I am announcing a new series today on PhilipMeade.com called “Deconstructing Star Trek.” The idea came to me while preparing Peanut Butter Chicken for my children a few minutes ago. Here’s what I hope to do…
Over the past month I have been watching Star Trek: The Orignal Series episodes on my Kindle Fire. Whereas I would usually never take the time to watch a 45 minute science fiction program, my Kindle has afforded me the opportunity to do precisely that. The reason is because I enjoy cuddling in the bed with my blessed wife at night and when she doses off to sleep, I slip on my headphones and fire up an episode of Star Trek. Yes, my Amazon Prime account has its benefits. Anyway, I have found myself thinking through the various episodes from a Christian worldview and thought it would be fun to share some of those thoughts with ya’ll. For those of you who know nothing about Star Trek and could care less about science fiction, this series will mean nothing to you. But for the rest, I hope it is fun and perhaps educational.
I have chosen the name “Deconstructing Star Trek” because my intent is to unveil a new approach to thinking through the series. I’m sure it has been done before, but despite my best Google searches, I have not found an author who walked through each episode with an evangelical and Christological point of view. To deconstruct a piece of literature is typically accomplished by analyzing it for the purpose of revealing hidden biases or flaws in the art form. That is not my intent. My desire is to apply a evangelical analysis to the series in order to demonstrate a new, and at times perhaps ironic, viewing experience. I’ll admit from the outset that I might be stretching it from time to time, but the point is to have fun and continue to work on the discipline of thinking through everything with a Christian worldview.
My challenge to you…at the end of each episode I deconstruct, I will let you know what episode is coming next (I will simply be following them chronologically as they were released). You could watch the episode before I write the next summary and see if you can catch the theological significance before you read my analysis. You might do a much better job than my own summary.
The first entry (should I call these Philip’s Log? No, definitely not) should hopefully be up by the end of the week. That means there will be three series happening at PhilipMeade.com:
The Question Vault – here I attempt to answer questions I receive through email, in discipleship classes, or after worship services.
What It Is, What It Isn’t – this series takes an issue, usually church related, and lists some things it is and it isn’t.
Deconstructing Star Trek – explained above.
A fourth series, partially formatted as a podcast, will be coming sometime later this year and will be called “Theology in the Pews.” It will be an attempt to take important but sometimes complicated theological terms and concepts and word them in a way anyone can understand. Every Christian is a theologian – that is the catalyst for the series.
I hope you enjoy Deconstructing Star Trek. Grace & Peace!
