The Theology of "Star Trek"

Being the dork that I am, I went to see Star Trek last night. It was very well-done; the effects were spectacular, the characters were instantly recognizable, the acting was superb. The movie gave new life to Kirk, Spock, and the other heroes of the original series, and opened up a lot of possibilities for future exploration. In my Theology of Watchmen post a couple months back, I wrote that "like any narrative of artistic merit, Watchmen, as both film and graphic novel, raises profound theological questions." The same, of course, is true of the new Star Trek film.

The new movie tells an alternate backstory of the original heroes' early days. Focusing largely on the young James T. Kirk, the film explores his transformation from Iowa's only "genius-level repeat delinquent" into the captain of the Starship Enterprise. Portions of the plot take place at the Starfleet Academy in California, and it is there that Kirk, as part of his training and studies, must take the infamous "Kobayashi Maru" test. This training exercise, designed by Spock, is intentionally designed to be unwinnable, a certain defeat for the cadets who take it.

On his third attempt at taking the test, Kirk succeeds, startling Spock and his other superiors at the academy. It emerges, however, that he only succeeded by inserting a new piece of programming into the system beforehand, changing the test to allow him to win. Kirk defends his actions with a famous statement that first appeared in the earlier film Wrath of Khan: "I don't believe in the no-win scenario".

I don't believe in the no-win scenario.

On his blog "Hacking Christianity" (one of my longtime favorites), Rev. Jeremy Smith recently shared an innovative metaphor for the Resurrection. Relating a conversation with an MIT student, Jeremy quotes the student as saying: "You know what I think? I think if Death was a system, then Jesus hacked the system of death. ... He broke it open for everyone." In this metaphor (which reminds me of my "Techno-Christology" essay from a while back), the Incarnation is an innovative software hack in the "system" that makes up the universe.

Before the Resurrection, human death was like the Kobayashi Maru test. It was unwinnable, unbeatable, certain doom. We were trapped in our own sin and bound by Principalities and Powers -- forces of oppression bigger than we could hope to overcome. But the incarnate Christ changed that. Just as Kirk hacked the Kobayashi Maru test, Jesus hacked death itself. He doesn't believe in the no-win scenario either.

The Apostle Paul knew this, though he obviously wouldn't have framed it in quite those terms. For Paul, "to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1.21), and this hope is made possible only by the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 1512ff). Paul is telling us that for the Christian, because death has been overcome, there is no such thing as a no-win scenario. That's why we can face death without fear, and that's how we know that the Kingdom of Heaven will, in the end, win a victory far greater than anything even Starfleet could hope to accomplish.

[This post was originally published on my blog.]