Where science-fiction and fantasy, religion and mythology, blend together.
Rabbi Roni Tabick delves into the mythic dimensions of Judaism and writes fantasy from a religious perspective.
Wednesday 19 December 2012
Doctor Who and Abraham - Why God needs a Companion
My latest article, comparing Doctor Who with the story of Abraham, is live on www.oholiav.com. Check it out.
Very interesting, I hadn't heard that Midrash before. Although I see the story about Sodom and Gomorrah in reverse: I think it's about Avraham learning to augment kindness with justice - even though Avraham is usually presented as chessed, his argument here is not one of chessed (which would be, "They've sinned, but have mercy on them anyway") and instead one of justice ("They've sinned, but maybe not all of them have sinned and you shouldn't kill the good with the wicked").
Also, I miss the days when the Doctor traveled with people just because they liked each other's company, no ulterior motive necessary!
I like your analysis of Sodom and Gomorrah as well. It's a fascinating section of tanach theologically, and I don't think I'll ever be done analysing it.
I actually see this role of the companion stretching back to the first story, when Ian stops the Doctor killing the man in the jungle (I was going to mention it in the article but decided to keep it short). One take I read on this (I believe from http://tardiseruditorum.blogspot.com/) is that the Doctor loves human beings _because_ they taught him to be compassionate, that he became the Doctor we know from later iterations through having companions.
I see you've also discovered the TARDIS Eruditorum blog! I found it a week or two ago and, while I was already thinking of returning to public blogging, it sparked so many thoughts (from "I never thought of that!" to "That's wrong on so many levels!") that I realized I still had a lot to say about Doctor Who.
I agree about Ian and Barbara; there's a definite sense of the Doctor growing into the character we know across the first year of the programme and that's partly from Ian and Barbara. Still, my reading of the companions of the seventies in particular (the era of many of the most popular companions from the original run) is that they just like being with the Doctor and vice versa; there's rarely any sense of character growth on either side and they usually have the option of returning home when they want, but don't take it (unlike a lot of companions of the sixties).
Very interesting, I hadn't heard that Midrash before. Although I see the story about Sodom and Gomorrah in reverse: I think it's about Avraham learning to augment kindness with justice - even though Avraham is usually presented as chessed, his argument here is not one of chessed (which would be, "They've sinned, but have mercy on them anyway") and instead one of justice ("They've sinned, but maybe not all of them have sinned and you shouldn't kill the good with the wicked").
ReplyDeleteAlso, I miss the days when the Doctor traveled with people just because they liked each other's company, no ulterior motive necessary!
I like your analysis of Sodom and Gomorrah as well. It's a fascinating section of tanach theologically, and I don't think I'll ever be done analysing it.
DeleteI actually see this role of the companion stretching back to the first story, when Ian stops the Doctor killing the man in the jungle (I was going to mention it in the article but decided to keep it short). One take I read on this (I believe from http://tardiseruditorum.blogspot.com/) is that the Doctor loves human beings _because_ they taught him to be compassionate, that he became the Doctor we know from later iterations through having companions.
I see you've also discovered the TARDIS Eruditorum blog! I found it a week or two ago and, while I was already thinking of returning to public blogging, it sparked so many thoughts (from "I never thought of that!" to "That's wrong on so many levels!") that I realized I still had a lot to say about Doctor Who.
DeleteI agree about Ian and Barbara; there's a definite sense of the Doctor growing into the character we know across the first year of the programme and that's partly from Ian and Barbara. Still, my reading of the companions of the seventies in particular (the era of many of the most popular companions from the original run) is that they just like being with the Doctor and vice versa; there's rarely any sense of character growth on either side and they usually have the option of returning home when they want, but don't take it (unlike a lot of companions of the sixties).