The Religious Implications of 'Doctor Who'

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Fri Jun 6, 2008 4:30PM5 comments ›

Fri Jun 6, 2008 — by Rick Marshall

The Religious Implications of 'Doctor Who'

Have you accepted The Doctor into your life?

Various news sites are reporting that church leaders in England are studying the "religious parallels" between the BBC television series Doctor Who and certain themes of Christianity.

According to Telegraph:

They have been urged to use examples from the programme in their sermons in an attempt to make Christianity more relevant to teenagers.

At a conference last week, vicars watched Doctor Who clips that were said to illustrate themes of resurrection, redemption and evil.

It analysed the similarities between the Doctor and Christ, and whether daleks are capable of change.

The reports mention a few other examples, including The Doctor's time-travelling TARDIS as a representation of a church and, as Wired blog "The Underwire" pointed out, they both appear in Christmas specials.

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Comments (5)

Inappropriate or promotional comments may be removed.

Vinnie Bartilucci (4:39 PM on Fri Jun 6, 2008)

Ridiculous.

Their guy only came back from the dead once, and it took him three days to do it.

Richard Pachter (4:52 PM on Fri Jun 6, 2008)

It's all science fiction anyway.

mike weber (4:53 PM on Fri Jun 6, 2008)

If you check the IMDB page for the current series (at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436992/), you will find the following series of user-supplied keywords:

Doctor Who
Man With No Name
Christ Allegory
Conflict
Action Heroine

Mike Gold (5:53 PM on Fri Jun 6, 2008)

The TARDIS is a church? Wha?

Books have been written about the religious implications of Peanuts, Superman, The Simpsons... probably damn near every enduring cultural phenomenon. Allegory is in the mind of the beholder.

As Bob Dylan said: "Don't follow leaders, watch the parking meters." These are the words I live by.

Russ Rogers (5:54 PM on Fri Jun 6, 2008)

Is Ras' al Ghul a Christ Allegory? He's come back from the dead!

Wait, so did Electra, Phoenix, Superman, Supergirl, Green Lantern, the Flash ... DC, DC, why have you forsaken Ch'p!

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