Arnon Grunberg

Practices

Short

On Jedi – Adam Roberts in TLS:

‘The subjects of these essays, all properly written and referenced, in themselves unobjectionable examples of contemporary academic writing, vary so widely that a centrifugal effect runs the risk of pulling even so widely defined a volume apart: how ancient Jews and early Christians imagined outer space; what Mormons, Fourierists and Swedenborgians believed in the early nineteenth century; Star Trek’s Ferengi; Frank Herbert and Dan Simmons; the short fiction of John Varley; UFOs; the paintings of Chesley Bonestell; Wernher von Braun’s rockets.’

(…)

‘Of course, what Jews believe happens to them after they die is also a fascinating question. With a few not especially illuminating exceptions, Christianity is treated as a kind of monolith or blob, as if all the world’s two billion Christians believed exactly the same things and lived life according to the same social and cultural practices.’

(…)

‘Say there are millions of alien species. Say, perhaps, there is an infinity of such beings. Did they all have their own specific alien messiahs, heptapod creatures crucified on seven-tined crosses and so on? But this would dilute the integrity and specialness of Christ’s sacrifice, and an infinitude of such alien varieties would dilute it infinitely, leaving it nothing at all. Or was Christ sent only to our world, leaving the rest of the cosmos to bald damnation? That seems cruel of God. A better solution, theologically, is that there are no aliens. But for science fiction, as for actual space exploration, this seems an improbable supposition.’

(…)

‘It is a shame that Star Wars is relegated to a passing mention in this collection; for this hugely popular franchise, unlike Star Trek, mediates a specifically religious impulse: “the Force” and the mystic-spiritual order of the Jedi are central to its appeal.
According to the 2001 census, more people who identified as “Jedi” in the UK than as Sikhs, Buddhists or Jews. Not all of these people put Jedi on the form as a joke. And fandom is not just a quasi-religious enthusiasm; it is also a social praxis. Fans assemble at conventions: in the US, Comic-Con attracts hundreds of thousands of attendees, and Comiket in Japan claims annual attendance of more than 500,000 people. Few revivalist meetings or mega-churches have this kind of pull.’

Read the article here.

It’s neither the Muslims nor the Jews, it’s the Jedi.

That must come as a relief to some.

As to the question where the Jews go after their death, it’s safe to say: there is disagreement. There are many destinations, some Jews might believe they go to Switzerland.

Once I was tempted to write at least one SF-novel, I’m not so sure anymore.

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