tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52654703151286357012024-03-14T01:00:56.791-07:00BIGGER ON THE INSIDE: CHRISTIANITY AND DOCTOR WHORuminating on ideas in and around the intersection of Christianity and Doctor WhoSquare Halohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15028411225319760043noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-81844421298580784212015-12-18T15:31:00.000-08:002015-12-18T15:31:14.089-08:00Unexpected Forgiveness<div class="MsoTitle">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9aCAr60f5dk/VnSXJO9tqVI/AAAAAAAAAP0/WEohqTX3CJ4/s1600/998e47b30f78bb667ae9a5baaceebdf5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9aCAr60f5dk/VnSXJO9tqVI/AAAAAAAAAP0/WEohqTX3CJ4/s320/998e47b30f78bb667ae9a5baaceebdf5.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><i>We welcome another guest post, this one from </i></span><i>Kimberly Doremus</i></div>
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<span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis">Unexpected Forgiveness</span><span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The Zygon Inversion <o:p></o:p></div>
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Original Air Date: November 7, 2015<o:p></o:p></div>
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Is anybody ever too evil to be forgiven? By me? By God? That question has been a part of human
existence since the Fall of man. Adam
and Eve hid from God as soon as they sinned.
In the New Testament, Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my
brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (NASB, Matt.
18:21). <o:p></o:p></div>
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The back half of a two-parter, the eighth episode of the
ninth season of the revival, wrestles with that question. As is frequently the case, the Doctor is
unintentionally allegorical to Christ.
Standing in the place of the sinner is “Bonnie”, a Zygon who has taken
the form of the Doctor’s companion, Clara.
Bonnie is the commander of a splinter group of Zygons who wish to come
out of hiding and destroy the human race.
About thirty minutes into this second episode, Bonnie seems to be within
an instant of reaching her goal, and the Doctor is faced with the goal of
talking her down. For almost ten
minutes, Peter Capaldi delivers a near soliloquy (with a few brief comments
from Bonnie and Kate Lethbridge-Stewart) that will likely be his definitive
scene as the Doctor. Suddenly, instead
of a sci-fantasy romp, it’s a lecture on the futility of war…and the power of
forgiveness. <o:p></o:p></div>
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To be forgiven, of course, one must first have committed a
sin. Yet so often, when we sin, rather
than seeking forgiveness, we seek to pass the blame. We accuse someone, anyone…often God
Himself. When the Doctor confronts
Bonnie with her sin, she deflects. </div>
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<i>“This is wrong. This
is all your fault…You are responsible for all of the violence, all of the
suffering. You engineered this situation, Doctor [the tenuous peace between
human and Zygon brokered in the fiftieth anniversary special and the “Osgood
Boxes” which can supposedly destroy either the humans or their shape-shifting
neighbors]. This is your fault…I had to
do what I’ve done.”</i>(“The Zygon Inversion,” brackets mine).</blockquote>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LgkmzBSj90M/VnSWyqhyiUI/AAAAAAAAAPs/1-OKpWHYf64/s1600/zygon9_3492146b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LgkmzBSj90M/VnSWyqhyiUI/AAAAAAAAAPs/1-OKpWHYf64/s320/zygon9_3492146b.jpg" width="320" /></a>Where have I heard that before? The unrepentant sinner who
says, “Your God made me this way, so how can He expect me to change?” Adam, “The woman whom You gave to be with me,
she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” (NASB, Gen. 3:12)? Myself?<o:p></o:p></div>
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When we set ourselves up as righteous in our own minds, we
find ourselves unable to forgive others, whether they have legitimately sinned
against us, or we are blaming them for our own sin to absolve ourselves of
guilt. We cry, with Bonnie, “It’s not
fair!” But the Doctor replies, <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“These things have happened, Zygella, they are facts. You just want cruelty to beget cruelty. You’re not superior to people who were cruel
to you. You’re just a whole bunch of new
cruel people. A whole bunch of new cruel
people being cruel to some other people who’ll end up being cruel to you. They only way anyone can live in peace is if
they’re prepared to forgive. Why don’t you
break the cycle?” </i>(“The Zygon Inversion).</blockquote>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our Savior’s answer to Peter’s question was similar, “I do
not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (NASB, Matt.
18:22). In the Lord’s Prayer, He taught
us to ask, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (NASB,
Matt. 6:12). Jesus practiced what He preached, as He was nailed to the cross,
He prayed for His killers, “Father, forgive them” (NASB, Luke 23:34).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Finally, we admit our sin.
But do we yet seek forgiveness?
Sometimes. But often, we cling to
our sins. They are familiar, they are
comfortable, and we know that we do not deserve forgiveness anyway. “Might as well be hung for a sheep as a
lamb,”<sup> </sup>as the old saying goes.
Bonnie, our Zygon friend, certainly felt that way. “I’ve started this
and I’m not stopping it. You think
they’ll let me go after what I’ve done?”(“The Zygon Inversion”). I imagine our
Father’s answer is much the same as the Doctor’s: “You’re all the same, you
screaming kids, you know that? ‘Look at me, I’m unforgivable.’ Well, here’s the
unforeseeable, I forgive you. After all
you’ve done. I forgive you.” (“The Zygon
Inversion”).<sup><o:p></o:p></sup></div>
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To end with even that would be powerful. I am reminded of the words of the Passover
song, “Dayenu”, which means, “We would have been satisfied” (Sevener, 23).<sup>
</sup> But the best part is that here is
where our analogy breaks down, where we see the difference between the Doctor
and Christ. The Doctor explains that he
is capable of forgiving Bonnie because he has been in her shoes, has done the
horrific things she contemplates doing.
And that in itself is beautiful, because it reminds us to show
compassion from one sinner to another. However,
Jesus Christ does not forgive us because He has sinned like us. While He “has been tempted in all things as
we are, yet without sin.” (NASB, Heb. 4:15).
Yet He not only forgives us, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on
the cross” (NASB, 1 Pet. 2:24).
Unexpected forgiveness indeed! <o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-12084160924589409112015-10-22T21:55:00.001-07:002015-10-22T21:55:09.163-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
Episode: Kill The Moon (Series 8)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D4rwgkeEnNQ/Vim9cBpzLUI/AAAAAAAAAPA/ap84QQWjbhg/s1600/FullMoon2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D4rwgkeEnNQ/Vim9cBpzLUI/AAAAAAAAAPA/ap84QQWjbhg/s200/FullMoon2010.jpg" width="200" /></a> If one were to look at the Kill The
Moon episode through a Christian lens, their immediate read might be about the
sanctity of life, specifically unborn life. We could talk about abortion and
the value of every unique life and equate it to Christian morals and ethics.
However, I’m more interested in another aspect of this episode. I want to look
at the tension that is built up in the relationship between the 12th Doctor and
Clara. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the episode, the Doctor, Clara,
and Courtney (one of Clara’s students) travel to the moon in the near future.
They land inside a shuttle just as it roughly lands onto the moon. The shuttle
is carrying nuclear bombs along with its crew, who was sent there to destroy
the moon. The moon has put on weight and it wreaking havoc upon Earth’s
gravitational field and causing massive tides. They all soon discover that the
moon is actually a giant egg with a growing baby creature inside and it’s about
to hatch. They are faced with a choice, to blow up the moon to kill the baby
creature or let it hatch. Both options have their risks. Clara advocates for
the life of the baby, while Captain Lundvik is set on killing the baby in hopes
to save those on Earth. With little time to spare, they have to decide what to
do. Clara turns to the Doctor for advice, but the Doctor chooses to remove
himself from the situation. He says there are tiny moments when big things are
decided and he can’t always see the outcome.
He tells Clara, that the Earth isn’t his home and that he can’t make the
decision, she does. In a snide remark, the Doctor tells Clara it’s time to take
the stabilizers off her bike. Clara is extremely offended and hurt by his
remark and subsequent departure.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In our relationship with God we have
a choice to make, to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior or to not. God gave us
freewill and choice, so he can’t force us to choose. Even though He may
orchestrate events in our lives to reveal certain truths for us to base our
decision on, it’s still up to us. Our initial choice to follow Jesus may
outwardly or even at the moment seem as a little act, but it’s one of the
biggest most important choices we can make in our lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--J3Q8ODsBVE/Vim9aLmeB9I/AAAAAAAAAO4/sTF0kTc2HyU/s1600/NWO-doctrine-of-silence-god-of-silence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--J3Q8ODsBVE/Vim9aLmeB9I/AAAAAAAAAO4/sTF0kTc2HyU/s320/NWO-doctrine-of-silence-god-of-silence.jpg" width="320" /></a> I’m going to talk about the time when
the Doctor leaves and equate it to those times when God is silent. When we feel
alone and have to make a choice. We can try to figure out the decision
logically, listing pros and cons, or getting multiple opinions, but in the end
it’s still up to our gut choice and us. As in Clara’s last minute choice to not
kill the baby, regardless of Earth’s choice to kill it. I would bet that Clara
had already made up her mind on her choice even before asking the people of the
Earth to choose. As soon as Clara makes the choice the Doctor materializes in
his TARDIS and teleports them to back on to Earth to watch the hatching. The
Doctor reveals that Clara’s choice was the right one and amongst the biggest
ones to have been made in all of humanity. The baby creature is born and is
beautiful. It doesn’t destroy Earth, it just flies off and leaves a new egg in
its place. The incident brings hope to the people of Earth. They saw something
wonderful in the blackness and didn’t want to destroy it. Humanity strives
upward and starts to travel to space and endures till the end of time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v3W3JFg-YrM/Vim9ciTMUqI/AAAAAAAAAPE/SGiutLGgDTg/s1600/doctor-who-kill-the-moon-jenna-coleman.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v3W3JFg-YrM/Vim9ciTMUqI/AAAAAAAAAPE/SGiutLGgDTg/s200/doctor-who-kill-the-moon-jenna-coleman.png" width="200" /></a>Afterward, Clara expresses her anger
towards the Doctor. She yells at him in the TARDIS with heated words and tears
in her eyes. I can’t help but think about my young self and my prayers. I was
so mad at God for his silence. I empathized with Clara when she told the Doctor
to go away and not come back. I think about how I walked away from faith
because I felt like God had left me when I needed him most. Anger is a strong
emotion and can cloud our judgment. Just as Danny Pink told Clara, she is not
actually done with the Doctor because she is still angry with him. That she
should calm down and see if she can say it then. I think too often when I
confessed my non-belief in God, there was anger residing within. It was never a
calm profession. </div>
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In the following episode, Mummy on the Orient Express, Clara
decides to have one last hurrah with the Doctor. While on the trip, Clara gets
trapped in a room with another lady and confessed that she hated the Doctor for
weeks. The lady replies with a rather insightful truth that hatred is too
strong of an emotion to waste on someone you don’t like. I ignored the fact
that I couldn’t call myself an atheist if I hated a God I didn’t believe in.
Even in my doubt and disbelief I think I knew in my heart God was still there.
Just as Clara couldn’t stay away from adventures with the Doctor, I too
eventually returned to God. Granted my return was less simple and emotionally
messier then Clara’s return, but nonetheless. Anger is a human emotion given to
us by God and even when we are mad at Him he can use it to somehow bring us
back to Him. He truly is all-knowing and worthy of praise!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-14587620074017502922015-09-26T23:11:00.001-07:002015-09-26T23:12:08.126-07:00Don't Blink<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HktUV4rOmwQ/VgeIM7vILpI/AAAAAAAAANs/xAbaq18Sphs/s1600/weeping_angel_head1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HktUV4rOmwQ/VgeIM7vILpI/AAAAAAAAANs/xAbaq18Sphs/s400/weeping_angel_head1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<i>Guest post by Margaret Schrock</i><br />
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This semester I ventured into a new way of thinking by
exploring the connections between two seemingly unrelated topics – Christianity
and Dr Who. Since I’ve been a Dr Who fan for over 30 years, “Bigger on the
Inside: Christianity and Dr Who” seemed the perfect seminary class for me. In
our first class we watched “Blink”
(season 3, episode 10; originally aired 6/9/2007). Widely considered one of the
best episodes, it introduced the Weeping Angels. Inspired by an angel statue in
a cemetery, writer David Moffat created an alien that could move incredibly
quickly and silently when it was not observed, but then turned to stone when
seen. Thus the tenth Doctor, played by
David Tennant, warns Sally Sparrow, “Don’t blink. Don’t even blink. Blink and
you’re dead. They’re fast, faster than you can believe. Don’t turn your back,
don’t look away, and don’t blink!” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Although loved by
many, “Blink” was not a favorite of mine. As I watched “Blink” in our first
class, I had to ask myself, “Why don’t you like this one?” My first response
was that it was too scary. Certainly Weeping Angels were purposely designed to
be scary monsters. However, as I watched, I found “Blink” no scarier than other
episodes. I concluded that it was the angels.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The portrayal of
angels as evil alien monsters bothered me. When I look at angel statues they
seem peaceful, serene, even comforting. I have one in my backyard flower
garden. Never would I associate them with danger. Yet, in “Blink,” look away, and angel statues
suddenly move, become demonic, and attack with outstretched arms, bared fangs
and expressions of pure evil. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Angels. Why angels?
As a Christian I think of angels as the “good guys.” God’s mighty messengers
sent to bring important announcements to earth.
They are described as “<span class="text">ministering spirits sent
to serve those who will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). </span>But in “Blink” they are the “bad guys.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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But have I
forgotten, the Bible teaches of two types of angels – those who remained loyal
to God and those who rebelled against Him. Those who remained loyal are the
“good guys,” but those who rebelled are not. They are fallen angels, demons,
spiritual beings that work against God and His people. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Sk6FjABrzNo/VgeIf0fyQeI/AAAAAAAAAN0/m7gdYDdADVk/s1600/i-0c6e7e00045a24f493aa8f58cbbf2fed-satan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Sk6FjABrzNo/VgeIf0fyQeI/AAAAAAAAAN0/m7gdYDdADVk/s320/i-0c6e7e00045a24f493aa8f58cbbf2fed-satan.jpg" width="260" /></a> “Blink” gives a
glimpse of how deceptive evil can be. The Weeping Angels appeared as harmless statues
but in reality were dangerous predators. Likewise, Scripture teaches that Satan
masquerades as an angel of light (II Cor. 11:14) but in reality is our enemy
seeking to devour us (I Pet. 5:8). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Evil is real. Evil
is destructive. But sometimes it is not easy to identify. Evil can look good.
What is truly destructive can appear to be harmless. “Blink” can be a reminder
to keep our spiritual eyes wide open and see evil for what it is. Heed the
warning and don’t blink!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-23693542119374409352015-08-01T10:41:00.001-07:002015-08-01T10:42:42.781-07:00Dr. Greg Thornbury Lecture On "Bigger on the Inside"<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x1ZI5YrUo60/VQszR0N9QeI/AAAAAAAAAKw/SyAuZKfK1QU/s1600/Book%2BRelease.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x1ZI5YrUo60/VQszR0N9QeI/AAAAAAAAAKw/SyAuZKfK1QU/s640/Book%2BRelease.png" width="412" /></a></div>
The book launch in March was quite the occasion, and the highlight was surely Dr. Greg Thornbury of King's College's lecture. You can find a recording of it here: <a href="http://www.therowhouse.org/doctor-who">Book Launch Lecture</a><br />
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Enjoy!<br />
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-35523839756297537192015-07-09T09:17:00.000-07:002015-07-09T09:22:26.701-07:00On Aliens and Ourselves Aliens are a fascinating trope in science-fiction, and the ways that they are used and presented says a lot about a given work. To make a truly alien being is, for one thing, very difficult and rarely attempted, because let's face it, you can't write what you don't know. More often, aliens serve as stand-ins for humans, but not with the complexity or depth that a human being possesses. When they do present us with complexity and depth, it is usually because they are acting, well, human. Aliens are often more two-dimensional, presenting a facet of human behavior, but worked out to an extreme degree. This usually serves either as a warning to humanity to prevent such an extreme, or a condemnation of us for not being extreme in such a way.<br />
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I think that is an interesting place to go to see what the message of a particular work of science-fiction presents to us. It gives us an image of ourselves, which, while distorted, can cast light on our behavior in helpful ways. I'll start with a villain. The Cybermen!<br />
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Oh boy, am I glad those costumes got better. Anyway, never trust a robot, but almost worse, a cyborg. The cybermen present us with a long-standing and prevalent fear of the effects of technology on human beings individually and socially. What happens when technology progresses unchecked? What do we do when our devices seem to have overtaken and control us? From the cybermen and the Borg, to Terminators and Thinking Machines (20 points if you get that last reference), this fear is deep-seated and has lined many a science-fictions author's pockets.</div>
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We see this powerfully with the return of the cybermen in the second series of the reboot, episode 5, "Rise of the Cybermen." I guess they weren't worried about giving the ending away on this one, which is good because the message is pretty heavy-handed anyway. First off, the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey find themselves in a parallel universe unexpectedly, but sadly there are no counterparts sporting goatees (20 more points for this one). Rose is most surprised to see a billboard with her long-deceased father, working for Cybus Industries in this universe (subtle with the name there).</div>
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But that's not all. In a Bradbury-esque turn, everyone in this universe's London is sporting EarPod devices that pipe that feed information directly into people's brains. This produces a population that is distracted by what they are listening to, browsing, or the phone conversations they are having. Utterly</div>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-enLLJ0q7p0o/VZ6Y6Iq1UsI/AAAAAAAAAMc/u-k_cpfDy3A/s1600/Jackie_Pete%2527s_World_indoors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="114" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-enLLJ0q7p0o/VZ6Y6Iq1UsI/AAAAAAAAAMc/u-k_cpfDy3A/s200/Jackie_Pete%2527s_World_indoors.jpg" width="200" /></a> absorbed in these activities, no one ever seems to take the EarBuds, er, Pods off. That is a real shame, because these are exactly what the Cybermen will use to control their minds and bring them in for "Upgrades." You see, the head of Cybus industries is trying to "better" humanity by putting the human brain into a metal body, thus freeing us from all the pesky limitations of this squishy bag of meat we walk around in.<br />
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There is a lot to consider here. What limits are there to technological progress, for one? The general populace have dumbly accepted the newest gadgets they are given, without considering whether said gadgets are actually helpful or not. Meanwhile, the people at the technological forefront are pushing the boundaries of science with their research. Sounds great, right? That is, unless I like my squishy meatbag. "Progress" is a term that seems to always have positive overtones, and so we can easily be convinced of the moral goodness of a thing simply by tacking this on as an adjective. But technology changes us, and whether it is for better or worse depends often enough on how we <i>use</i> that technology. Is all technological advancement good, or bad? No. But some are more dangerous than others.</div>
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Consider the effects of the EarPods. First they absorb a person in such a way that keeps them constantly occupied, constantly distracted. If one spends all of their time absorbed in superficial distractions, we should ask where creative, original, and critical thinking will come from? The brain is as much a tool as a phone, and if we use it poorly on a regular basis, it will degrade and stultify. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ITKk89sxqfI/VZ6ficBlqjI/AAAAAAAAAMw/iJ0Uh_667LQ/s1600/Conformity%2BSheep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ITKk89sxqfI/VZ6ficBlqjI/AAAAAAAAAMw/iJ0Uh_667LQ/s320/Conformity%2BSheep.jpg" width="320" /></a> Socially, the effects are more obvious. The turn to the internal world is much easier, much more tempting when technology aids it. Meanwhile, real human interaction suffers. People begin to act alike, but the person they all become is superficial, self-absorbed, and frankly boring. But who cares, because cat pictures! It is interesting that the effects are not only the loss of individualism, but of community as well. These are connected. Only a real, substantial, distinct individualism can create a real, substantial, distinct community. A community is a collection of individuals, but because dull and lifeless when all those people are alike in their dull, carbon-copy selves. The heavy-handed metaphor in the episode could only be missed if you were blind and deaf, and therefore unaware that the episode was playing: technology can be a barrier to real human interactions and individuality. Eventually, the people all become so alike they are indistinguishable, becoming Cybermen with no sense of self at all, only that of creating more Cybermen. </div>
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Therein lies the final metaphor I want to mention. The Cybermen don't seem to have aspirations to power for power's sake, or some great malevolent desire to simply destroy. Rather, they mindlessly desire to simply create more of themselves, more carbon copies, more people that fit a uniform mold. Order is achieved only through the assimilation of all that makes us unique into a nice, tidy, clean form. Individuality is frightening, because it is unpredictable, and understanding one another is difficult. So when we encounter that which is different, disturbing, or that simply doesn't fit our expectations, we grow unsettled, and often try to fit that difference into our categories. The real danger of consuming technology mindlessly is certainly here, but the warning against <i>enforcing</i> conformity is just as poignant. It's one thing to pat yourself on the back and say "good job for being you, you're not a victim of the conformists!" It's another to look at yourself and ask, "am I the Cyberman? Am I the one who expects conformity?" Prejudice and conformity hold hands most often, and we Christians most of all must be wary of this, because Christ embraces all cultures, all colors, all faces, and does not hold any one cultural mold, <i>any one of them</i>, in higher regard than another.</div>
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So the Cybermen are great "aliens," because they hold a mirror up for us. Do I mindlessly consume? What do I do that both dulls my individuality, and separates me from others? Is it important to actually critique and question the technology I use, and how I use it?</div>
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These are my musings, and some nuance needs added. Surely all conformity is not bad, right? Well, what do you think?</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-44167395053370670932015-05-03T10:25:00.000-07:002015-05-03T10:25:39.497-07:00Doctor Who and PrayerOver at <a href="https://theologyfornerds.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/how-doctor-who-is-good-for-your-prayer-life/">Theology for Nerds</a> (which is my name for the Promised Land prophesied of old, incidentally), they have some great thoughts on the good Doctor and how it functions as a very usable metaphor for the Christian life. I especially like how they remind us to think of Christ as a <i>person</i>, an endlessly interesting human being, and not just an abstract God-beyond-the-veil. The transcendent deity of Christ must of course not be forgotten, but we on the more traditional side of Christianity do tend to collapse the human into the divine and thus actually do harm to our vision of Christ. He became a human so that we could see the Word manifest in the flesh, as a person, with all that involves excepting sin. To think of Jesus as a stern and implacable judge gets one side of His nature, but misses the wonderful tenderness, humor, companionship, and joy that is communicated through His perfect humanity.<br />
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Enough commentary, go read their post, it's an interesting one. And while we're at it, let us know how the humanity of Christ has impacted you or your understanding of redemption and the Christian life. It would be wonderful to get other's thoughts into this discussion.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-50856325206847388082015-04-22T10:48:00.000-07:002015-04-22T10:50:11.490-07:00Write Up From The King's College<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Thanks to The King's College NYC for the spot-on summary of the book and release party, <a href="https://www.tkc.edu/news/bigger-inside-christianity-and-doctor-who">found here.</a><br />
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We intend to keep up the interactions with the good Doctor here, so stay tuned!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-13511491822824065242015-04-02T17:12:00.000-07:002015-04-02T17:12:02.062-07:00Reflections on the ReleaseHere is a post about <a href="http://rlhendrian.blogspot.com/2015/03/doctor-who-and-my-first-book-signing.html?spref=fb">our recent book release</a>, by one of our esteemed authors. Rebekah gives us some lovely reflections on her time in Lancaster and the lecture given by Dr. Thornbury.<br />
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Take a look, and while your at it, follow her blog, where more is to be had!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-81997257424860500932015-03-19T13:49:00.000-07:002015-03-19T13:49:14.460-07:00It's Almost Here... We have been talking about the intersection of Christianity and Doctor Who for several months now, partly as a larger project, but centrally to promote the book "Bigger On the Inside: Christianity and Doctor Who." Well, the time is nigh. In a weeks time, the official book release party is hitting Lancaster, PA, at The Trust Performing Arts Center. This is sure to be a fantastic event, complete with a book giveaway, and centrally, a lecture by senior editor Dr. Greg Thornbury.<br />
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Come down on Thursday, March 26th, at 7:30, and meet fellow Whovians, several of the authors, and our esteemed editors. Make sure to put on your best Doctor Who threads, as the best costume will win that free book copy. Don't worry; you will not be the only one dressed up, and even if you are, you'll look smashing.<br />
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Buy tickets here: <a href="http://www.lancastertrust.com/event/trust-conversation-greg-thornbury/">http://www.lancastertrust.com/event/trust-conversation-greg-thornbury/</a> Hope you can make it!<br />
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This has been a great project, and I know our editors and various authors have enjoyed making these connections between this wonderful and remarkably popular TV show and our shared Christian faith. We hope you will buy the book, and continue to visit this site, as we will be continuing the wibbly-wobbly conversation here as long as Doctor Who keeps delivering the grand adventures we all enjoy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-80791282637744903762015-03-16T09:55:00.001-07:002015-03-16T09:55:15.807-07:00Lenten Link Having been pointed to this <a href="http://whoviantheology.com/">blog</a>, I have been perusing it and taking in many of the wonderful theological interactions with Doctor Who. I recently read this post: <a href="http://whoviantheology.com/2014/10/26/flatline-a-reflection-on-identity/">"Flatline: a Reflection on Identity."</a> We are in Lent on the Church calendar, which is a time of repentance and self-evaluation, as well as a time to more consciously practice our virtues. I thought this post gave a wonderful exposition of self-examination, and of the necessity of thoughtful reflection on our actions.<br />
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What sets us apart from the animals and machines is our ability to examine ourselves, to consider what we have done and why we have done it, and to grapple with the consequences. As we lose that ability we become less human. This post examines that, and the blog as a whole is quite excellent. I commend it to our readers as a great example of what we are trying to do, with our forthcoming book (March 26th!) and with this blog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-12658185111970074882015-02-27T13:05:00.002-08:002015-02-27T13:07:59.063-08:00Childhood's End<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OnRg9YuBHLs/VPDcEAf2YRI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/8FHWgtxC3A0/s1600/10929912_10152730084982916_3854712583526319369_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OnRg9YuBHLs/VPDcEAf2YRI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/8FHWgtxC3A0/s1600/10929912_10152730084982916_3854712583526319369_n.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o_jiSb3lFbk/VPDcFoMQV0I/AAAAAAAAAKE/4ylvl_pdEzs/s1600/regeneration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o_jiSb3lFbk/VPDcFoMQV0I/AAAAAAAAAKE/4ylvl_pdEzs/s1600/regeneration.jpg" height="130" width="200" /></a> This post will be a bit of a "cross-over episode," as Leonard Nimoy died today at 83. I was saddened by this. Growing up, <i>Star Trek</i> was a companion, a show that formed my imagination, taught me certain values, and gave me some of my first fictional role models. Nimoy, in the television series and the feature films, was always the highlight for me. Spock was a character who was supposed to be alien, but always conveyed a certain wonderful humanity. And so a childhood hero died today.<br />
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Death occupies my thoughts frequently, not just today. Not, I hope, in a morbid way, but because I think it is important for a person to consider their mortality, and let that shape how they live their lives day-to-day. I will die someday, so I ought to live in a particular way right now, keeping that before my eyes. But my senses tend to be dull, as many do, and so I usually forget, and place death in my pocket. When someone dies, someone whose death will affect me in some way, it is always a moment where death stands before me again, and it refreshes my memory: ah, I will die someday.<br />
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So, to tie this in to the hero of this blog, the good Doctor. This is a series that gets to cheat a bit. The protagonist changes actors every few years, "regenerating" into the next incarnation. The obvious reason is that it allows the show to continue on for as long as the ratings are good, because it is not tied to the willingness of an actor to play the character for years upon years. Different people have different Doctor's as their favorites, but when the consistency of the actors remains good (as it has in the reboot series, I think), it is hard not to be attached to all of them. It is sad to see your favorite go (let's here it for the Tenth Doctor!), but it's okay, because it also gives a feeling of expectation, the joyful anticipation of seeing what this next actor will bring to the role. The resurrection of the Doctor is a wonderful thing, as well as sad.<br />
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Spock got to come back from the dead once (<i>Star III: The Search for Spock</i>). Leonard Nimoy will not. He was, for my money, a fabulous actor who played a role well. He's also played other roles well, but none like Spock. Sadness over the loss of a person, whether known personally, or who influenced our lives through their vocations, is normal. Doctor Who gives us another way to think of death, though, one that is filled with more hope. With death comes sadness, but a sadness that then becomes something new, adventurous, a mystery to unravel, an expectation to fill. After death, there is new life.<br />
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As we face our deaths, which will come to each one of us, we don't have to stop with sadness. It doesn't have to be an experience of total fear, or resigned desperation. Our death, as Christians, as ones who will receive a <i>resurrection</i> of our own, is a future of anticipation and mystery, of joy and discovery, of something inexpressibly wonderful. So while the visage of death, having taken Mr. Nimoy, reminds me that I have reached my childhood's end and can no longer ignore my mortality, the fear of death gives way to the hope of eternal life, and sadness gives way to something new. Maybe the question to ask when we approach our deaths ought to be, with hopeful expectation and curious expressions, "What's next?"<br />
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Rest in Peace, Leonard Nimoy. And to all the rest, Live Long and Prosper.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-52509344395895519352015-02-09T12:35:00.002-08:002015-02-09T12:35:38.003-08:00Time as Memory<i>"What then, is time? I know well enough what it is, provided nobody asks me; but if I am asked what it is and try to explain, I am baffled." </i>-St. Augustine of Hippo, <i>Confessions</i>, XI.14<br />
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Only one post in January...let's blame the intricacies of time, or Daleks, or something. Anyway, some ideas have been brewing on a Christian view of time in my insufficient mind. Rather than start describing time abstractly, I thought I would begin by discussion how we <i>perceive </i>time, or <i>experience </i>time. Often a subject is best approached starting with what we know, so here goes.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xmy8Ri_aY1c/VNkZ3c9MOzI/AAAAAAAAAJg/LSQ_7j18fOk/s1600/Infinity-Time1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xmy8Ri_aY1c/VNkZ3c9MOzI/AAAAAAAAAJg/LSQ_7j18fOk/s1600/Infinity-Time1.jpg" height="191" width="320" /></a> I thought I would start with one of the first truly timey-wimey episodes, "Father's Day."This episode falls right in Series 1 of the reboot, starring the inimitable and underrated Christopher Eccleston, whose only crime was to be followed by David Tennant. I digress. The premise of the episode revolves around his Companion, Rose, who never met her father, as he was hit and killed by a car in 1987. Rose, wanting to see her father, convinces the Doctor to take her back to the day he was killed (why that day I have not been able to wrap my head around, however!). No doubt overwhelmed by the sight of her father, whom she never knew, Rose prevents his death. This of course creates problems of the timey-wimey variety, as the timeline has now been changed. It opens a rift of some kind, and creatures (fairly cheesy ones, but they aren't really the point) terrorize those in the area.<br />
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What I would like to reflect on in regards to this episode is the desire for Rose to see her father. It isn't the logical paradox or physical possibilities of this episode that interest me, thought they are interesting, but the simple desire for memory. In Saint Augustine's <i>Confessions</i>, later in the book he talks about time from human perspective. He points out that time consists of three different aspects: past, present, and future. They have a very complex relationship to one another, which gives us some interesting grist for the mill. The present, as we know it, immediately turns into the past. The present also exists looking towards our potentialities, our future. So far, so good. The way St. Augustine puts it, "...the mind...performs three functions, those of expectation, attention, and memory." The present requires our attention, the past is brought back by memory, and the future exists in our expectation.<br />
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Well, lots there to think about. But what I find interesting in relation to this episode is the importance of our memory. Our present has been formed by our past, and our present also looks forward to our future. Both present and future are, then, driven by the past. What should immediately stop us in our tracks, however, is recognizing how little of our past we actually were in control of. Our birth, our childhood, our parents, all out of our control. Even the death of loved ones, out of our control. The death of Rose's father, out of her control. She has no real memory of him, only a picture. She cannot use her memory to <i>experience </i>her father in the present, as I can with my grandfather who died some ten years ago. There is no voice, no face, no shared experiences to make the loss a bit more bearable. Only a void, filled by a photograph.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7wQIbm-brc/VNkZ-wNkSII/AAAAAAAAAJo/9gUfHqk_Z0A/s1600/st-augustine-of-hippo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7wQIbm-brc/VNkZ-wNkSII/AAAAAAAAAJo/9gUfHqk_Z0A/s1600/st-augustine-of-hippo.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a> So that's the point of the episode. Filling the void, <i>creating</i> a memory, however fleeting and superficial. Because our past makes us who we are. Rose has an opportunity here to fill that void, and establish a memory that can place her father always in her present. But of course, she goes too far. She tries to change it, so that her <i>entire </i>past can be rewritten. At the end of the episode, she ultimately gets what she is looking for. Her mother Jackie says, "People say there was this girl, and she sat with Pete while he was dying. She held his hand. Then she was gone. Never found out who she was." Rose creates a better past, and now has a memory. "Peter Alan Tyler, my dad. The most wonderful man in the world. Died the 7th of November, 1987." For you and I, there is no way to go back and create a memory, once the past is gone. Or is there?<br />
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As we approach Ash Wednesday, Lent, and Easter following, I consider: what are we doing on feast days such as this? We are remembering. Somehow, we are to recreate the past, re-experience the acts of God in the world. It is a form of sacred memory, a past that forms us even though it lies far beyond our experience. Somehow, perhaps there is a way that we get to cheat time, to be formed that which we never knew? Maybe we aren't quite so different from Rose after all.<br />
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-10202037302055759272015-01-14T21:06:00.001-08:002015-01-14T21:07:04.278-08:00Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey...Doctrine? It may seem odd that, on a blog about a show that centers around time travel, we haven't yet had any posts on Time (with a very intentional capital T). Well, there are of course some reasons for this. First of all, where do you even start? How many seasons, how many wacky moments of time-tinkering mayhem? It's like asking which book of the Old Testament prophets one should start with. Hmm, umm, I dunno, the one with the inexplicable and cryptic messages for Israel about their future. Narrows it down, doesn't it? Second, we wouldn't want to scoop any of the doubtless wonderful insights sure to come in any upcoming books (nudge nudge, wink wink).<br />
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To start off what I am sure what will be one of many posts on the subject, I wanted to deal with this basic premise of the show, that time is not linear, but, as we all know, "wibbley-wobbley." This comes in the middle of one of the best loved episodes, "Blink." The good Doctor tells us that we tend to see time in a linear fashion, as we experience it, but that in reality it is a big, convoluted mess. This is what allows the Doctor, presumably, to travel to and fro throughout history, interfering in a way that would make any Trekkie gag.<br />
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Why would this be a problem for a Christian? Well, for one, Christianity generally teaches that God has determined what will come to pass. Can it be changed? It is of course widely debated whether human beings are capable of free choice in the first place, let alone the ability to somehow transverse time and change its course. There are different approaches to these questions, but of course they all assume one thing: God has a plan, and He will see it through.<br />
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One approach to the basic problem that I find fascinating is one proposed in the season 4 episode, "The Fires of Pompeii." When the companion, Donna, protests the Doctor's inaction in saving the doomed city from the terrible volcanic fate that awaits it, he informs that there is nothing he can do. Why? Because there are fixed points in time, things so pivotal to history, that they cannot be changed. What if God sets some things in place, immobile, but then allows us freedom within those bounds? I am acquainted enough with the history of Christian thought to know that this is not an original idea, but here I pose it here as one example of an interesting way to think of time.<br />
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The theology of time is not one much discussed, but perhaps, with the popularity of shows like Doctor Who and films like Interstellar, the burgeoning field of quantum physics, and just the general explosion of knowledge regarding the nature of our universe, it might just be an interesting topic for Christians to think about again. We'll try to give it some focused attention here in posts to come.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-70252604984314319232014-12-21T22:38:00.000-08:002014-12-29T11:36:40.368-08:00Anticipating Advent<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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Advent is a time of anticipation. During the church services leading up to Christmas, our church lights Advent candles, one a week. Each signifies another step towards the coming of Christ into the world, that pivotal moment of history where the Holy One, taken on human flesh, was born, and in that moment began the work of overthrowing the powers of the world. In each of these services, we also read passages of scripture that highlight the anticipation, passages that speak of the <i>future </i>coming of the Messiah King. In this way we reenact and participate in the tense, sometimes impatient, always yearning experience of God's people in times past, who looked for the Messiah but did not see His day.<br />
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Every year we are also given a (usually) wonderful Christmas special starring everyone's favorite Doctor. Most of them tell a classic Doctor Who tale, drawing inspiration from C.S. Lewis, Dickens, or developing a unique story. The important plot element is, of course, that humanity, or some representative of humanity, is in dire danger and need, and the good Doctor arrives just in time to deal with whatever villainous creature lurks in the darkness. They are also interesting points of transition for the show, often marking the end of a run for the title actor, or more often are the transition from one Companion to another. But for the characters in the show, these are moments of anticipation as well. These are moments of darkness, terror, and in impending doom, and a savior is looked for. In these moments they need someone to enter into their story, their circumstance, and deal with the evil they face. And that salvation comes, never predicted, an unexpected arrival from a man in a blue box who has the power to set things right.<br />
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That is Advent, that is Incarnation. When the children were being slain by order of Herod, while people fled into the darkness to escape, in a time when there seemed to be no hope of redemption from under the unyielding foot of Rome, a person stepped in to rescue this people in need. But this savior did not do so as a general, or a warrior, or even a Timelord in a blue box. Think about Advent this year. Are you anticipating gifts, or food, or family? Or are you anticipating a Savior, a king, a defender of the weak and helpless? Perhaps our narrative is closer to the fictional world of a science-fiction tale than we might initially think. In the chaos of preparations, stop once in awhile to anticipate, to wonder, to glory at the totally improbable and utterly ridiculous notion that our rescue came on that cold winter's day in quite an unpredictable way. Merry Christmas, and more to come after the holidays!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-28903276217597043152014-12-07T14:22:00.003-08:002014-12-29T11:35:35.208-08:00It Ain't Ever Easy: Doctor Who and Moral Dilemma Decisions. If there is anything that an overly analytic mind hates, it is the prospect of making decisions. Some choices are simply too difficult, particularly when either direction could be taken, and either could be legitimate. Some problems simply won't be resolved by analysis. They can be picked apart, seen from every angle, and every possible solution considered, and yet no decision. Sometimes no matter what a person chooses to do, they will win. Or lose.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cGbk-PdK1mo/VITTHOXWAYI/AAAAAAAAAHw/bIpiY1_Na_U/s1600/Gas%2BMask.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cGbk-PdK1mo/VITTHOXWAYI/AAAAAAAAAHw/bIpiY1_Na_U/s1600/Gas%2BMask.jpg" /></a> As difficult as decisions can be when they are roughly equal, it is even worse when we are faced with moral decisions that have no clear, perfect solution. Throughout the reboot series, constant mention is made of the Time War, a momentous conflict between the Daleks and the Time Lords. In this conflict, we are told, the Doctor made a decision that resulted not only in the defeat of the Dalek enemies, but also the destruction of his Gallifreyan people as well. The 50th anniversary special, "Day of the Doctor," gives fans a long-awaited depiction of this story. The Doctor of this time, the so-called "War Doctor," is faced with a decision: allow his people to survive in the present, or detonate a device known as "the Moment," thus killing them and the Daleks, and by doing so save more lives in the long run.<br />
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Why bring up this particular episode? Because it places before us something common in Doctor Who, and something that I believe Christians often like to forget about, the real moral paradox. As Christians, we believe in good and evil, right and wrong, with clear lines between the two. And, in an ultimate sense, this is true. The Doctor would agree, and he frequently appeals to such categories. But unfortunately, real life is much messier than this. We just as frequently see the Doctor faced with moral dilemmas. Who wins in the doomsday situation of "Day of the Doctor"? No one. The Doctor, having done what needed to be done for the good of the greatest number, is now left with the guilt of his actions, a heavy weight that he never quite escapes.<br />
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We make a mistake when we assume that all moral decisions are easily decided upon, and don't involve compromise and sacrifice. Our expectation that these decisions will be easy often leads us to declare definitively when something is right or wrong, and to judge others when they introduce the complexity of those problems. Complexity is frustrating, and we would prefer easy answers to our moral questions. But Doctor Who never lets these issues be easy; thus it challenges us to think through our own context, and our own moral dilemmas. Is it better if a pregnant girl keeps a child rather than abort it, though facing a life of struggle and poverty? Is it better if a soldier dies that many back in his home might live? Is it better that we give to a poor person, not knowing if they might use that for ill? Is it better to destroy a few, that many may live? Concerning these questions, most Christians would say yes. But better does not mean ideal, or even good. Sometimes, we can't win, no matter what we choose; sometimes, the decision is always an evil one, even if one is better than another.<br />
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Such it is, this side of the New Heavens & Earth. Until that time, we need to be humble regarding these decisions, and remember that just because there is a clear line between good and evil, we and the world are often standing with a foot in each. Until the fateful day that the heavens part and Jesus Christ judges perfectly the living and the dead, we struggle, we make mistakes, and sometimes make decisions that are always tinged with evil, even when we make the "right" choice. And we need stories like those in Doctor Who to challenge us, to help us discern these complexities. We mustn't jump foolishly into our decisions and pridefully think that because a decision is the "right one," our job is done and our hands are clean. Our moral decisions effect both us and others, and part of choosing the better path is recognizing the good and the bad in our own choices. Sugar-coating over the bad by saying, "but it was the right thing to do," without grappling with the adverse effects, is to lie to ourselves and make us less mature, not more.<br />
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But, even as it is messy, sometimes thin lights of heaven poke through the sky, and give us an image of what that perfect morality and justice will look like. Even the good Doctor catches a break once in awhile, as in the reboot series 1 episode, "The Doctor Dances," where one of the final lines of the episode is, "Everybody lives, Rose. Just this once, everybody lives." And in "The Day of the Doctor," the Doctor is even able to preserve his own people from their utter destruction, though he also is unable to remember that he produced this ideal outcome (wibbly wobbly stuff, watch the episode for an explanation). As we make difficult decisions, and face moral dilemmas in our own lives, we learn to look forward to that time when our choices will no longer be tainted with the ever-present chaos of the world, the day that everybody lives.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-80354514521613328372014-11-23T15:36:00.004-08:002014-11-23T15:41:21.075-08:00A Window Into the Now <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/24924746">This article</a> addresses one of the fundamental purposes of science-fiction, and one that television shows do particularly well. Following <a href="http://christianityanddoctorwho.blogspot.com/2014/11/questions-answers-what-hath.html">my post from last week</a> on why Christians should feel free and encouraged to enjoy science-fiction, I thought it would be helpful to point out another useful element of science-fiction that <i>Doctor Who</i> is well set up to do. And that is to provide a window into a cultural moment, into our moment, specifically on the subject of religion.<br />
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Science-fiction is typically focused on future events, future possibilities and potentials. More often then not, however, the story is a veil that entertains, but conceals a deeper meaning and critique of our current society and culture. We are judged by our (potential) future, critiqued in light of what may be. This is a tradition in the genre from the very beginning, all the way back to H.G. Wells and his Utopian social vision for humanity. It is much like the role that the doctrine of the end times plays in Christian theology; at the end, true justice will prevail, all wrongs will be righted, and we will be judged by our time spent right now. While less definitive in most cases, science-fiction judges us by what we may become.<br />
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Given this, we should expect to find many of our own world present, in metaphorical forms, in the science-fiction we watch and read. The article notes how <i>Doctor Who</i> has addressed the topic of religion throughout the years, sometimes ambiguously, sometimes more directly. Like most science-fiction, the series never affirms the existence of God, and at best will usually leave such questions open. It presents us with some "possible futures" of religion, complete with strangely militarized clergy, odd rituals, and any manner of creepy aliens. But what is most interesting is not how it is presented <i>then</i>, but what it tells us about our cultural beliefs <i>now</i>.<br />
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Modern Christians are not often good readers of our time. I've heard it said that the Church usually imbibes cultural trends, but usually a few years too late. Perhaps in contrast, science-fiction often channels ideas about our own time very effectively. As the article mentions, <i>Doctor Who </i>presents religion in a way that is analogous to the state of religion in the current day United Kingdom, and probably the United States as well. It does this in a way that recognizes the complexities and diversities of current spirituality, and the relativism required of us that is a practical reality even if not an actual one. It allows us to explore religious ideas, even while being ambiguous enough to leave room for the faithful Christian right next to the atheist. The best science-fiction, in other words, reads our society well, and gives us a laboratory for testing out ideas, and for understanding our own times better. It is a window we do well to look through.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-16057065927786619222014-11-17T06:00:00.002-08:002014-11-17T06:01:16.439-08:00da Vinci and the Doctor<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9jnl-912XlBYRLHBNgg_T5IpZWGAtvInotVXyVk9yxJo2fF9Y51J_C_ypxdwJn5ZphYubdHKSF7LrEM42yHAIF0jg_-JQSALPTNBOzlF4TcdkEnx96vhs61eD79sBLUczX_JZdToEElg/s1600/Doctor_Who_Penultimate_Supper_by_raisegrate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9jnl-912XlBYRLHBNgg_T5IpZWGAtvInotVXyVk9yxJo2fF9Y51J_C_ypxdwJn5ZphYubdHKSF7LrEM42yHAIF0jg_-JQSALPTNBOzlF4TcdkEnx96vhs61eD79sBLUczX_JZdToEElg/s1600/Doctor_Who_Penultimate_Supper_by_raisegrate.jpg" height="191" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://raisegrate.deviantart.com/art/Doctor-Who-Penultimate-Supper-155877850</td></tr>
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Art restorers recently discovered this amazing underpainting while working on Leonardo da Vinci's <i>The Last Supper.</i><br />
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<br />Square Halohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15028411225319760043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-5455519132171753662014-11-16T16:24:00.001-08:002014-11-16T16:25:46.985-08:00Questions & Answers: What Hath Christianity to do with Science Fiction? I have had conversations with friends about the sort of project we are doing here, connecting science-fiction to Christian ideas, that have gotten the raised-eyebrow response. Science-fiction, they point out, is largely a secular and religion-free genre, wanting little to nothing to do with ideas about God or religion. So why, then, are we trying to get these two things to talk to each other? What do we expect to achieve? There are two ways in which this conversation is, I think, productive; in the questions and in the answers.<br />
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<a href="http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/20000/nahled/cathedral-in-the-evening.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/20000/nahled/cathedral-in-the-evening.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a> First, we have to consider the questions they are asking. Science-fiction is, I think it is uncontroversial to say, primarily concerned with asking what it means to be human. In almost every example I can think of, the genre asks what happens to us in our future and what does that tell us about ourselves <i>now</i>? The Christian faith is of course also concerned with these questions. Who we are, where we are going, and how we get there are questions that concern every human being. Science-fiction has been called one of the last places where we can find the "novel of ideas," the story that engages with large, difficult questions, that we all as a race continue to struggle with.<br />
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This I think is very important. As a Christian, I am interested in the answers to these questions. But I am not only concerned with how the Christian faith has attempted to answer them. It is instructive and important to recognize how others have done so as well. It isn't just in novels that we find interesting science-fiction asking interesting ideas, but also in film. Doctor Who wonders at what it means to be a human being, despite the Doctor's alien origin. To choose just one example, consider what happens when the Doctor regenerates. We get someone who is at once the same person, yet in disposition and personality distinct. Of course this began merely as a function of the show in order to keep it running past the actors who play the role, but in the reboot series they have begun exploring what it would mean to the human person to be changed in this way. What is it that makes me, <i>me?</i> What is the essence of the Doctor that transcends the bodies he inhabits? What is it that makes a person an unique individual? I hope to explore this question in later posts, but for now, I merely want to point out the question, and hopefully it should be obvious how the question of an individual's essential attributes or characteristics is an important one.<br />
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While the questions are the same, the answers are quite often different, if they are given at all. Usually the metaphysical or truth of a religion are kept mysterious at best, irrelevant or deniable at worst, in science-fiction. But they still desire to give us answers to significant questions about personhood, time, the end of creation, or human advancement and evolution. Engaging these philosophical ideas from the perspective of a somewhat believable future is very helpful to anyone. Science-fiction has the advantage (or sometimes disadvantage) over mere fantasy of trying its best to root its ideas in plausible or at least imaginable futures. The question of personhood, for example, can be explored in reference to androids or holograms. Can artificial beings like this be considered human? What is essential to personhood? As we enter a brave new world of technologies most of us cannot begin to understand, these will quickly start to become less theoretical and more real ethical questions. By "jumping ahead," science-fiction gives us a place to start answering even theological questions. Doctor Who is, again, no exception, exploring many fascinating questions of human nature, time, social issues, and yes even religion.<br />
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The medieval age saw western Europe creating massive stone churches, the Gothic cathedral, magnificent monuments or architectural genius, aesthetic beauty, and human imagination. Some theologians of the time, such as Saint Thomas Aquinas, were said to have created cathedrals of the mind, systems of philosophical thought that sought to answer with clarity, power, and even beauty the most pressing questions that faced humanity. I would argue that Doctor Who is one room in the monolith of science and science-fiction that seeks to do the same sort of thing, though perhaps cathedral is not the right word for their building. The buildings may end up being different, and we may know at the end of the day that one is a much better choice to live in, but that does not mean that we can't appreciate the other for its beauty. Who knows, by listening to science-fiction, maybe we'll actually learn how to ask better questions ourselves.</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-91586792819949412572014-11-08T14:23:00.000-08:002014-11-08T14:24:47.850-08:00Old English and New English: The Doctor and The Wanderer<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Often the solitary one<br />
finds grace
for himself<br />
the mercy of
the Lord,<br />
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Although he
sorry-hearted,<br />
must for a
long time<br />
move by hand
[row]<br />
along the
waterways,<br />
(along) the
ice-cold sea,<br />
tread the
path of exile.<br />
Events
always go as they must!<br />
<o:p> </o:p>…Often I had
alone<br />
to speak of
my trouble<br />
each morning
before dawn.<br />
There is
none now living<br />
to whom I
dare<br />
clearly
speak<br />
of my
innermost thoughts… </blockquote>
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So begins the Old English poem, <i>The Wanderer</i>. The poem captures in just over a hundred lines a deep sense of regret, loss, loneliness, and longing. It is spoken in first person by a warrior who has lost his lord and all of his companions, all defeated in battle and slain. He now plies his oars on the seas, seemingly without goal or purpose. He is rootless, alone, with no one to whom he can speak of his "innermost thoughts."<br />
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To those familiar with "Doctor Who," this is a familiar story. We find out right away in the reboot series that the Doctor has recently survived the ravages of the Time War, a conflict between his fellow Time Lords of Gallifrey and the ever-present Daleks. This has set him on a course of wandering himself, navigating the seas of the sun in the TARDIS, treading "the path of exile." What happened to the Wanderer has also happened to the Doctor: he is "mindful of hardships, of fierce slaughters, and the downfall of kinsmen." Both can say, "bereft of my homeland, far from my noble kinsmen." Both of these are tragic stories, and in the case of the Doctor, perhaps more so. It is revealed that he had a key part in ending the war, but one that required that he sacrifice his own home planet as well.<br />
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This is a compelling connection, to my mind. Both the poem and the television show reflect on what it means to be a survivor, to be exiled into the world without kin or homeland. But it wasn't always this way: the sense of the Doctor we get from the original series is a being who is more elevated above his human companions. He is their guide, the teacher with his disciples, leading them into higher knowledge. But this Doctor has far less confidence in the reboot. This is a Doctor who has survived a great war, but who is now alone. He knows "how cruel is sorrow as a companion to the one who has few beloved friends." The Doctor has been shaken by his loss, and is cut off from his moorings. He wandered before, but not it is now not voluntary, but an enforced exile. Without his people, without a home, who is he?<br />
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The Doctor, of course, has his Companions. But they are only ever temporary friends. Like us, some move on, and some die, but nothing ever remains the same. This is all due to one irreducible fact of life: fate. In the <i>Wanderer</i>, he recognizes that "Events always go as they must!" He is subject to that Old English concept of "wyrd." Most closely akin to fate, this is much like the sea, an unpredictable, uncontrollable, and seemingly impersonal entity. In "Doctor Who," this is very close to how Time is presented. It is an impersonal force, that allows for freedom of choice, but only within the limits of fixed points that even the great Doctor can't change. The feature-length special "The Waters of Mars" illustrates this powerfully, where the Doctor attempts to change what is a fixed point. The Doctor does change the way events play out by his interference, but is ultimately unable to change the end result. Fate, or Time, has cast the Doctor and the Wanderer out into the world, and unmercifully leaves them there.<br />
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The similarities are fascinating, and more importantly, applicable to the Christian. <i>The Wanderer</i> ends on a hopeful note, however sorrow-tinged: "Good is he who keeps his faith, And a warrior must never speak his grief of his breast too quickly...It is better for the one who seeks mercy, consolation from the father in the heavens. where, for us, all permanence rests." Like the Wanderer, we as Christians live in wandering, never quite feeling as if we are at home. Despite even the closest friends we may meet along the way, human beings never can quite shake the feeling of loneliness. We are not home, and we often feel terribly alone. The Doctor hopes that he might someday see his people again; in the final Christmas special with Matt Smith, "The Time of the Doctor," we find out that Gallifrey still exists, but outside our universe. His promised land exists. So does ours, and we share it with the Wanderer. All permanence rests in that place, with our Father in heaven. But there is an important difference: for the Doctor and the Wanderer, they are subject to fate, an impersonal force to whose whims they fall victim. In contrast, the Christian faith teaches the providence of a personal God, who seeks our ultimate good and provides for our need. Ultimately, our identity is wrapped up in our destination, and until we get there, here we wander, but we can trust that as we do a good and powerful God lights our way and guides our feet.<br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-37476331069160545082014-11-03T09:08:00.000-08:002014-11-03T09:17:31.593-08:00Conversations with the Doctor<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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This project faces a particular danger. It is an attempt to connect Christianity with <i>Doctor Who, </i>an effort that will have to be guided through two opposite errors. One would be to take it too seriously; we do not want to be accused of lowering something as important as the eternal, the millenia-old religion of Christianity, to compare with something as passing and "popular" as "Doctor Who," as if they are equivalent in the weight of their ideas. It is, after all, a popular television show, fun, sometimes campy, and primarily focused on entertaining. But this can steer us into the other error, which is to not take it seriously at all. Here we might assume that because something is popular and entertaining, it will have nothing serious or compelling to challenge us with. It also reflects that we often forget that the scriptures often speak in simple language, yet communicate significant truths through those deceptively simple stories. We hope to navigate between these two extremes.<br />
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<i>Doctor </i><i>Who</i> is, at its root, a show that seeks to entertain; but at the same time it gives us characters that struggle not just with Daleks, but with real human trials and challenges. Entertainment is not neutral; its products communicate ideas as much as a philosophy textbook. Those ideas may be interesting or boring, good or bad, but either way they are there. <i>Doctor Who </i>is no exception, and while it entertains it also can challenge or form our own ideas about the way things are. It is telling stories, and stories have a greater capacity to compel our attention and devotion than the most logical proposition. If there is anything fruitful in reflecting on those stories, then it's worth the comparison.<br />
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On this site, we will be promoting the idea that this conversation is worth having. Both to promote the book that will be released this Spring, and to expand and continue that conversation beyond the book, we will be looking at this landmark series through the lens of our common faith. We hope to both enjoy <i>Doctor Who</i> for its value as solid entertainment, and at the same time consider what ideas it promotes & how we might fruitfully engage with and appropriate them. Either way, we're hoping it will be FANTASTIC.<br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-29223562677716119332014-10-27T10:02:00.000-07:002014-10-27T10:02:16.422-07:00Book Release Party<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgudESW60KhLEHBJyN9hsJOx2Dn7cKOxP44AcTUyHTbN0XAleLBbOZL9rI-8yxxCGzQENp6KPTs1Er8zb3OjrGF8w2Zm3Q2obBA5OvV5tbtqkHzOcMKO1avKrggbCDUKP9DtmIfr1GWtz8/s1600/The+Trust+_Thornbury.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgudESW60KhLEHBJyN9hsJOx2Dn7cKOxP44AcTUyHTbN0XAleLBbOZL9rI-8yxxCGzQENp6KPTs1Er8zb3OjrGF8w2Zm3Q2obBA5OvV5tbtqkHzOcMKO1avKrggbCDUKP9DtmIfr1GWtz8/s1600/The+Trust+_Thornbury.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
A lecture and book release party is planned for Thursday, March 26, 2015 in the Great Hall of <a href="http://www.lancastertrust.com/">The Trust Performing Arts Center</a>—37 North Market Street, Lancaster, PA 17603. The lecture will be given by Gregory Thornbury, president of <a href="https://www.tkc.edu/">The King's College, NYC</a> and co-editor of <i><a href="http://www.squarehalobooks.com/bigger-on-the-inside.html">Bigger on the Inside: Christianity and Doctor Who</a>.</i> The event will begin at 7:30pm. Tickets are $10 ($5 for students).Square Halohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15028411225319760043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5265470315128635701.post-14812766797530475592014-10-27T09:21:00.000-07:002014-10-27T09:21:12.473-07:00Christianity + Doctor Who = Veggie Tales?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEZmuDVd5gMt7pefCG2EQzdr8yKkxd6vN0qgSN0U05Ewi913udxKJSkhwdY9fur4TBejj50sP1tEAcFibGD4kkpcyLl3s6oi9oeLvgLYuwhCHzBD-eSoO4u6jCPvalbOnJ37SNf-roA_A/s1600/Doctor+Alfred.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEZmuDVd5gMt7pefCG2EQzdr8yKkxd6vN0qgSN0U05Ewi913udxKJSkhwdY9fur4TBejj50sP1tEAcFibGD4kkpcyLl3s6oi9oeLvgLYuwhCHzBD-eSoO4u6jCPvalbOnJ37SNf-roA_A/s1600/Doctor+Alfred.jpg" height="241" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://Doctor Who Appearance in VeggieTales! (And Star Trek Too!)">This clip</a> combines Star Trek, giant fighting robots, and Doctor Who all together in one delightful scene. You've heard of the War Doctor—this is the Veggie Doctor.Square Halohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15028411225319760043noreply@blogger.com0