Thursday, June 15, 2006
Jesus as Hero
Andy Jackson quite kindly linked to this blog post for me. The author looks at a brief segement from Newsweek's Beliefwatch column on religousity in Superman and some other comic book figures as well.
Literary heroes, super ones included, usually fail the "Christ test" in one of the two ways. Either they do not really "die" so their resurrection is somehow phoney, or they lack Christ's perfection so that their death and resurrection may bring salvation from some earthly dilemma to some, but never eternal redemption to all.
Christ is a highly unique literary, historical, and spiritual character. When i read about books like the Skelton one mentioned in the pull quote, I always wince a little. Why do we feel a need to tell the story of Jesus out of a story like Superman? By so doing we risk both diminishing Christ's story by making it appear more pedestrian and giving the appearance that Superman is the archetype instead of Christ.
Whenever pop culture strikes someone in the church tries to capitalize on it. Remember all those books trying to pull Christianity out of "the Force" when Star Wars first came out? What bothers me is that we have so little faith in the power of Christ, His story, and the Holy Spirit that we feel the need to "capitalize" on pop culture in this fashion.
I love my superheroes, regular readers know that - but I love my Lord more. What's more, I know that unlike Superman, who is purely fictional, when I'm in trouble I can actually rely on Jesus.
Related Tags: Superman, Jesus, faith, truth, literature
Yes, Superman is a Christ figure. "A heavenly father sends his only son to save the Earth; in his mission or ministry, he will fight for truth and justice; he will die and be resurrected; he will ascend into heaven, and now is the time of his second coming," says Stephen Skelton, author of a new book "The Gospel According to the World's Greatest Superhero." "This is the story of Superman."From a literary standpoint, Superman is indeed a Christ figure, but then all heroes based on the archtypal models are, from Homer's adventurers on down. But there are limits to the comparison, as there are to all analogies.
Literary heroes, super ones included, usually fail the "Christ test" in one of the two ways. Either they do not really "die" so their resurrection is somehow phoney, or they lack Christ's perfection so that their death and resurrection may bring salvation from some earthly dilemma to some, but never eternal redemption to all.
Christ is a highly unique literary, historical, and spiritual character. When i read about books like the Skelton one mentioned in the pull quote, I always wince a little. Why do we feel a need to tell the story of Jesus out of a story like Superman? By so doing we risk both diminishing Christ's story by making it appear more pedestrian and giving the appearance that Superman is the archetype instead of Christ.
Whenever pop culture strikes someone in the church tries to capitalize on it. Remember all those books trying to pull Christianity out of "the Force" when Star Wars first came out? What bothers me is that we have so little faith in the power of Christ, His story, and the Holy Spirit that we feel the need to "capitalize" on pop culture in this fashion.
I love my superheroes, regular readers know that - but I love my Lord more. What's more, I know that unlike Superman, who is purely fictional, when I'm in trouble I can actually rely on Jesus.
Related Tags: Superman, Jesus, faith, truth, literature
