How Does DC Comics Wrestle with Theodicy?

 by David Keating

The Keating Files – November 20, 2020

 

Buckle up, because in this week’s article we are going to get into the weeds on one of my favorite topics: comic books. Specifically, I want to take a look at the way in which a medium primarily designed to entertain young adults, often tries to tackle pretty big questions.

If you take a look at comics, both Marvel and DC, over the last decade or so you would notice that the medium has made efforts to sort-of “grow” with that young adult audience that they rely on to sell books. Both of the “big two” (Marvel and DC) have hired writers with a little bit more clout and have made moves to feature more creator-driven books. 

 

One major event in DC Comics that perfectly captures the desire to provide beat-’em-up action fun while also incorporating deeper questions surrounding their comic book universe would be 2016-2017’s DC event Darkseid War. The event was designed primarily to feature two of DC’s major villains (the Anti-Monitor and Darkseid) as they faced off and did battle while the rest of the world hung in balance. The main titles were meant to satisfy that desire that comic fans have to watch villains, who are terrifying in their own right, battle it out. 

 

The Darkseid War event illustrates this shift in publishing strategy, with the tie-in issues (one shot comics that are meant to be non-essential to the main books) featured indie comic darlings and up-and-coming voices within the genre. For Darkseid War, the tie-ins were primarily designed to be character studies of each member of the Justice League. The League members find themselves supercharged to god-like levels thanks to a device usually in the employ of Darkseid. Given these god-like powers and abilities, the tie-in comics looked to do a deep dive into what makes each character tick and how they would be affected when given access to these newfound abilities. 

 

One of the more interesting issues in this bunch of books is the Green Lantern tie-in written by Tom King with art by Evan Shaner and Chris Sotomayor. King has been known to try to dive deep into a character and dissect them so that the reader can see what lies at the core of the superhero. Fans have had mixed responses as to what King thinks is at the heart of each character, but, for the most part, I think his interpretation of Green Lantern works. 

 

Green Lantern is a story about a test pilot named Hal Jordan who is given a power ring (a powerful piece of alien technology that can create constructs made of energy) because he has the ability to overcome great fear. Over the course of many issues, the reader comes to understand that the reason he has the ability to overcome fear is because he saw his father Martin Jordan (also a test pilot) die in a plane crash while Hal could do nothing as he watched from the ground. 

 

Tom King’s working with this character leads to some interesting, previously unasked questions about the character. His Darkseid War issue features a young Hal Jordan inside of a church. This version of Hal asks questions along the lines of, “Why did God let this happen to my father?” The comic walks us through various adventures of Hal Jordan and the other Green Lanterns as he wrestles with the same thought. Toward the end of the book, King seems to offer an answer through the lens of Green Lantern to the question of theodicy (that is, why do bad things happen to good people). 

 

Hal Jordan begins by saying, “[God]’s got no choice but to watch. He’s got to have that moment over and over. That’s forever part of Him. That he couldn’t stop it. That He had to let it happen. Everything He does, it’s all necessary. It has to be. He has to be who He is. He has to do what He does. But not us, right? See, a God doesn’t have something we have. It’s will. It’s our own will. The free will He gave us. … All it is is trusting in that will. It’s loving that will. It’s knowing that whatever happens, you’re the one on the line. This is your world to create, pal. You get to choose.”

What do I find so fascinating about King’s response to the question of theodicy? Because it seems to be a natural response to what well-meaning, but off-base Christians tell people about tragedy. When something truly horrific happens in the world around us, we normally hear some Christians say some variation on the statement that “it all happened for a reason” or that it’s “part of God’s plan.” 

 

The problem with this sentiment is that it’s quite empty to those who are actually experiencing the suffering. When a child loses a parent or natural disaster ravages a community, how are religiously-minded people supposed to square those well-meaning platitudes with what they know to be true: that the brokenness of the world around us doesn’t seem to square with the idea that God is good?

 

King says that this is because the whole plan and the entirety of what happens to us as people is all a part of God. Maybe that is true on a certain level. But the problem with King’s theology is that it binds the will of God, rather than looking to the concrete places where God’s will has already acted. If we want to know what God has done about all the hurt, the pain, and the loss that we see in our day-to-day lives then we need to look no further than the cross. It is in the cross where the will of God is made known. That will is that sinners should be saved from the fallen world that they are a part of, and that they should become forgiven and made new. More than this, God has willed that each Christian should be a part of a new heaven and a new earth, one where every tear has been wiped away.

 

Far from remaining bound, God sent His Son into our world and into our history to ensure that this wasn’t just an abstract idea of a platitude. Instead, He made it concrete by binding the Church to Himself through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. 

 

So, rather than looking around us and trying to find evidence of God’s plan in the midst of tragedy, look to where He has already acted. Even though there is still sin and hurt in our world, we know that these things are passing away. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is indeed permanent and proves that God has already acted. How does He then continue to act in the midst of questions of theodicy? By pointing us back to the cross where He has forgiven every sin and given us the hope of life everlasting. 

 

And, hey, even if I think Tom King’s answer to this question isn’t wholly satisfactory, I’m happy that a medium like comics, as silly as they often are, ask really interesting questions like these. 

 

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The Reverend David Keating is pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Curtis, Nebraska.

 

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Amazon’s “The Boys” - Does Christianity Have a Culture Problem?

by David Keating

The Keating Files – September 15, 2020

My wife and I recently finished a re-watch of Amazon’s series The Boys in preparation for the release of the second season of the television show. The Boys is an extremely graphic (so, a word of caution is offered here for potential viewers) take on the superhero genre. The “heroes” in this television show aren’t so much paragons of moral courage and heroism as they are morally depraved totems of corporate America. Each superhero in the show is far more concerned with their brand identity and with public perception than they are in standing up for the little guy and defeating evildoers. 

The main superheroes that the series follows are all close analogues for many of DC Comics characters. A Superman parallel goes by the name of Homelander (this version of Superman is draped in a literal American flag, instead of just saying he stands for truth, justice, and the American way); a Flash stand-in that goes by the name of A-Train; and a Stargirl look alike, who is named Starlight, serves as one of the point-of-view characters. It’s Starlight that is, by far, the most redeemable of the characters in The Boys’ version of the Justice League, as she still believes she can act like a hero traditionally should or would in a superhero movie. 

One of the arcs that Starlight’s character goes through in the first season is her struggle with her belief in God and her Christianity. The version of Christianity that is presented in this series is almost as morally repugnant as the warped heroes themselves. It’s clear that the Christianity that Starlight grew up with is a pseudo-evangelicalism that’s complete with rock concert worship, t-shirt stands featuring kitschy Christian slogans, and an inspirational megachurch speaker named Ezekiel. Indeed, The Boys’ Christianity is less there to facilitate an encounter with Christ, as it is to undergird faith in a perverse version of the American dream.

Starlight’s struggle with her faith stems from a sexual trauma that she endured at the hands of another one of the corporate heroes. She attempts to speak about her experience and is quickly told that if she wants to maintain her position in “The Seven” – that is, this show’s name for its Justice League –  then she should keep her mouth shut. 

Similarly, Starlight attempts to discuss what happened to her in the context of a Christian festival that she attends and is asked to speak at, and is similarly discouraged from trying to sort through the experience in a faith-based context. 

The troubling thing, for both my wife and me, was that this was the only version of Christianity presented. There were no characters earnest in their faith who could have been there to lend a helping hand or at least a listening ear. The question that jumped to my mind was: Is this an intentional statement from the creators or have we gotten to the point that this is just our culture’s perception of what Christianity is and has to offer? No doubt, Hollywood has long been filled with edgy atheist types who are constantly looking to take a swipe at the Church. However, if this is simply culture’s perception of the Church more broadly, then Christianity has a much bigger issue.

The Church simply cannot be an experience-driven rally. Christianity is about far more than youth rallies and engaging speakers. It’s about more than just something that unites us culturally as Americans as well. Christianity is first and foremost about a relationship with Jesus and that relationship transcends divisions of culture and country. 

Part of what the Church is there to do is to listen to and empathize with the real-life versions of what characters like Starlight experienced. Christianity is, at least in part, about listening to often-times uncomfortable experiences of the people around us. These experiences can stem from people who have been hurt and have been sinned against in real, traumatic ways. 

We listen because Jesus encourages us to be a voice for the downtrodden and the oppressed. And when we do listen to those hurts that we all share, then we point them to the answer. Jesus reminds us to, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” It is Jesus who offers a real source of healing. After all, He is the one who has born our sin upon himself and has reconciled us to God. It is in Christ Jesus where we are able to cast off our burdens and receive the healing that can only stem from His life, death, and resurrection. 

So, part of what we can do in response to cultural depictions of the faith is to prove them wrong. When a friend or a neighbor carries a weighty burden causing grief, we can listen. When our communities are in crisis, we can be there to help. And when people are looking for some real, classic heroism, the Church can be there to lend a hand. We do this not for our own sake or our own branding, but instead we do it because it glorifies our Father who is in Heaven. If we want to solve Christianity’s cultural perception problem, then there is one thing that we clearly can do: care for the least among us.

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The Reverend David Keating is pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Curtis, Nebraska.

Previously by Pastor Keating…

“Reflecting on 9/11: Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?”

PRESS CLUB C Podcast with Ray Keating – Episode #10: Streaming Fueling the Nerd

Ray Keating goes full nerd in this episode, mainly focusing on how online streaming services are fulfilling many of his nerd dreams pertaining to DC comics and movies – the Snyder Justice League cut! – Marvel comics, movies and shows, Star Wars, Star Trek, film stuff, and yes, Chuck. Join Ray, and embrace your inner nerd.