Frankenstein & God?

Last weekend Ronna and I attend the High School production of Frankenstein: A New Musical.  This musical interpretation of Frankenstein is based on the classic novel by Mary Shelley.  We attended the musical to see several of our students who were involved in the production.  I must say that we were blown away with the level of professionalism and skill in the arena of theatrical arts possessed by our students.  The music was beautiful and the story was compelling….and theological.

As we participated in the storyline taking on the role of the observer, the theological overtones became abundantly clear.  In the story Dr. Frankenstein wrestles with the meaning of life and death.  He dances to the rhythm of science and ethics and desires to unlock the secrets of both life and death.  In the process he brings to life “the creature.”

“The creature” is housed in the body of an executed criminal and is operated by organs harvested from other bodies.  The desire is pure and the intentions are true.  However, when “the creature” comes to life it is only death that is known.   This story climaxes with the battle between the creator and the created over life. And so begins the theological connections.

Sitting in the audience it seemed clear that the creature could easily represent humanity while Dr. Frankenstein would stand for creator God.  God has created out of love.  The force of love was active and moving as the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep and breathed into the nostrils of man. 

“The creature” ends up turning on Dr. Frankenstein and that is not unlike the tragic fall of man.  We have turned away from the love of God in the pursuit of our own desires that only leads to death.  Love that is forced is no love at all.  Therefore love is always a choice.  Since love is a choice, life, as it was intended to be, designed by our creator, is a choice as well.  We have to make daily decisions to move into a life rooted and grounded in love.

The love of life carried in the heart and carried forth through the actions of Dr. Frankenstein is what moved him to desire life above all else.  When we look at the love of God evidenced in the establishment of life and see how this life, managed by humans, has turned on God, we see where something needs to happen and God Himself becomes man in order to re-create life.  Man turns on God to the point that God bleeds and dies.

Thankfully the Easter story does not end with a dead God.  It is life and love that eventually take the day.  Life does not defeat death by force.  Love does not defeat hate through brute strength.  However, both love and life remain constant and consistent and simply outlast death and hate.  I am convinced that there is no greater story than that of Easter – the God man restoring life and resetting order to a world of chaos.

There is a difference, however, when drawing the theological implications from the narrative of Frankenstein and comparing them to the reality of the Triune God and our interaction, as humans, with this God.  The difference is this: the power to create.  With all of his apparent love for life and searching for the meaning of life and death, Dr. Frankenstein is still limited by time and space.  Victor has to work with the matter that has already been created.  Everything in his laboratory, and in his life for that matter, has been spoken into being by YHWH and is therefore not his own.  This difference is clear and powerful.  The God of all creation has spoken into being the limitations within which we live and move and breathe.  Though out of love Victor brings to life “the creature,” love is already in existence because of the nature of God.

May we all continue to embrace the re-created life of Easter and make the choice to live a life rooted and grounded in the love of God.  May we all move and breathe in the powerful and redeemable love of God in order to find meaning and purpose.

Bring brought back to life...

-ASR