Welcome Regulars, friends, and those of you who find yourselves here on the next stop of the blog tour. Please be sure to have your tour badge clearly visible at all times so that our tour guides can ensure you have the best time possible while you are here in our corner of the internet.
You may have seen the recent release of Thy Geekdom Come volume 2 from our friends at Mythos & Ink. We’ve teamed up with them to help spread the word about this release, so you may or may not have already started seeing references to them in our facebook group, social media, or podcasts. We wanted to be a part of this not only because so many of our other friends in the geeky Christian ministry space have contributed to this volume, but also because we were able to read a preview copy and have seen just how interesting and well written each entry is. You won’t have to know every reference to appreciate the point in each entry, but the contributors all do an excellent job of capitalizing on the geeky things they love to draw connection points to the biblical passages.
The folks at Mythos & Ink believe so strongly that you’ll want to bring this volume home to have on your shelf and make reference to over and over again that they’ve let us post this complete chapter from among the 42 different devotionals in the book for you to explore. While I did have to make some minor formatting changes to fit our site, the following is otherwise exactly as seen in the book. You’ll also notice that the study questions at the end have been answered by me as I’ve reflected on what’s being said here. Whether you have been a part of what we do here at InnRoads for a while or just stopping through from the tour, I hope seeing a little bit of my process helps you feel comfortable entering into it yourself.
You can also find the other chapters in the blog tour and download a FREE five-day preview that will allow you to explore more of what volume 2 has to offer by following this link: geekdevo.com/bardandbible.
Reflections of Identity in 2001: A Space Odyssey
By Nathan Campbell
“I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all, I think, that any conscious entity
—H.A.L. 9000, 2001: A Space Odyssey
can ever hope to do.”
Read: 1 Corinthians 13
Reflect: When Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke set out in 1964 to make a good science
fiction movie, humankind was taking its first steps into the ocean of space beyond the shores
of planet Earth. Just a few years prior, in 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel
into space. Kubrick’s goal was to tell a story about “[humankind’s] relationship to the
universe.”1 The effort culminated in the classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in
1968, eight months before the fantastic voyage of Apollo 8’s Christmas Eve
circumnavigation of the moon, and nearly a year before Neil Armstrong’s lunar footprints.
The film follows Dr. David Bowman and Dr. Frank Poole on a mission to Jupiter after
the discovery of an alien monolith on the Moon. The monolith sent a radio signal to Jupiter,
and the humans have been sent to investigate. Their spacecraft, Discovery One, is mainly
controlled by “HAL,” an artificial intelligence who tries to murder the astronauts on the
journey. Bowman alone survives the trip, deactivating HAL, and makes it to Jupiter to
discover another monolith orbiting the planet. Upon further investigation, Bowman is pulled
into a vortex of light and has visions of himself as he grows old. In the end, he transforms
into a fetus-like ‘Star-Child’ that is suspended in light and hovers in space beside Earth.
Most science fiction film and television productions prior to the release of 2001: A Space
Odyssey, with a few exceptions, dealt with the standard pulp fare of dastardly robots or
bug-eyed aliens threatening worlds. Clarke and Kubrick deviated from the zeitgeist of this
period by probing into the existential. Famously, the film deliberately left the questions it
raised unanswered. Clarke himself even stated: “If anyone understands it on the first viewing,
we’ve failed in our intention.”2
As a work of art, the movie cannot be reduced to a single interpretation. We can,
however, like the characters in the film, peer into the surface of the monolith and perhaps see
“in a mirror, dimly” some reflection of our own deeper needs. The film encourages us to
consider the role that the monolith plays in regards to human growth, identity, and our need to
know our value in the universe.
Two questions at the core of a Christian’s place and value in the universe are 1) Who is
God? and 2) Who am I?
Without a clear understanding of the answer to one, an answer to the other will be found
lacking. Understanding ourselves and our relationship to God is more than mere
self-awareness. We want to be known, not simply by collecting numerous acquaintances but
by having our true selves be fully understood, appreciated and loved. Theologian N.T. Wright
states, “Love is the deepest mode of knowing, because it is in love that, while completely
engaging with reality other than itself, affirms and celebrates that other-than-self reality.”3 We
want the answer to “Who am I?” to be reflected completely and honestly via others as well as
through ourselves.
2001: A Space Odyssey’s monolith could represent God reaching out to humankind to
speak to and shape our identity. Each time a character responds in kind by seeking answers
from the monolith, change occurs. Looking to find a reflection in the stark, empty slab, each
interaction with the monolith drives the characters towards a more perfected humanity. From
the very first scene of the movie, which shows a pre-human ape kickstarting his evolutionary
development, to to the final scene, which depicts a dying Bowman reaching towards the
monolith and transforming into the Star-Child, the characters find the next iteration of their
identity—a deepening and changing understanding of their final destiny.
While the monolith of the film helps to enlighten those who come into contact with it,
the mechanisms and designs behind this change are left to mystery. Thankfully, neither our
divine connection to God nor our Creator’s purposeful love for us is as shrouded. In Christ,
we may find some of these answers to our questions. However, Christ, as he often does, turns
the questions on their head. Rather than answering “Who is God?”, Jesus reflects the
questions back to us: “who do you say that I am?” (Luke 9:20). He also says what matters
about our identity is not who we or others say we are; it is who he says we are (Matthew
7:23).
We are those who are infinitely loved. Thus, the answer comes back to the focus of 1
Corinthians 13: love. As Paul writes, if we do not have love, we ultimately have nothing and
can therefore give nothing. Truth without love is noise. Charity without love may feed a body
but starves a soul. Because we are loved, we can love and affirm others.
Real love shapes our identity in ways we don’t always comprehend, allowing us to
become fully ourselves while losing ourselves to another. N.T. Wright writes,
“The lover affirms the reality and otherness of the beloved. Love does not seek to
collapse the beloved into terms of itself; and even though it may speak of losing itself
in the beloved, such a loss always turns out to be a true finding. In the familiar
paradox, one becomes fully oneself when losing oneself to another. In the fact of love,
in short, both parties are simultaneously affirmed.”4
Christ died for us not because we are worth dying for, but because he is love, and he
loves infinitely. In this love, we can find our own monolith experience; a transformative
connection with the divine. Christ transforms us into new creations. Once we have a firm
grasp on who God says we are, that we are God’s beloved, we can then find our truest
identity, and we are finally and fully known.
Key Scripture
“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see,
everything has become new!” —2 Corinthians 5:17–21
Study Questions
- In what do you most often find your identity?
It’s the Sunday school answer to say Jesus, but while that is not an incorrect answer, it also wouldn’t be honest to say that’s always or even mostly the case. I’ve struggled with a lot of issues around self-worth and that can often side-step and dance around the knowledge of who I am in God. I’d probably say my identity is often found in the work that I do. Whether that’s content people can see, helping someone moving forward into something they are clearly made to do, or even just the quiet conversations that no one else sees where I feel I’m using what God has made ME to do — these are the times I feel like I know who I am, because I’m representing God and demonstrating His love in a tangible way. - How does knowing what Jesus thinks of you change how you perceive yourself?
There are times that I can’t see it. The knowledge that God loves me so desperately to endure the cross and that He continues to plead on my behalf keeps me going in the times I can’t see it and certainly can’t feel it. Knowing that’s true regardless of what I do or don’t see means that I can carry through ’til the next time I can. Something like a “valley of the shadow of death” kinda moment. - How can knowing what Jesus thinks of your identity change how you interact with and
love others who are still searching to find their own true identity?
It effects every part of it. It brings confidence in knowing that I never stop being His, no matter how incredibly off-base I have and can be at times. It also brings humility — knowing that while I’m His, I’m definitely not Him. I need Him, and so does everybody else. We’re all in a process. It’s a phrase I heard a lot in the early days of my faith, but it took years before my perception and actions matched the words I was saying. We are all in progress. We are all off base in big ways but still too early on the journey to see how off base we are. A person can say they know better, but there is no knowing whether what I hold to so tightly know might be featured on a list of things I talk about getting wrong years from now.
1 Clarke, Arthur C. The Lost Worlds of 2001. New American Library, 1972.
2 McAleer, Neil. Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized Biography. Contemporary Books, 1993.
3 Wright, N.T. Surprised by Scripture: Engaging Contemporary Issues. New York: HarperOne, 2014.
4 Wright, N.T. The New Testament and the People of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God. Augsburg
Fortress, 1992.