Would the fact that Superman is the “longest running fictional character ever” support or undermine my claim that he typically functions as an anti-Christ figure?
I should observe that God himself was considered and rejected for the appellation: “It should be noted, however, that those who would proffer the cheeky suggestion that Our Father Who Art in Heaven is a fictional character are godless heathens and/or Theology majors. Anyway: Troublemakers. Let us pay them no heed.”
The latest take on the “What Would Jesus Do?” (WWJD) phenomenon is passed along by Allen Galbraith of Life is a Journal (HT: Lifehacker).
Allen’s advice: “When dealing with difficult people imagine how one of your role models or heroes would deal with them.” Allen notes the possibilities of using Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, or Jesus as part of this thought experiment. But he also notes, “You could even use fictional characters as role models. In my case I would use Jean Luc Picard or Palmer Joss (from Contact) or Shepherd Book (from Firefly).” Lifehacker includes the example of Batman, who “would probably choose to either A)distract the perp with a new gadget or B)walk away and hide in his Bat Cave.”
I’m reading John W. de Gruchy’s Confessions of a Christian Humanist, and despite some rather disagreeable elements to his theology, he does have quite a few valuable insights.
Here’s what he says in the context of Nietzsche’s derision of Jesus Christ contained in The Anti-Christ:
Christian reviewers take the new take on the Man of Steel many different ways:
Steven Greydanus likes it.
Thomas Hibbs doesn’t.
Keith Howland likes it.
Peter Chattaway doesn’t (very much).
None of these has anything on Acton’s own Jordan Ballor, however, who analyzes the film with penetrating insight (or X-ray vision, as one is tempted to say…).
A host of Christian and secular commentators have trumpeted the similarities between Superman and Jesus Christ in light of the forthcoming movie, Superman Returns.
Many Christians embraced the Superman hero when a trailer for the new movie was released using the words of Superman’s father Jor-El, voiced by Marlon Brando: “Even though you’ve been raised as a human being you’re not one of them. They can be a great people, Kal-El. They wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I sent them you… my only son.”
Read more on Anti-Christ Superman: The Superhero and the Suffering Servant…
