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Christianity Today, August (Web-Only), 2008 |

Theology in the News

Hero Worship

The Dark Knight perpetuates America's hero confusion.

Collin Hansen | posted 8/25/2008 09:42AM

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We must not, however, draw too many parallels between the Old Testament and The Dark Knight. In the movie, justice is detached from God. Sometimes Batman stands for justice, but he is able to be tempted to retaliate in anger against the Joker. Sometimes the people of Gotham can be trusted to encourage justice, but what they really seek is security. God's purposes may not always be apparent, even to Christians. But God steadfastly defends his divine prerogative to define the terms of justice (Psalm 33:5; Isaiah 30:18; Isaiah 61:8).

Drawing close parallels between The Dark Knight and Old Testament also misses the nuances of progressive revelation. Consider Daniel, a great hero of the Babylonian exile. He completely trusts God to vindicate his faithfulness (Daniel 1:8-21). His character is so consistent (Daniel 6:4) and his blessing by God so apparent that he even wins over the kings of heathen nations (Daniel 2:46-49; 6:25-28). Daniel fights not with the weapons of this world but with the armor of God. Light defeats might. Though God's people are in exile, God's purposes never fail, Daniel remembers. "Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice" (Daniel 9:14).

Exile is the posture of the church (1 Peter 1:1). Daniel pointed toward the day when the Hero of Heroes would defeat the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms by his submission to death on the Cross. The kingdom of God will not be consummated until Jesus Christ returns. Nevertheless, the light of Jesus Christ has already shone in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome him (John 1:5). Jesus died a villain's death, but he lived again as the hero.

Collin Hansen is a CT editor at large and author of Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists.

Related Elsewhere:

Christianity Today Movies gave the film four stars.

Previous Theology in the News columns are available on our website.

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JVK	Posted: August 26, 2008 11:50 AM

Pretty one-sided review. Consider the unselfishness of the Gothamites (including criminals!) who refuse to blow up each other's ferries: they sacrifice their security for the sake of moral principle. Likewise, Batman unselfishly saves Dent rather than Rachel, his old flame, and later unselfishly becomes Gotham's scapegoat. All of the above shows genuine character, not mere rule-conformity. Dent, on the other hand, has a brittle moral character that cracks under pressure. He's close to the Pharisees of the New Testament: self-righteous, dexterous with the law, and lacking the inner moral fiber to resist when evil deforms him (both physically and spiritually) into a selfish avenger of his own trampled rights.

Joshua Cookingham

Posted: August 26, 2008 7:53 AM

And yet...Batman struggles but does not succumb. Jesus was tempted and did not sin. I'm not saying that Batman is any where near Jesus's level. But he doesn't fight for glory or just for the sake of fighting, He fights to protect. It's not worship that we feel for Batman, Spiderman and co. it's admiration. Admiration that those who have been given the power to protect and serve are flawed and yet they choose to do right.

K. Scot Sparks

Posted: August 26, 2008 7:45 AM

Among many other things, the film began to neutralize the notion 'hero' by skirting senses as popular as they are simplistic (concerning what the human being is -morally and spiritually). The Knight, the DA, Gordon, AND the floating masses refuse to meet non-nuanced expectation. Does the film suggest that the authentic Hero is not extant -in the flesh? Perhaps it tacitly leaves room for the true Hero (and Lamb of God) -in all his redefining presence. Self heroizing impulses get appealled to -from pulpits and books far too often. As improperly, such appeals are read back into scripture. While this arena does not have a corner on the macho narcissism so typically and wrongly associated with 'hero,' such fixation in/near Christ's 'upside-down' kingdom should be recognized as the irony it is. The Dark Knight film sometimes brought reminders about the simultaneous if not perpetual depths of goodness and evil -of each and every one. (-Yes, there's a Solzynitzyn quote in there.)

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