Redeemer Arts

Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City

Friday, November 26, 2010

Galaxy Quest For the Artful Theologian

In my mind, I always envisioned a theologian as a real book-wormy pious person with no connection to anyone of the artistic bend. I am now of the opinion that all artists are secret theological agents.

I have a strange fascination with certain movies. Galaxy Quest (1999) starring Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver is one of them. From a superficial standpoint, the movie is pretty silly. It starts out as a mocumentary of the Star Trek phenomenon. It sports stereotypical characters that were once a part of a popular TV series who now make a living signing autographs at space conventions. Through a crazy turn of events, these now washed up and embittered TV characters end up meeting real aliens who have been following their show for years reverently terming the wisdom from the program series "The Historical Documents". These perky extraterrestrials reveal that they have based their entire existence on whatever truths they had gleaned from the series' contents. In order to rescue the aliens from impending doom these faux-futuristic astronauts, with the help of some dedicated fans, end up using the wisdom from their experiences as actors on what they thought was a trite scripted series to save the day.

On some level, artists are the crazy TV characters embodying truths that are being observed by the outside world. Another generation will look at the products of the artists' efforts--for we are guardians of the ancient record. It is a record of galactic proportions. The artwork tells a story which is our theology in motion.

--Molly Franzone

Molly is a Filmmaker Vocation Group leader and has worked in children's television programing.

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