It’s Sunday—a day of religious
worship for Christians all over the world…and also the season premier of The
Walking Dead. Over the weekend, I spent (a lot more time than I should have)
refreshing myself on what was going on in the series so far, and something
struck me.
There
are a lot of religious overtones in the Walking Dead. A lot.
This shouldn’t
come as much of a surprise, considering the setting. Our favorite zombie
apocalypse survivors are located in the middle of Georgia, after all. Many of
the characters in the series struggle with their faith throughout the series,
and there is even one episode where religion is part of the central focus set
largely in an abandoned church.
Rather than
focus on any one particular event, I would like to focus on a character—Hershel
Greene. Any fans of the T.V. series or graphic novels will know that Hershel is
a deeply religious man who is described by other characters as a “man of God.” His
faith helped save him from alcoholism before the outbreak of the virus, and it
carries him through many hard times after. We see him struggle with his faith
during the series, but up until his death he carries a Bible and often
quotes verses from it.
At one
point in the series, Hershel voices his thoughts about the zombie outbreak. “I
can't profess to understand God's plan,” he says. “Christ promised the
resurrection of the dead. I just thought he had something a little different in
mind.”
It isn’t
clear exactly what Bible verse Hershel is quoting here, since this resurrection
of the dead is hinted at more than once in the text, but the clearest verse is
John 5:28. “… For an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear
His voice, and will come forth…” Certainly, in the context of a zombie
apocalypse, this verse does seem rather eerie. This quote helps to set the
entire series in a sort of “end times” situation, and if this is all to be
taken literally, it makes the prospects for our band of survivors rather bleak.
It implies that there is no coming back from this.
This quote also
gives us some pretty deep insights into Hershel’s character. While other characters
in the series try to find their own explanations for why this has happened, or
simply go with the flow of things, Hershel seeks answers in faith. He tries to
use this faith to encourage others, and tries to find the light even in the
darkest of times. This faith sets him apart from the other characters and
sometimes sets him at odds with them, but in the end it is what helps him
remain a good man in a world where so many others fail to retain their
humanity.
No comments:
Post a Comment