Today in my class on Revelation, we were up to chapter 12, which features, on the one hand, some classic imagery depicting a battle between Michael and Satan and their angelic hosts, while on the other hand, it features a subversive reinterpretation of the way such battles are envisaged, since it describes the “counquerors” in Revelation 12:11 as follows: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” They conquer by laying down their lives, rather than by taking the lives of others.I was reminded in this context of a quote, the author of which I am afraid I cannot recall. The gist of it was to ask why, in view of such texts as this, we still find Christians depicting or envisaging spiritual warfare as a slightly-Christianized version of He-Man vs. Skeletor.
In sharing this image, I also realized it was dated (although some students got it). Who would be the best equivalent to use for current students? Power Rangers? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Some other folks I’ve never heard of?
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