{"id":1652,"date":"2011-08-29T14:54:59","date_gmt":"2011-08-29T18:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=1631"},"modified":"2011-08-29T14:54:59","modified_gmt":"2011-08-29T18:54:59","slug":"redemption-in-science-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html","title":{"rendered":"Redemption in Science Fiction: Saving Anakin Skywalker and Melody Pond"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I have long been struck by the profundity of Star Wars\u2019 vision of redemption<\/a>. While many Christians treat it as a given that the casting of Satan, Hitler and perhaps the majority of human beings into a lake of fire for eternity is a satisfactory outcome, Star Wars offers \u2013 as do some Christians \u2013 a vision in which the effective way to overcome evil is not to kill the enemy but to win them back from evil to good. And thus I loved this poster which Mason recently shared<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It is from the web site of a group called \u201cPeople of the Second Chance.\u201d The web site comments on the poster as follows<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In Hollywood history, Darth Vader is ranked as one of the biggest bad guys of all time. There has never been a more cold-blooded killer.<\/p>\n

This guy didn\u2019t even blink when deciding to destroy the entire planet of\u00a0Alderaan<\/a> and its inhabitants with the Death Star.<\/p>\n

And yet, even Vader found redemption. Why? Because Luke Skywalker believed that there was something more than just hatred behind that black mask and respirator.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019ve shared thoughts about this before. But seeing this poster, and watching the emphasis on the redemption rather than punishment of Melody Pond in \u201cLet\u2019s Kill Hitler,\u201d I thought I would repost something I wrote several years ago<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Origen famously created controversy in his day by merely speculating on the possibility that even the devil could be saved. It is important to ask why this idea should be controversial in a Christian context. Allegedly, Christianity is all about redemption, about the possibility of those living in darkness seeing the light and changing direction. Yet even today a question about praying for the devil on\u00a0Yahoo! Answers <\/a>meets with either surprise or the response \u2018there would be no point\u2019.<\/p>\n

I was struck when teaching a course on\u00a0South Asia <\/a>in which we read the\u00a0Ramayana<\/a> how, after the hero Rama defeats the demon Ravana, he sees the latter\u2019s inner self, with the selfishness and bitterness burned away in the battle. Similarly, Star Wars presents Luke Skywalker redeeming his father, even though even Anakin himself is persuaded that it is too late for him. Yet reading John 8 once again as we reached that passage in the Sunday School class I teach, I couldn\u2019t help noticing how absolute (almost Zoroastrian) its depiction of the devil is \u2013 a liar and murderer \u201cfrom the beginning\u201d, which I suppose could mean from creation (as in the\u00a0Life of Adam and Eve<\/a>), but sounds like it is simply saying \u2018he was always that way\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Biblical writings do not have a consistent doctrine of Satan or \u2018the devil\u2019 \u2013 most of it is based on the application of texts from Isaiah and Ezekiel that originally referred to the kings of Babylon and Tyre to a fallen angel. So perhaps it is not that surprising to find that there isn\u2019t a coherent view of what it would mean to hope for the ultimate reconciliation of all things either.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not all sci-fi reflects a stance that evil should be overcome through redemption rather than destruction. Indeed, lots of sci-fi is shoot-\u2019em-up battles between (usually human or humanoid) good guys (with or without white hats) and alien bad guys. But that\u2019s all the more reason to take notice of exceptions such as Star Wars and Doctor Who.<\/p>\n

Which sci-fi depictions of redemption, if any, do you find profound or significant, and why?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have long been struck by the profundity of Star Wars\u2019 vision of redemption. While many Christians treat it as a given that the casting of Satan, Hitler and perhaps the majority of human beings into a lake of fire for eternity is a satisfactory outcome, Star Wars offers \u2013 as do some Christians \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,133,80,91,101],"tags":[584,1846,2451,2648,2765,2838,7245,9937,10438,10792,10885,10890,11822],"class_list":["post-1652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-doctor-who-science-fiction","category-religion","category-star-wars-science-fiction","category-theology","tag-anakin-skywalker","tag-christianity-religion","tag-darth-vader","tag-devil","tag-doctor-who","tag-dr-who","tag-melody-pond","tag-ramayana","tag-river-song","tag-satan","tag-sci-fi","tag-science-fiction","tag-star-wars"],"yoast_head":"\nRedemption in Science Fiction: Saving Anakin Skywalker and Melody Pond<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have long been struck by the profundity of Star Wars' vision of redemption. While many Christians treat it as a given that the casting of Satan, Hitler\" \/>\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\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Redemption in Science Fiction: Saving Anakin Skywalker and Melody Pond\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have long been struck by the profundity of Star Wars' vision of redemption. While many Christians treat it as a given that the casting of Satan, Hitler\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-29T18:54:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/--nQKzbB9O50\/TluI7roE3pI\/AAAAAAAABvk\/BqboC7ewY-k\/s1600\/Never_Beyond_vader.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html\",\"name\":\"Redemption in Science Fiction: Saving Anakin Skywalker and Melody Pond\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-29T18:54:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-08-29T18:54:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"I have long been struck by the profundity of Star Wars' vision of redemption. While many Christians treat it as a given that the casting of Satan, Hitler\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Redemption in Science Fiction: Saving Anakin Skywalker and Melody Pond\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Redemption in Science Fiction: Saving Anakin Skywalker and Melody Pond","description":"I have long been struck by the profundity of Star Wars' vision of redemption. While many Christians treat it as a given that the casting of Satan, Hitler","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Redemption in Science Fiction: Saving Anakin Skywalker and Melody Pond","og_description":"I have long been struck by the profundity of Star Wars' vision of redemption. While many Christians treat it as a given that the casting of Satan, Hitler","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2011-08-29T18:54:59+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/--nQKzbB9O50\/TluI7roE3pI\/AAAAAAAABvk\/BqboC7ewY-k\/s1600\/Never_Beyond_vader.jpg"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html","name":"Redemption in Science Fiction: Saving Anakin Skywalker and Melody Pond","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-08-29T18:54:59+00:00","dateModified":"2011-08-29T18:54:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"I have long been struck by the profundity of Star Wars' vision of redemption. While many Christians treat it as a given that the casting of Satan, Hitler","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/redemption-in-science-fiction.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Redemption in Science Fiction: Saving Anakin Skywalker and Melody Pond"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}