STAR TREK and GOD TREKS

The explosion of media hype surrounding the newest release of a movie in the Star Trek genre delights followers of the Star Trek phenomena that began in the late 60s. For whatever reason my own interests have never leaned towards science fiction or futuristic movies, so I was surprised to discover that there is an interweaving of theology and beauty within a Star Trek exploration. Author Gene Roddenberry  investigates questions mankind has asked since the beginning of time. Roddenberry attempts to peer into the future and the cultural belief that science can eventually solve and overcome most of our Earth-bound frailties and vices. I discovered that “the Vulcans were attempting to create a utopian society where the central role is played not by money, but rather by the need for exploration and knowledge.”  Science’s pervasive influence on our culture diminishes teachings of faith; attempting to create a “utopian society” through science and technology alone. But God’s love cannot be found in science alone. Faith and Reason, science and theology must meet in mankind’s understanding of love. With a worldwide economic crisis, we may need to redefine culture and ourselves, not through money, but answers20sought through faith.
 “Star Trek stories usually depict the adventures of humans and aliens…the protagonists are essentially altruists.” Christ’s teachings within the Gospel are also teachings for protagonists who fight aliens of evil in the world, teachings for pure selfless generosity of human behavior. Yet no matter how far science and technology take us in our attempts to seize control through knowledge, to create a utopian society transformed through knowledge, or to predict and control the future; science alone cannot answer the ultimate truth we seek.
Saint Paul says that it is faith which "transcends" knowledge and is thereby capable of perceiving more than thought alone (cf. Eph 3:19); nonetheless it continues to be love of the God who is Logos. Consequently, Christian worship is, again to quote Paul - "λογικη λατρεία", worship in harmony with the eternal Word and with our reason (cf. Rom 12:1).[ (1)
When we restrict  answers to science’s evidential data alone, we dilute answers of faith. If our questions about life, death, love, and meaning—are to be answered only by the intellect, only by science, then the unification of body and soul and the questions of eternity are “relegated to the realm of the subjective.” (2) Aren’t Spock, Kirk, and the entire crew of the Enterprise ultimately seeking truth? As the Enterprise floats through space, the vessel contains our human struggles placed within the “space” of God’s infinite love. The answers we conclude through faith and reason determine whether our soul or spirits will be unified.  These are essential questions of the Christian spirit. As C.S. Lewis said, “We are not bodies with a soul, but souls with a body.”
Pope Benedict says that what is needed is “the broadening of our concept of reason and its application. While we rejoice in the new possibilities open to humanity, we also see the dangers arising from these possibilities and we must ask ourselves how we can overcome them. We will succeed in doing so only if reason and faith come together in a new way, if we overcome the sel f-imposed limitation of reason to the empirically falsifiable, and if we once more disclose its vast horizons.” (3)
Gene Roddenberry felt that by creating Star Trek he could “create a new world with new rules” He said, “I could make statements about sex, religion, Vietnam, politics, and intercontinental missiles. Indeed, we did make them on Star Trek.” I salute Roddenberry, but a man named Jesus created a “new world with new rules of love” speaking to future generations and giving us great truths about sex, religion, war, politics, and intercontinental missiles, over 2,000 years ago.
Our world desperately needs new rules of love to achieve a unity that delves deep into the human heart and endures beyond death. We need a union with the Infinite, yet left to ourselves (or the Captain of the Starship Enterprise) we do not possess the means to bring about such a oneness with God.  “It is through communion with Christ that believers gain access to a bond with God that we could never establish by our own power.”(4) Through faith we gain access to a truth and a love that we cannot establish through science or technology alone. It is the exploration of knowledge within the enterprise, the evidential power of the beauty of truth gained throu gh both reason and faith that reaches into the human heart, as we travel through the space of God’s infinite love.  The God Trek applies to Star Trek and to our Trek through this life. 

Posted by Debra Classen at 5/15/2009 10:00 PM
Categories: Reflections
Tags: God Trek Star Trek
 

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