From
Gods to Superheroes: The Evolution of Faith
Copyright
© 2017 Mike Costa, All rights reserved
Originally
the idea of supernatural people in Ancient Times formed the basis for religion
in later cultures. The idea was factual – there are supernatural people in existence (myself included), but in Ancient Times no one understood how their
abilities or powers worked. Today with advanced Sciences the abilities are visualized more psychic than
divine.
The Greeks
and Egyptians formulated rituals regarding the Divine, today the idea is found
in graphic novels and comic books, films, computer games, etc. Achilles
the Greek Hero, whose only power was invincibility with a minor weakness, can
be seen like Iron-Man or Spiderman. The Viking God Thor is taken directly from the religion where it originates and
placed into a comic book superhero world.
America is becoming Polytheist
with superhero worship, but not in the Western religious sense. Monotheism – which occurs in Ancient and
Modern Egypt – was based on the ancient model and Astronomy. Today Science Fiction is the basis for most superhero genre. Take X-Men
for example. The superheroes can
influence the elements (“Storm”), or Telepathy, or other advanced psychic
abilities. How much of this is based in
Science? The arena of Science Fiction is
where we explore the realm of study, furthering the theoretical both as
education and as entertainment. If you are born supernatural, watching
Science Fiction can educate you with
how to control your abilities or
perfect them. Otherwise this is just
entertainment.
MC 2017.