The Theology of Twilight?
I’m not actually going try and link up Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight novels to Christian Theology. That would be silly and, I’m sure, quite against the intent of those novels. That being said, there was an interesting comment by Bella about Edward in New Moon that actually made me think about Christology.
It never made sense for you to love me.
Throughout the novels Bella doesn’t see herself as worthy of Edward’s love. Her perceptions of herself and of Edward color her understanding of love. Now again, I am not suggesting that you look for theological points in Twilight, but I felt there was a bridge between Bella’s statement and our relationship to God.
We are a fallen people. We screw up, we sin, we hurt people, we hurt ourselves, we hurt God. It truly does not make sense for God to love us. By all accounts, we are not lovable because of our offenses against God and His people. But because our failures have been laid on Christ on the Cross, he has made us lovable. Because He is truly lovable, we are truly, once and for all, lovable. It is only through Jesus that it makes sense for God to love us.
I cannot believe I (1) admitted I have been reading the Twilight series and (2) talked about it in any sort of serious post! I’m kind of embarrassed…
October 4th, 2008 | Tags: books, Theology, Twilight | Category: Reading, Theology
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October 14th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Just googled “theology twilight” and your blog came right up. I’m actually thinking about discussing this with our youth group Sunday night, because the books are so wildly popular with the girls. (only a couple of token boys in this group). So if you have other thoughts - I love thinking about it not making sense for God to love us - and I also think there is plenty to chew on in the Twilight themes of sacrifice, self-image, our true identity, etc. etc. I’m also kind of embarrassed that I got so into these books when I decided to read them to keep up with what the kids were reading!
October 21st, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I *love* that you’re reading this series! It’s one of my all time favorites!
October 24th, 2008 at 11:29 am
I just found out what this Twilight series is and I would like to point my finger and say “haha!” to you.
On the other hand, my Mercedes Lackey collection keeps me from establishing any sort of moral high ground on the issue of reading tastes.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:42 am
I’ve heard of these books only because my niece, K.C., was reading them and they happened to shoot the film for the first book at her school…Kalama High School. Maybe I should check ‘em out?
October 24th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Haha, I love that there is such a range of emotions about Twilight out there.
And I have pointed my own finger at myself and said “haha!”
Sal you could probably read through these in a day and have one (or all) of the following reactions: 1) I wish I had that time of my life back or 2) I’m glad it only took a short time to read or 3) eh, that was a pretty fun read without too much commitment or baggage.
November 8th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Matt;
I caught your reference to the “Twilight ” series -
Many students (girls 11-12 yrs old) are consuming these voraciously in my 6th grade classroom - I tried to ‘vet the series (w/o reading it) to see if it was appropriate to allow as independent reading in the classroom.
I guess if you are discussing it in a Christian context, it can’t be THAT bad or inapporpriate for the youngsters!
jinda
November 10th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
It is a pretty tame series and actually is able to look at morality in some interesting ways (related to areas of killing, obviously, friendship, and even some “old fashioned” things like premarital sex). The main view is from an 18 year old girl, so it isn’t perfect by any means. But the books are tame. Most libraries, including our middle school library, have no real problems endorsing it.
Really, a lot of middle school girls like it because they want Edward. He is the ideal… I suppose…