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A wise man rides in from the desert on a camel-like creature. He presents an infant -- perhaps the "chosen one" who will redeem the universe, according to prophecy -- to his adoptive parents. The question is inescapable: Is little Luke Skywalker a stand-in for Jesus?
"The image of an out-of-the way place, the birth of a child, the promised one, the one that provides hope -- there's a lot of parallels to the birth of Christ," says Dick Staub, author of "Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters."
Now apparently complete, the "Star Wars" saga is giving theologians almost as much to contemplate as it has given moviegoers. Much has been made of the near-religious devotion fans have had to George Lucas' six films, but "Star Wars" also has spawned book battles, with writers claiming the movies for their own faith traditions.
Is the series just a jumble of many faiths and traditions? A fanciful meditation on the nature of evil? Or a six-part Christian allegory about the fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker, the central character who becomes Darth Vader?
Christian elements
Staub and another author argue that the movies have strong Christian elements, while the head of an evangelical seminary insists the movies are anti-Christian, Trojan horses for New Age beliefs.
Reg Grant, a specialist in media and communication at Dallas Theological Seminary, agrees up to a point with Staub about the Christian imagery at the end of the latest "Star Wars" installment.
"Is he presented as the chosen one?" asks Grant. "Sure. The sun is rising, his parents are gazing into a new dawn."
But using this sequence to call "Revenge of the Sith" a "Christian movie" may be "reading too much into it," Grant says. "The main Christian element of the six films is redemption through sacrifice."
There is a critical difference between the biblical Nativity and the movie's, says the Rev. John Yake: Skywalker is not Jesus.
He saves the galaxy, but he does not herald the end of an age or a final, divine judgment, says Yake, a Catholic priest and the author of "Star Wars and the Message of Jesus: An Interpretive Commentary on the Star Wars Trilogy."
What is the Force?
The final scene in Sith may come from another part of the New Testament, according to Reggie Kidd of Reformed Theological Seminary in Oviedo, Fla.
"Perhaps that scene is supposed to bring to mind the exile of baby Jesus into Egypt," he says. "There's too much symbolism" to ignore from a Christian point of view, he says, including one character's virgin birth and a slaughter of young innocents.
Nature of the force
Much of the debate centers on the nature of the Force, which Lucas told Time magazine in 1983 was God. Sixteen years later, Lucas told Bill Moyers that he put the Force into Star Wars "to try to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people -- more a belief in God than a belief in any particular religious system."
Some Christians compare the Force to the Holy Spirit. Others reject this notion because, with a light side and a dark, the Force has a duality. Also, as Obi-Wan Kenobi explains to Luke, the Force can be commanded.
"Theologically, there seem to be nods in many directions, from Zen Buddhism to Confucianism to Hinduism to Christianity," Kidd says.
The Force is "antithetical" to Christianity, says Norman Geisler, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, N.C. "It differs on every major point."
The Force is impersonal rather than personal; its nature is both good and evil, dark and light; it offers reincarnation, rather than resurrection, says Geisler, author of "Religion of the Force."
"It's a pantheistic religion," in contrast to monotheistic faiths such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam, he says.
Worse, he says, "it's a Trojan horse for New Age beliefs. Parents send their kids to the theaters thinking they're going to be entertained, but they're really getting indoctrinated into an Eastern belief system that is contrary to their parents.'"
Eastern faiths
Although they might disagree with the term "indoctrinated," followers of some Eastern beliefs see their own faiths reflected in the films.
Dr. John Porter, a University of Arizona trauma surgeon, believes Taoism is the predominant theme.
"One way to describe the Force is the universal energy that surrounds all beings and connects everything -- that's the Tao," says Porter, author of "The Tao of Star Wars."
And much like the Force, "balance and harmony are the essence of Taoism," he says. "Both elements exist in everything -- good and evil."
When characters talk about "walking a path," and when Yoda warns Luke to get rid of attachments, "those are Taoist principles as well," says Porter, who is also a professor of clinical surgery.
However, "The Dharma of Star Wars" argues that the series is essentially Buddhist.
"The quest for peace, for justice -- I can apply Buddhism to those themes very easily," says Matthew Bortolin, author of "The Dharma of Star Wars."
"In the saga, a lot of the dialogue is about mindfulness, concentration, letting go and just the general meditation," says Bortolin, an educational consultant who waited 30 hours to see the first midnight show of "Revenge of the Sith" in Los Angeles.
The diminutive character Yoda is very much like a Zen master. "Meditation is confronting ourselves and the Dark Side elements within us," he says "Buddhism is about the human condition.
Of course, followers of many religious traditions would say the same thing. Some believers in Judaism see their view of the human condition depicted in Lucas' movies. Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld sees clear similarities between "Star Wars" mythology and Jewish mysticism.
"I remember after having learned more about Jewish tradition, I became convinced that Lucas must be Jewish!" says the rabbi, author of "The Art of Amazement: Judaism's Forgotten Spirituality."
Lucas has described himself as a "Buddhist Methodist."
No exculsive claim
However, no religion has an exclusive claim on the Star Wars imagery, says Rabbi Scott Sperling, who discussed "Star Wars" in an adult-education class in the early 1980s at the Synagogue for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles.
"Any film gives you the opportunity to read into it what you will," he says.
Now regional director for the Mid-Atlantic Council of the Union for Reform Judaism, Sperling has seen all the previous "Star Wars" movies multiple times, and he can still do a dead-on imitation of Yoda.
Among the identifiably Jewish elements Sperling sees in the series are "the importance of ancestors, and ... of wisdom that is passed from one generation to the next. And discipline, that religion is designed to maximize the inclination toward good, and minimize the inclination toward evil. Seeking the good is the highest calling of a human being."
Still, some ministers remain convinced that Christian symbolism is predominant in the saga.
In the first "Star Wars" episode, "A New Hope," Obi-Wan Kenobi sacrifices his life to save Luke. Just before he does, his light saber and Darth Vader's form a cross. In "The Empire Strikes Back," Vader tempts Luke in a conversation that seems lifted directly from the Gospels, where Jesus is tempted by the devil. When Luke rejects Vader's offer, and falls from the catwalk, he lands on an electronic weather vane, which also forms a cross.
These scenes invite some Christians to explore the religious dimension of the films.
A small Presbyterian church in Cincinnati completed the first month of a three-month course called "The Gospel According to Star Wars" just as the latest installment opened in theaters.
The course is the latest in a series, says the Rev. Russell Smith of Covenant-First Presbyterian Church, who is using a Bible study program developed by congregation members.
"Christianity teaches the truth behind these stories that resonate deeply," says Smith, who from 1996 to 2000 attended divinity school at Reformed Theological Seminary, where he was a student of Kidd's.
The purpose of such courses, he says, is "seeing the hints of truth, beauty and goodness out there in popular culture, out there in fine art and how these things point us back to God. They become a springboard into some very deep, powerful conversations."
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