Guest post by Ben
Foster, husband, librarian, actor and writer!
(Minor
Spoilers, Sweetie!)
The world is enslaved by an evil, hate-filled, enemy force. But then a saviour, foretold by prophesy, arrives to deliver the human race to freedom. He’s battled fallen angels. He’s fought the Devil himself. Eventually, he dies in an act of sacrifice, before resurrecting in a corona of light. And when the world is saved, he ascends to the heavens, leaving his loyal companions to await his return… in a blue box.
Guess
who?
Behind
the bowtie, the Doctor is a monster slayer, a peacemaker, a saviour. In fact,
it’s not difficult to compare the Doctor with another hero with millions (Ok, billions) of followers – Jesus Christ.
Regeneration
The
big coup with Doctor Who is that even
when the starring actor leaves, the story of the Doctor can still continue. Thanks
to his regenerative energy, a newly-killed Doctor can regenerate into a
different physical form. Regenerated incarnations of the Doctor (recently,
Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and now Matt Smith) are all inherently
the same person, retaining knowledge, memories and – to some extent – sense of
self.
Two
thousand years ago, after he was tortured, executed and buried in a tomb for
three days, Jesus also came back from the dead, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In doing so, he beat the stronghold that both death and Satan had on humanity.
What’s more, the Bible teaches that everyone who loves Jesus will themselves be
resurrected to live with God in the Kingdom of Heaven!
Oh, and we also see Jesus face glow with the glory of God (Matthew 17:2, in the New Testament), just like the Doctor sometimes shines when he regenerates.
As
a Time Lord, the Doctor is
immensely powerful: he can regenerate, he’s very old, very clever, and thanks
to the TARDIS, has the power of space and time at his disposal. Here’s how he’s
described in Series 3’s The Family of
Blood:
“He’s like fire, and ice, and rage; he’s like the
night, and the storm at the heart of the sun. He’s ancient and forever. He
burns and the center of time, and he can see the turn of the universe. And…
he’s wonderful.”
It’s
actually in this double episode that the Doctor pours out his Time Lord power
using “chameleon arch” technology, leaving him human. Similarly, the Bible
shows how Jesus didn’t consider having godly power something to be grasped at,
but that he emptied himself of his godly rights and privileges in order to
become “nothing”; a humble servant. (Philippians 2:5-8) However, ultimately,
Jesus has been restored to his status as ‘King of Kings’, and there will be a
day when all of the world’s rulers and leaders will bow down to him (Romans
14:11 in the New Testament; Psalm 72:11 in the Old Testament). The Doctor shows
a similar disregard for earthly power:
“This is my lover, the King of France.”
“Yeah? Well I’m the Lord of Time!”
(Series
2 – The Girl in the Fireplace)
Prayer
and Worship
We’ve even seen people pray to and worship the Doctor. In Series 3’s The Last of the Time Lords, people all across the world focus their thoughts on him, and the psychic energy produced by this event restores the Doctor to health. That’s prayer turned on its head! We also see in the end of The Fires of Pompeii (Series 4) that, having saved a family from the volcanic explosion at Pompeii, The Doctor and Donna are worshipped as the family’s household gods.
It
would be a mistake, however, to just take certain pieces of the jigsaw and
claim that it makes a whole picture. The Doctor isn’t Jesus, and I won’t try to
say he is. The two Dr Who executive producers, Russell T Davies and Steven
Moffat are both firm atheists. Davies worked with 9th Doctor
Christopher Eccleston previously on the controversial drama The Second Coming, where a the Son of
God comes to realise that mankind would be better off if God were dead.
Similarly, the militant Church (first met in series 5’s The Time of Angels) isn’t a reference to spiritual soldiers or the
army of God – it’s critiquing the military and political might the church has
wielded (and still does in some countries).
And of course, the Doctor himself isn’t whiter than white. He can be ruthless: “Rule #1: the Doctor lies.” (The Wedding of River Song, Series 6). The Doctor repeatedly needs his companions to teach him love and mercy. (In series 1’s Dalek, Rose is compassionate, whilst the Doctor is aggressive. “You would make a good Dalek”, he is told.) All too often, it’s the companion that saves the day, and the Doctor too, from himself. That’s why River Song warns the Doctor in The Angels Take Manhattan not to travel alone too long.
Eternity
in our Hearts
But
even if the Doctor isn’t set up to be Jesus, it’s still fair to say he contains
biblical echoes. I believe this is because God has given us a yearning for him,
whether we recognise it as such or not. It’s been often noted (to the despair
of some fans) how often love saves the day (See James Corden in Series 6’s Closing Time for one such an example).
And it does feel a cheap sell-out when it’s just an easy plot device, but the
amazing truth is that God’s wonderful love trumps everything else. Following Jesus
isn’t about making up numbers in an institution, or disengaging your brain and
becoming an unthinking drone (the Doctor would hate that!). It’s an invitation
to an adventure. A call to a story greater than ourselves. A glimpse of a
wondrous faraway land. A bestowing of power. A battle to fight in. These are
all hallmarks of fantasy and sci-fi, and very much of Doctor Who. When I
encounter these themes in stories, they feed a greater yearning in me to
experience them for myself in God, the true Lord of all Time.
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