Blazing Reader:
The idea that the saviour is the figure who dies and resurrects is a representation, in dramatic or narrative form," says Jordan Peterson in his 2022 Easter Letter.
Over Easter weekend, I reread the crucifixion and resurrection story (from the Gospel of St. John) to my son Jonah. I couldn't help reflecting how the theme of a resurrected saviour is depicted in the world's longest running science fiction series, Doctor Who.
The lead character, known as the Doctor, is an extraterrestrial being who looks and dresses like a British bloke. His mother was an earthling, his unearthly father a Time Lord. Every week or so, he materializes on earth to save mankind from evil bug-eyed aliens that want to either exterminate or enslave us.
Inevitably, every couple seasons, the Doctor will be forced to make the ultimate sacrifice of his own life. Arms outstretched like Jesus on the cross, he dies and comes back to life with a regenerated body...
Which begs the question, is Doctor Who (intentionally or otherwise) a Christ metaphor or... was Jesus really a Time Lord?
In the end, as Peterson says in his Easter letter, both are stories about "the eternal narrative: stability, crisis, death, transformation, rebirth. That's the story of our lives.'
Stay sane and keep reading,
—John C. A. Manley
PS For another fun parallel to the Doctor Who universe check out my previous post: Dav(r)os: You will own nothing and be... EXTERMINATED!
PPS My novel, Much Ado About Corona, is very much a story of death, transformation and rebirth. And, like Doctor Who, I included plenty of humour to offset the horror.
John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.
