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The Gospel in Epic Literature: Introduction

Pastor’s Study | October 28, 2009 | Rev. Doug Pratt
 

The Characteristics of an Epic
Epic literature tells large-scale and sweeping stories, usually through multiple books or episodes rather than a single installment, that tend to have the following characteristics:

• Deal with the major themes and issues of life
• Are built on a foundation of a distinctive world-view or understanding of reality
• Include many characters, plots and subplots, and are rich in detail
• The range of moral characteristics (good and evil) are demonstrated in characters
• Both natural and supernatural forces and phenomena intersect
• Are enjoyed and appreciated by all ages
• Express the highest cultural values and aspirations of a nation or people

Some examples of great epics of world literature include Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey (from ancient Greece), stories of the Norse Gods & Beowulf (from Scandinavia) and the Arthurian Legend — Camelot, King Arthur, Merlin, etc. (from medieval England).

The Bible is actually the greatest Epic of all!

The Great 20th/21st Century Epics in British Literature

The Lord of the Rings (and The Hobbit)
Author: JRR Tolkien (English)
Epic consists of four books, beginning in 1937

The Chronicles of Narnia
Author: CS Lewis (Northern Irish)
Epic consists of seven books, beginning in 1950

The Harry Potter series
Author: JK Rowling (Scottish)
Epic consists of seven books, beginning in 1997

Similarities among the great modern British epics
There are nine remarkable similarities among these great British epics:

• All three have had tremendous popularity and commercial success.
• All three imagine a different world and create for it a unique and consistent history, different creatures and species, and separate cultures and traditions.
• All three are great stories and page-turners, long and multi-volume, with many intersecting plots and sub-plots.
• All three have been loved by children and adults.
• All three have been made into commercially successful Hollywood films in the past decade.
• All three involve magical and supernatural forces, powers and processes.
• All three portray the fate of their imaginary worlds during their ultimate hours of conflict between good and evil, with the fate of all characters hanging in the balance.
• All three draw upon medieval British and European culture, and utilize multiple historical, linguistic, mythological and legendary references.
• All three are written by Christians who apply Christian and biblical values, images and world-view to their imaginary worlds and characters.

What about the great American Epics?
I believe the greatest epic produced in America in the 20th Century is the Star Wars series of films by George Lucas. There are interesting similarities and contrasts to the three British epics we are studying. There are seven striking similarities:

• Star Wars portrays imaginary worlds and cultures
• It uses heroes and villains as examples of moral choices
• It depicts great cosmic conflicts with the fate of entire worlds hanging in the balance
• Star Wars utilizes multiple characters, plots and subplots
• It extends over multiple volumes/episodes
• It employs supernatural powers interwoven with natural (“The Force”)
• It invents new species and languages.

But there are also three major differences:

• Star Wars was created as film first, not in written form as novels
• It is greatly influenced by New Age Spirituality and an Eastern worldview, rather than Christian principles
• The series declines in quality from the first trilogy to the second (this is partly due to the limitation of “prequels” after a conclusion has already been presented, and also showed Lucas’ increasing over-dependence on high-tech special effects, to the neglect of character and plot development).

I’d like to offer my analysis of why America, a much more populous country than Britain, has not produced more worthy epics in the past century. I believe it’s partly because we are a young culture and don’t have the depths of European corporate heritage (we learn European culture, but it’s not “ours” in the same way). The “new world” and its settlers have tended to be future-oriented (thus the Star Wars science fiction and its futuristic bent) rather than past-oriented, as with the medieval cultures woven into the British epics. To those who would claim that America has produced worthy “epics” from the Civil War (Roots), the Old West, or the Second World War, I would reply that those don’t qualify as true epics in that they are rooted in this world only and in real-time (and recent) history — rather than in fantasy worlds.