Fellowship of Saints and Sinners

Fellowship of Saints and Sinners

James Bond Does Theology, Too?

“Skyfall” opened in theaters last night.”

Last night’s premiere of the new James Bond movie, “Skyfall,” was a sensation.

The grand narrative of good versus evil unfolded in a quick-paced, suspense-filled string of high-speed car chases, jaw-dropping stunts, and gratuitous destruction.

And, all the traditional eye candy was there again.

An older, dashing, chiseled and sufficiently “naughty” Daniel Craig, whose dry, understated humor kept me chuckling, seethed with raw, unruffled masculinity- especially when the villains destroyed his car.  (You guessed it: it was an Aston Martin.)  Bond’s “girl” as usual seemed the perfect blend of beauty, mystery, provocation and fragility. My only disappointment was that yet again James seems to have lost his taste for blondes.  (What happened, James?)

Model and actor Shannon Ledbetter, in the 1997 Bond flick, “Tomorrow Never Dies,” went on to become an Anglican priest. The question is: can a priest go on to become a Bond girl?

And then there was the arch villain who brimmed with evil concoctions, but with just a hint of humanity to make him funny.  Javier Bardem skillfully plays Raoul Silva, a washed-out former agent with a perverse compulsion for revenge against his former boss, M.

What I wasn’t expecting from Bond was a theological sound byte.  In Bond’s first and only real conversation with arch-enemy Silva, Silva asks, “What is your hobby, Mr. Bond?”

Bond replies, “My hobby…is resurrection.”

The statement is apropos in light of the plot, which I won’t give away.  But it is also, I think, a wonderful way to encapsulate what Christianity, (and therefore, hopefully, the Christian), is all about.

Our hobby is resurrection, too.

If only it came with all the other sexy perks of a Bond flick, also.

 

 

 

 

 

 



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