{"id":6612,"date":"2012-03-05T23:12:48","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T04:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=6612"},"modified":"2012-03-05T23:12:48","modified_gmt":"2012-03-06T04:12:48","slug":"darth-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/03\/darth-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"Darth Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I found this online while looking for something else. It definitely sits at the intersection of religion and science fiction:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Someone added the comment<\/a>:<\/p>\n

And now abideth anger, fear, aggression, these three; but the greatest of these is anger.<\/p>\n

Darth Jesus can feel your anger. He wants to give you focus and make you stronger.<\/p>\n

All Darth Jesus asks is that you strike him down with all of your hatred, and your journey toward his side will be complete.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Personally I find the merging of the images of Jesus Christ and Darth Vader more striking when considered in light of the full story of Star Wars. While the idea that one of Gnosticism\u2019s defining features was a \u201credeemed redeemer\u201d<\/a> has been shown to be at odds<\/a> with much of the textual evidence, that is in a very real sense what Anakin Skywalker is. He is the \u201cchosen one\u201d and gets caught up in the dark side, but in being redeemed through the help of his son Luke, he finds redemption and defeats evil.<\/p>\n

Gnosticism may or may not generally be characterized by a redeemed redeemer<\/a>, but Star Wars is.<\/p>\n

If Jesus is viewed in a similar fashion, in the sense that he is not viewed as someone devoid of human frailty and sinfulness, but someone who shared in them and yet manages to overcome them in a fashion that moves from sharing in a culture of prejudice to opposing prejudice, and from shunning the impure and sinners to touching and dining with them, doesn\u2019t that make Jesus a more impressive figure rather than less?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I found this online while looking for something else. It definitely sits at the intersection of religion and science fiction: Someone added the comment: And now abideth anger, fear, aggression, these three; but the greatest of these is anger. Darth Jesus can feel your anger. He wants to give you focus and make you stronger. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[131,141,42,91],"tags":[584,1454,2451,3996,5677,6766,10089,10090,10146,10885,11822],"class_list":["post-6612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-religion","category-gnosticism","category-humor","category-star-wars-science-fiction","tag-anakin-skywalker","tag-bultmann","tag-darth-vader","tag-gnosticism","tag-jesus","tag-luke-skywalker","tag-redeemed","tag-redeemer","tag-reitzenstein","tag-sci-fi","tag-star-wars"],"yoast_head":"\nDarth Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I found this online while looking for something else. 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