More Reflections on Time Travel and History Writing

Last updated on: October 12, 2020 at 5:31 am by James F. McGrath

More Reflections on Time Travel and History Writing 2020-10-10T17:03:20-04:00 James F. McGrath

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I was asked if I would share some highlights from my talk via Zoom in a first year seminar on Religion and Science Fiction at Yale. That week’s classes were focused mostly on what we might call “Jesus stories.” The professor, Maria Doerfler, had the brilliant idea of having students read an array of canonical and extracanonical texts from the biblical tradition, and then follow with science and speculative fiction stories exploring the same or related themes or characters. Since it was a seminar class I started with a question about the sci-fi stories and excerpts they had read: Which story if any came closest to conveying what Jesus was “really like”?

Among the questions I followed with and shared my own answers to are these: Is all history historical fiction? Are all historians time travelers? A story like W. E. B. DuBois’ “Jesus Christ in Texas” makes Jesus sound more like the precise way he does in the Gospels than does the Jesus of Ken MacLeod’s “Jesus Christ, Reanimator.” But the way Jesus sounds in the Gospels seems odd, out of place, and unrealistic when situated in our time. Hence my question about historians as time travelers. If we went back to watch events as outsiders to the culture, history, and language they would seem just as alien. And so what conveys what Jesus was like: a story that rigidly sticks to what he might have sounded like to ancient people or one that conveys what he might sound like if he lived in our time? To “say the same thing” in a different time do we by definition have to say something different?

The readings for this seminar introduced me to Gore Vidal’s Live from Golgotha which is truly fascinating for many reasons. I especially appreciated the suggestion that watching TV changes our memories. Think about Jesus, the Exodus, or any other biblical story that you’ve seen depicted in a movie, TV miniseries, or even Christmas pageant or play.

I was going to mention if time permitted the recent news item that a Chinese textbook had changed the story about Jesus and the woman caught in adultery so that in the end he stones her.

“When everyone left, Jesus stoned the woman to death himself, saying, ‘I am also a sinner. But if the law could only be enforced by men without blemish, the law would be dead.’”

That’s not that different from one of the ways that someone tried to revise the story of Jesus in Vidal’s novel. (I might also have asked whether, given that the story is almost certainly not originally part of the Gospel of John and thus might not be deemed canonical, does that make this tampering with it different as a result?)

I shared the thought experiment that inspired my story “Certainty.”

I liked the way the narrator in “Jesus Christ, Reanimator” described the impact of the teaching of the returned Jesus on him: “it has an effect on how you think. It isn’t a question of belief, exactly. It’s more a question of examining beliefs, and examining your own actions, even your thoughts, as if under his sceptical eye, and in the echo of his sardonic voice. It works on you. It’s like a whole new life.” I loved the fact that this apocryphal (in the popular sense) story discussed authentic vs. apocryphal sayings of the returned Jesus, who had blogged. I also loved the genuine humanity of the Jesus of the story. Even when it came to the ascension, it was emphasized that this must be a form of levitation that humans are capable of, since what he can do, in principle we can do.

The ascension is a natural topic to focus on in a sci-fi context. I took the opportunity to share a couple of favorite quotes:

Keith Ward (The Big Questions in Science and Religion, p.107): “We now know that, if [Jesus] began ascending two thousand years ago, he would not yet have left the Milky Way (unless he attained warp speed).”

James D. G. Dunn (article on “Myth” in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, Downers Grove: IVP, 1992, p.568): “To demythologize the ascension is not to deny that Jesus “went to heaven”; it is simply to find a way of expressing this in language which takes it out of the realm of current or future space research.”

I also talked about literalism and the fact that there are no actual biblical literalists. Few so-called literalists accept that Jesus meant his words about his generation not passing away before the end literally, embracing the implication that Jesus was mistaken.

There were many things that I was ready to share if occasion arose. A favorite quote related to time travel is this one: “When people talk about traveling to the past, they worry about radically changing the present by doing something small, but barely anyone in the present really thinks that they can radically change the future by doing something small.”

To conclude, for the benefit of those who may never have seen it, let me share something lighter: The Greatest Action Story Ever Told:

Previous Post

October 11, 2020

Bible and Music Update

Next Post

October 13, 2020 Trump’s Blasphemies

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Peter 1 Samuel 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians 2 Kings 2 Peter 2 Samuel 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy academia Acts of the Apostles afterlife Akhaten Alcatraz American Academy of Religion Amos Anglican Arabic Aramaic archaeology art artificial intelligence astronomy atheism atonement Babylon 5 Baptists Battlestar Galactica Bible Biblical Studies Carnival biblioblogging Black Mirror Blade Runner Book of Job book review Buddhism Call for Papers China Christianity Christmas Christology Chronicles Coptic creation Daniel Deuteronomy Doctor Who Dune Easter Ecclesiastes economics education Eldad Keynan Enoch Seminar Ephesians eschatology Esther Evangelicals evolution Exodus Expanse Ezekiel Ezra fantasy Fringe fundamentalism Galatians games Ge'ez genealogy Genesis Gnosticism Gospel of Jesus' Wife Gospel of John Gospel of Judas Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Peter Gospel of Thomas Greek Harry Potter Hebrew Hebrews Hinduism historical Jesus history Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Holidays horror Hosea humor incarnation India inerrancy information literacy inspirational Intelligent Design Ireland Isaiah Islam Israel Italy James Jeremiah John the Baptist Jonah Joshua Judaism Jude Judges Judith Lamentations languages Latin Leviticus libraries literature Lord of the Rings LOST Mandaeans Mandaic memes Methodism Micah monotheism morality Mormons movies music mythicism NASSCAL Nehemiah new perspective New Testament news Numbers Orthodox paganism panentheism pantheism Patheos Paul and his letters Pentecostals Philippians Philippians 2:6-11 philosophy physics Planet of the Apes podcast politics Progressive Christianity Protestantism Proverbs Psalms pseudoscience racism religion Revelation Roman Catholicism Romania Romans Ruth scams science science fiction Secret Gospel of Mark Society of Biblical Literature Song of Songs Star Trek Star Wars Stargate Swahili Syriac Taoism technology Terminator The Handmaid's Tale The Hobbit The Matrix theodicy theology theory Timeless Titus tomb Torchwood travel TRON Uncategorized United Kingdom Westworld X-Files young-earth creationism Zechariah

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 February 2007 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz