Review: The Gospel According To Star Wars by John C. McDowell

[lazypadawan]

Yet another Christian-themed book about the SW saga, "The Gospel According To Star Wars" sets out to show that the six films teach moral lessons that are relevant to Christians. The author, a "Meldrum Lecturer" of theology at the University of Edinburgh, makes his case by referring to the Bible, various theologians, and articles about the movies. McDowell in the introduction jokes that the book is to prove to his non-comprending wife there's value to his endless discussion about SW with his sons. McDowell is knowledgable enough, even though he does make a couple of factual errors.

To the book's credit, McDowell understands the movies pretty well and for the most part he is favorable to the saga as a whole. He critiques various essays, reviews, and articles written about the movies, secular and religious, as he goes on to make his points. Chapter Four on The Tragedy of Anakin Skywalker is an excellent analysis even if it is a little light on the Christianity. His chapter on the Theology of SW on the other hand reads like a SW-themed seminary lesson on the nature of the Force and what it means for Christians.

It's a little jarring to see him drag the EU into his discussions because while Lucas's company rubber stamps these books, they're not stories Lucas created. You can't discern Lucas's intent from what happens in "Shatterpoint." But where McDowell loses it for me is his insistence on dragging in his left-wing politics. This was annoying enough in books like "Star Wars On Trial" but it was doubly irritating in this book because I expected the Gospels, not socialism. While he dismisses the notion that ROTS was a screed against the Bush administration, he certainly finds the ink to discuss his grievances about the deceased President Reagan. He praises collectivism and decries "individualism," "consumerism," and the free market. What made my eyes glaze over were his sniffy attitudes toward the U.S., disdain for the idea of moral clarity, and his absolute pacifism. McDowell does not seem to understand, or just doesn't want to understand, the right of free people to remain that way. Tyrants generally don't want to sit down and chat over tea to work it all out. Even Lucas has that figured out.

While this book has its high points, if you want a better Christian discussion about SW, go with Star Wars Jesus or the completely apolitical Finding God In A Galaxy Far, Far Away.

Comments

[matril.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I expect I'd probably prefer the Finding God one; I'm always irritated when people bring politics into religious discussion. But I'm happy to see there's a number of books out there acknowledging the religious quality of Star Wars.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too. It's one of the things about SW that sets it apart from nearly everything else. It's great a lot of people of different backgrounds find something of spiritual value in the saga.

[may-child.livejournal.com]

I'm not Christian -- I don't follow any particular faith, actually, though I do believe in a higher power. One of the things I like best about SW is that it is of no particular faith, either. It is, to paraphrase Morpheus in "The Sandman," of all faiths, in its fashion.

Review of McDowell

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, enjoyed your review, and I'd be very grateful if you'd be happy to indicate the factual errors you mentioned. I thought I and my SW obsessed proof readers had been extremely careful, but obviously not careful enough. We'll just have to leave the political thing to one side for the moment, especially since I was providing a study of Lucas while also explaining something of what theology can do (theologians in Europe and much of N. America have relatively modest socialist-style sympathies). I do very much apologise, though, if it jarred for you - it was, among other things, an exercise in encouraging debate, conversation and further thinking.

I can be reached at
j.mcdowell@ed.ac.uk

Many thanks
John

Re: Review of McDowell

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

I'll have to dig back through the book, but I'll be happy to provide specifics for you whenever I have time. Thanks for reading my humble little review.