Star Wars -- the only parable in town<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Rev. Calvin Miller is one Southern Baptist preacher - a seminary professor, no less - who openly admits that he communed with the Star Wars faithful\" \/>\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\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Star Wars -- the only parable in town\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Rev. Calvin Miller is one Southern Baptist preacher - a seminary professor, no less - who openly admits that he communed with the Star Wars faithful\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Terry Mattingly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"1999-06-02T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-30T18:38:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\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\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/\",\"name\":\"Star Wars -- the only parable in town\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"1999-06-02T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-30T18:38:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"The Rev. Calvin Miller is one Southern Baptist preacher - a seminary professor, no less - who openly admits that he communed with the Star Wars faithful\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Star Wars — the only parable in town\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\",\"name\":\"Terry Mattingly\",\"description\":\"On Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/author\/tmatt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Star Wars -- the only parable in town","description":"The Rev. Calvin Miller is one Southern Baptist preacher - a seminary professor, no less - who openly admits that he communed with the Star Wars faithful","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\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Star Wars -- the only parable in town","og_description":"The Rev. Calvin Miller is one Southern Baptist preacher - a seminary professor, no less - who openly admits that he communed with the Star Wars faithful","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/","og_site_name":"Terry Mattingly","article_published_time":"1999-06-02T12:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-30T18:38:07+00:00","author":"tmatt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tmatt","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/","name":"Star Wars -- the only parable in town","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website"},"datePublished":"1999-06-02T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-30T18:38:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1"},"description":"The Rev. Calvin Miller is one Southern Baptist preacher - a seminary professor, no less - who openly admits that he communed with the Star Wars faithful","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Star Wars — the only parable in town"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/","name":"Terry Mattingly","description":"On Religion","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1","name":"tmatt","description":"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/author\/tmatt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":1081,"date":"1999-06-02T08:00:00","date_gmt":"1999-06-02T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/02\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/"},"modified":"2013-01-30T13:38:07","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T18:38:07","slug":"star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1999\/06\/star-wars-the-only-parable-in-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Wars — the only parable in town"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

He pretty much got what he expected \u2013 high tech fantasy and lowest-common-denominator mysticism, stone-faced knights and wisecracking sidekicks ready for toy-store shelves. George Lucas keeps offering a pinch of Freud, a shot of Oedipus and a baptism into Buddhism<\/a>. Miller grimaced, but wasn\u2019t shocked, when the mythmaker even tossed in a virgin birth and a messianic prophecy.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe have to understand that people are out there hunting for metaphors to help them make sense of their lives,\u201d said Miller, who teaches preaching at Samford University\u2019s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala. He also has written more than 30 works of fiction and nonfiction, including a set of poetic novels entitled \u201cThe Singer Trilogy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThis is what we all do. We pick a metaphor and then we indulge ourselves for 50 or 60 years. Some people change in midstream. \u2026 We need metaphors and narratives that tell us who we are. It shouldn\u2019t surprise anyone that millions of people find these big stories at the movies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

In the classroom, Miller tries to convince seminarians that pastors should help people interpret the myths they buy at the mall \u2014 to separate the wheat from the chaff. Preachers also can lay claim to a rich Judeo-Christian heritage of storytelling, he said. In the Bible, the doctrine and the drama are intertwined. For centuries, rabbis told dramatic stories and then interpreted them. Priests inspired the young with vivid accounts of the lives of the saints.<\/p>\n\n

In other words, the fires of hell would not consume the sanctuary if a preacher dared to speak the words \u201ca long time ago\u201d and then told a parable in the pulpit.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cNo one can deny that art and drama and icons and stories are important parts of human life and have been part of the church\u2019s traditions for centuries,\u201d said Miller.<\/p>\n\n

But this is a tough sell, these days. In most congregations, the word \u201csermon\u201d means a verse-by-verse explanation of scripture, perhaps enlivened with occasional illustrations from daily life. Thus, most people hear academic lectures at church, then turn to mass media to find inspiring tales of heroes and villains, triumph and tragedy, sin and redemption, heaven and hell.<\/p>\n\n

Part of the problem, argues Catholic writer Roberto Rivera, is that science has claimed the right to define what is and isn\u2019t real. Scientists, of course, insist that truth be found through propositions and hypotheses, not through symbols and stories. In response, the church has tended to ask worshippers to subscribe to a list of propositions about God, rather than offering them sweeping, dramatic narratives about God\u2019s work in history.<\/p>\n\n

Yet people still yearn for stories that feed the soul. If traditional religious groups keep offering \u201carid propositions that leave us cold and bored,\u201d people will seek other sanctuaries, said Rivera. The Star Wars series is merely one example of this trend toward stories that are highly commercialized, yet undeniably spiritual.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIf you want to engage people where they really live, you\u2019ve got to reach for more than their heads or even their hearts,\u201d said Rivera, a researcher with the Wilberforce Forum led by evangelical leader Chuck Colson. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to engage their imaginations. \u2026 If you want to teach moral lessons, there\u2019s no substitute for a good story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Thus, legions of Lucas disciples fill their homes with icons and statues and gather on thousands of World Wide Web sites. Many yearn for a personal audience with Lucas. Star Wars has a lot going for it as a spiritual story, noted Rivera. Its devotees don\u2019t have to get up on Sunday mornings and there\u2019s no moral code to make them uncomfortable.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe problem,\u201d he said, \u201cis that, after you\u2019ve lined up, memorized the dialog and made the pilgrimage to Skywalker Ranch, what have you got to show for it? And, heaven forbid, what if \u2018The Phantom Menace\u2019 disappoints? What\u2019s your fallback position? After all, it\u2019s still only a movie.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"