I'm reading this book by Michael Bird at the moment. Enjoying it. A couple of interesting ideas that I'll blog on sometime...But. Given the obsession with star wars in our household, let me share this:
Bird, comparing the figures of Christ and Adam in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, offers this analogy:
In want of a modern analogy, George Lucas's six-part saga Star Wars can be called a "Tale of Two Skywalkers", and in many ways mirrors the Adam-Christ contrast of Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, where Adam and Christ stand for the two respective heads of humanity. They are representatives or types of either a corrupted humanity (Adam) or a redeemed humanity (Christ). The first Skywalker (Anakin Skywalker) faced the temptation to give in to the dark side of the force: he gave in to it and death, destruction and chaos followed. In contrast, the second Skywalker (Luke Skywalker) faced the same temptation, but was faithful and obedient to the Jedi vocation, and consequently hope, life and the triumph of good followed. In fact, Luke was able to redeem the first Skywalker, his father Anakin, from evil through his faithfulness (pp. 42-43).
I shared this analogy with the kids this evening. Nathan was rather taken with it and our conversation ended with him saying, 'thanks mum for telling me about that!'
I've thought for some time that we need an Adam vs Christ gospel tract. Maybe it should have a Star Wars cover.
Simone,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words on the book. I hope you enjoy it. I try to find one star wars parallel in every book I do. I wrote an article sometime back called, "Obi Wan Kenobo, Neo, and Mark's Narrative Christology" which looked as messianic figures in the movies and compared it to Mark's Gospel. What was funny was that I gave a college presentation on it and my boss thought that Obi Wan was the name of a Japanese theologian! But I actually have seen a gospel tract that uses Star Wars for its analogies! For the Star Wars freaks at home, I think here of your husband Andrew, I recommend John McDowell's book "The Gospel according to Star Wars" but it is definitely not for kids and is quite technical in terms of theology and culture. McDowell was lecturer in Systematics at Edinburgh Uni but is now at New Castle University is NSW. Blessings!
The books not bad but I say check out the index that is all my hard work..
ReplyDeleteRef to october we will all be out then. I'm bridesmaid, the girls flowergirls and "wee" markus is page boy. Hopefully I can stay on after because my uk visa expires in November and I don't want to renew ;)
he he!
ReplyDeleteDare you to work a star wars illustration into your interview... Extra points if you can do it when someone asks you an inevitable TR question. (TR = truly reformed - local lingo)
Naomi. Well done on the index. I'm enjoying the ancient stuff. Maybe we could meet in October?
i'd love to met up in oct, we'll chat closer to the time
ReplyDeleteSimone,
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that I actually want the position (and if I don't get it my mother-in-law will hire a hit man to beat me to death with a very sharp pineapple!) so I might hold off on the Star Wars stuff which not everyone "gets".