church, which I applaud for many reasons, is using pop-culture for its own purposes.
I think that in an effort to appear modern, or better-yet: post-modern!, church leaders are hyper-ventilating over everything they do and say. Is it relevant? Is it edgy? Is it hip? Is it witty?
Because it is time-consuming to be original, they piggyback upon what has already been created and add a little twist or a lot of sermon!
Ministers are dipping their toes into the pool of awareness regarding relevance; but, in my humble opinion (and comfortably removed from the hotseat of leadership), are focusing on what is relevant to the seeker’s interest instead of what is relevant to the seeker’s need.
Of course, we must also consider that pesky issue of personality and hard-wiring of the brain. Some of us feel compelled to analyze everything we experience. In the words of my very wise fifteen year old, “Mom, can’t you just shut up and let me enjoy the movie? Give me that remote…no more pause button for you!” 🙂
To Matthew Paul Turner: You are not on an island, I also agree with much of what you have said, and I’m the author of Star Wars Jesus. If you take the time to read it, you will find that I actually mention many of your points. I do think many spiritual realities in SW are hidden to those who don’t know better, so I do not agree that what I have written about is obvious. Star Wars fans are much more likely to be materialists than spiritualists.
To Scott: I have lost money on this book.
To ttm: I am not a minister, but have written the book out of love for SW, which does differentiate my book from many like it.
Peace, Caleb