Comments on: Theologizing Superheroes (or, Revealing my Inner Geek)

By: Jus

Jus — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:31:57 +0000

Thanks for your response, Amos. Glad it resonated with you!

By: Amos Clearwater

Amos Clearwater — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:26:24 +0000

Thank you for this wonderful page, I’ve really enjoyed the topic. I’m like you a lover of the superheroes and often I fatigue myself on talking at their favour while everybody sees them as a stupid fable for children. Your thoughts help me to find a new way to explain to the shallow people that what literaturedoes with its characters is just creating symbols we have to link to our everyday’s life. My favourite superhero was He-Man when I was a baby which isn’t so different from Superman (and actually they met each other once on a comic book). Anyway what you say about Christ is pretty effective, Christ had to sshow superpowers to be taken seriously and when he refused to use them against the weak humans who were killing him (because they didn’t know what they were doing) he accepetd his death. So the comparison is significant I agree…

By: fullerstudent

fullerstudent — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:28:53 +0000

Justin, this explains so much. I always knew you reminded me of someone…

By: Justin Fung

Justin Fung — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:05:35 +0000

Thanks, Aaron. I think any narrative can be taken to support our own narrative. So Superman can be both an analogy for Christ’s humility and servanthood, and a metaphor for America’s ‘innocent’ use of its power. Israel’s chosenness can be an inspiration both for the church’s continuing mission to be a light to the nations and for America’s chosenness as a Christian nation. Even the sacrifice of Christ can be taken and applied to the church and to the American nation, with positive and negative overtones. So … I suppose it all comes down to how you interpret it.

By: aaronhuffman

aaronhuffman — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:02:59 +0000

I love the post and I am also a big fan of superheroes. Superman was also one of my favorites, especially as a kid, but over the years his story has bothered me. Superman has too much: to many powers, to much strength, and only a couple of weaknesses. I resonate with your thought of him always feeling torn by being Earth’s hero but not a human. However, I feel that his story feeds the American myth to the brink. A man that has too much and has to choose how to use that power. You did a good job of noticing that he chooses to be a servant instead of ruler and I feel that in a way America has taken that same stance. We are trying to be portrayed as servants to the rest of the world; yet there are times when I feel we look more like bullies or even rulers to the world. This idea definitely feeds the idea of American innocence, especially when we try to hide behind the big “S” on our chest.