There is a fifth dimension...

In the post “1407 Graymalkin Lane,” I wrote extensively about one of the reasons I love Silver Lake—namely that it was one of my primary sanctuaries growing up and continues to be a sanctuary for me even today.  And because it is and was a safe place for me, Silver Lake is one of the places I have had the best opportunities to dig into my own theology.  Besides which, it’s where I met my wife and where I was married, so naturally it’s just going to come up every once in a while!

My wife and I have spent several years leading a creative writing conference for high school age youth entitled “The Written Word.”  Unfortunately, The Written Word has run its course—at least as a summer conference—and to be honest I’m kind of mourning its passing.  Like all good Christians, though, I live in the hope of the Resurrection, so who knows?  Maybe The Written Word will ride again someday.  For now, though, I’d like to share at least one of the theological underpinnings of the conference, because I find it especially useful to my geek theology.

The idea, basically, is that we were all made in God’s image.  And one of the ways we were all made in God’s image is that we are ourselves creative.  And so if we pay attention to our creations, we can find echoes of God’s image in them—even if we didn't intend for them to be there!  I used to say “we can find God’s image in them,” but theology is a living, breathing, growing thing and now I think that it’s important to note that our creations, while important and good, are signs—symbols of a truth, not the truth itself.

So why is the idea that echoes of God’s image can be found in our creations important to my understanding of geek theology?  Well, it’s the interpretive lens that causes me to think of Mark 13:1-2 when I watch the trailer for Fallout 3.  It’s why I can immediately think of baptism when I hear Metallica’s “Until It Sleeps.”  Or the plight of post-modern mainline Christianity in an episode of Kitchen Nightmares!  One of the many things that defines us as geeks is our unabashed love of certain forms and genres of storytelling.  I’m a video game geek (or gamer), a sci-fi geek, a fantasy geek, an rpg geek (confusingly, also “gamer”), and so on.  You can see why it feels foundational to identify echoes of the divine in our stories, then, right?

By the way, sometimes I know exactly where I first came into contact with a concept that had a profound impact on my own theology, and this is one of them.  It all goes back to Little Peggy March.  I know, I know, she’s before my time but she fits pretty squarely into the kind of music my father listens to—
What’s that?  You don’t know Little Peggy March?  I think maybe you do.  She recorded a song entitled “I Will Follow Him.”  I’m pretty sure it’s meant to be a romantic peace, but it was most famously covered in the film Sister Act.  There was something about that moment where I realized that the “him” in a love song could refer to God that was a major epiphany for me.  How about you?



Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
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