My life has been shaped by Star Wars. I was nine years old when the twentieth anniversary theatrical re-release of A New Hope swept theaters in 1997. My family eventually purchased the “Special Editions” of the Original Trilogy on VHS. Some of my fondest memories from childhood are of bonding with my younger brother over these amazing films. George Lucas’s incredible universe of aliens, droids, starships, and exotic planets captivated our young imaginations. We continued to bond over the Star Wars Prequels as they were released in the early 2000s. We collected the marvelous action figures and play sets produced by Kenner, composing new adventures for Luke Skywalker and his allies in the theater of the mind. Decades before the release of The Force Awakens, I distinctly remember desiring to borrow my dad’s VHS-C camcorder so I could film my own sequel to Return of the Jedi using our massive collection of Star Wars toys.
To this day, I remain a die-hard Star Wars fan. I read the novels and the comic books, I watch the Disney+ series like The Mandalorian and The Bad Batch and I listen regularly to a Star Wars podcast.
And yet, even though I am a massive fan of the Star Wars universe, that doesn’t mean I’m unable to critique the franchise. Although the Star Wars, saga contains many positive themes of hope, love, repentance, and reconciliation, I am aware that it sometimes promotes a spiritual worldview that is not compatible with Christianity. This can largely be traced to George Lucas himself, who was massively influenced by Joseph Campbell’s studies of comparative religion and by the philosophy of Eastern faiths, including Buddhism. In many ways, the teachings of the Jedi seem to closely mirror the vague, non-Christian spirituality that obtains among many people today, particularly in the West.
I recently read C.S. Lewis’s excellent book, Miracles. In the chapter titled “Christianity and ‘Religion’” Lewis expounds on the challenges of defending orthodox Christian theology from this widespread popular spirituality:
“We who defend Christianity find ourselves constantly opposed not by the irreligion of our hearers but by their real religion. Speak about beauty, truth and goodness, or about a God who is simply the indwelling principle of these three, speak about a great spiritual force pervading all things, a common mind of which we are all parts, a pool of generalized spirituality in which we can all flow, and you will command friendly interest. But the temperature drops as soon as you mention a God who has purposes and performs particular actions, who does one thing and not another, a concrete, choosing, commanding, prohibiting God with a determinate character. People become embarrassed or angry.” (Miracles, p. 129-130, emphasis mine)
Lewis identifies this popular religion as Pantheism. According to this worldview, all created things are parts or manifestations of an impersonal God. As I read, I was astounded by how close Lewis’s description of Pantheism hewed to the “religion” of the Jedi and George Lucas’s conception of the Force in Star Wars.
For example, if the phrase “a great spiritual force pervading all things” sounds familiar, that’s because it’s essentially identical to Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi’s explanation of the Force to a young Luke Skywalker in A New Hope. Kenobi describes the Force as “an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us.”
A theology rooted in Pantheism is also concordant with the notion of the Light and Dark Sides of the Force. Because Pantheism posits that all things are parts of God or are contained in God, “Pantheism concludes that God must be equally present in what we call evil and what we call good and therefore indifferent to both.” (Miracles, p. 135)
Lewis further explains why Pantheism is such an attractive notion: The Pantheist God is tame and inoffensive and “does nothing, demands nothing. He is there if you wish for Him, like a book on a shelf. He will not pursue you. There is no danger that at any time heaven and earth should flee away at His glance.” (Ibid. p. 149)
Ultimately, Pantheism is an expression of mankind’s disordered and sinful desire for power and to be their own gods. As Lewis notes: “An ‘impersonal God’ – well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads – better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap – best of all.” (Ibid. p. 150, emphasis mine)
In subsequent Star Wars films, the Jedi often speak of “the will of the Force” but in A New Hope, the Force is presented less like a living entity with a will or intentions, and more like a vast power that can be tapped and manipulated by a user’s will, whether for good or evil. Kenobi instructs Luke that “A Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him…. But it also obeys your commands.”
Surely, there are many, many reasons for the success of Star Wars: Its timeless narrative of good vs. evil, its dynamic and memorable characters, its endlessly fascinating interstellar setting, its stunning visuals, and its powerful musical score. But is it also possible that one of the factors behind such enduring popularity is that Star Wars espouses a general and vague spirituality? That it reflects a popular belief in an alternative to God, universal force that makes no claims on us and demands no obedience and, indeed, can be manipulated to our will?
C.S. Lewis died in 1963, over a decade before the release of the film that would come to be known as A New Hope, so it’s impossible to know for certain what he would have thought of Star Wars. However, I think it’s likely that a man as intelligent and perceptive as Lewis would not have failed to recognize the clear pantheistic overtones of Jedi philosophy and the Force. As Christians we can of course enjoy Star Wars as entertainment, but we must always remain aware of the stark contrast between the fictional Force (an impersonal life-energy that is neither good nor evil but merely a tool that can be harnessed for good or evil ends) and the true God who is eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and all-loving, who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets, and who became incarnate as Jesus Christ to save us from sin and offer us eternal life.
Thomas J. Salerno
Thomas Salerno is a Catholic author, freelance writer, and podcaster born and raised on Long Island, New York. Among his many passions are dinosaurs, Tolkien's Middle-earth, Star Wars, and superheroes. His writing has been featured in numerous publications including Word on Fire, Aleteia, Amendo, Busted Halo, Catholic World Report, Empty Tomb Project, and Missio Dei. Thomas is the creator and host of the Perilous Realms Podcast and is a contributor to the StarQuest Production Network (SQPN), where he serves as co-host on the Secrets of Movies and TV Shows and the Secrets of Middle-Earth podcasts. Thomas has a bachelor of arts in anthropology from Stony Brook University. You can follow his work on his Substack newsletter thomasjsalerno.substack.com or @Salerno_Thomas on Twitter.