Matt Rawle, a United Methodist Pastor from Louisiana, spent four weeks explicating the theology of Doctor Who, and got to speak about it at a 50th anniversary celebration in England. Here’s what he had to say:
For four glorious weeks we hosted a Doctor Who sermon series, which used Doctor Who as the lens through which a congregation could think about God’s relationship with time and identity, primarily. So, for a few minutes I would like to share with you what the congregation experienced during this series.
I’d like to start with a few assumptions. First, the BBC will find you, so it’s best to pay royalties from the very beginning, and we did, months before the series began. The nonprofit royalty fees granted the temporary rights for character use in publicity and the right to publically show episodes of Doctor Who. Second, as a Christian in general and a clergyperson in particular, I think it is extremely important to accept and renarrate culture using a theological lense. There are times to push back against popular culture, times to hold no opinion about pop culture, and times to accept and renarrate the gift of what we make of God’s world. This language is borrowed from both Sam Wells, author of “Improvisation: the Drama of Christian Ethics” and pastor of St. Martin of the Field, and Andy Crouch, author of “Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Culture.”
So, how did we incorporate Doctor Who within the life of a Christian congregation? First, we created a worshipful atmosphere. The doors of the sanctuary were painted like the TARDIS, offering the “bigger on the inside” illusion when worshipers entered. Upon entering the sanctuary, worshipers would hear the ambient music from the show until the countdown ran on the screens. The altar was draped in TARDIS blue, and just behind the altar was yet, another TARDIS. It was clear that something very different was happening. Secondly we offered a common ground between those who know Matt Smith to be the 11thDoctor, those who think Matt Smith is the 3rd Doctor, and those who have no idea who the Doctor is. So, we held a Friday night movie night so that the congregation could together watch the episode that would be referenced that coming Sunday. Third we crafted the series around what was happening in the life of the congregation.
to read the rest of his post, visit Matt’s blog, The Postmodern Pastor, by clicking here.