{"id":7058,"date":"2016-01-08T10:19:41","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T15:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/?p=7058"},"modified":"2016-01-08T10:19:41","modified_gmt":"2016-01-08T15:19:41","slug":"may-the-force-be-with-you-had-a-christian-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2016\/01\/may-the-force-be-with-you-had-a-christian-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"“May the Force Be With You” Had a Christian Influence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

With the success of \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens,\u201d<\/a> a 2014 interview with producer Gary Kurtz <\/a>(\u201cStar Wars: A New Hope\u201d and \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back\u201d) was making the online rounds again and pointed out the fact that the phrase \u201cMay the Force Be With You\u201d had a Christian influence.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the pertinent part of the interview by Chris Taylor, author of \u201cHow Star Wars Conquered the Universe,\u201d<\/a> which also reveals how the idea of the Force evolved in the storytelling process: <\/p>\n

\nOn how The Force evolved through different drafts of the script \u2014 with the benefit of Kurtz\u2019s student textbooks on Comparative Religion.
\n<\/strong>
\nAt one time, the energy [of the Force] was all tied up in crystals, in the \u201cKaibur Crystal.\u201d That was the source of the Force. But we had no time to deal with exposition about esoteric religion. What we were looking for was a simple handle on something that could be explained really quickly.<\/p>\n

You know, when you\u2019re out in the real world, religion is identified by handles. You\u2019re either a Christian or a Muslim or a Jew or a Buddhist<\/a> or Hindu. As soon as you say one of those words, you know what\u2019s behind that, even if you haven\u2019t studied any of those religions. You know kind of what that person might be like.<\/p>\n

We wanted something like that with a religion that nobody\u2019s ever heard of. So the idea of the Force is this energy thing. The fact that Ben Kenobi could say in one sentence pretty much what it was all about, and then we move on.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how it got boiled down to practically nothing \u2014 and it worked much better that way, much better.<\/p>\n

We did have long discussions about various religious philosophies, and how people related to them, and how we could simplify it. \u201cMay the Force be with you\u201d came out of medieval Christianity, where \u201cmay God go with you\u201d was a symbol that you would be safe. We wanted something as simple as that, an everyday expression that linked to the power of the Force that wasn\u2019t overbearing. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the success of \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens,\u201d a 2014 interview with producer Gary Kurtz (\u201cStar Wars: A New Hope\u201d and \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back\u201d) was making the online rounds again and pointed out the fact that the phrase \u201cMay the Force Be With You\u201d had a Christian influence. Here\u2019s the pertinent part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":488,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,55],"tags":[105,120],"class_list":["post-7058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-movies","tag-films","tag-media"],"yoast_head":"\n"May the Force Be With You" Had a Christian Influence<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With the success of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," a 2014 interview with producer Gary Kurtz ("Star Wars: A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back") was\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2016\/01\/may-the-force-be-with-you-had-a-christian-influence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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