“Hallelujah, you are my saviour! My personal Jesus Christ!”- Choi. This essay will analyse how the 1999 movie, ‘The Matrix’ reveal Neo as a messiah figure. Most people argue that it is a Christian sci-fi movie as it portrays the doctrine and the life of Jesus from birth, death, resurrection and ascension through indexical and iconic signs. This movie suggests a juxtaposition between Neo and Jesus Christ as he is being referred to as ‘the one’ through the movie. He is seen as a messiah that would save the world from the matrix- computer-generated illusion and unite humanity with the ‘real’ as Jesus reunited the human race back to God. Also, this essay will gradually unfold the parallelism that exists between the characters in the movie, and the people in the time of Jesus in succeeding paragraphs.
To understand the analysis of the matrix in this essay, the major characters will be introduced. First is the character of Neo, the anagram of Neo is ‘One’. He is said to be leading double lives, one as Neo, a computer hacker and the other as Thomas Anderson a computer-programmer. Referring back to the bible, Thomas was regarded as the doubting one, while Anderson means ‘son of man’, as Jesus was referred to during his earthly ministry. He later turned out to resist the matrix and save the human race from ignorance.
Next is that of Morpheus, he is the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar- a hovercraft. He assumes the position of God and John the Baptist at some point as he heralded the
In the 1967 prison film Cool Hand Luke, directed by Stuart Rosenberg, there are many examples of theological symbolism and religious themes. Most of the symbolism alludes to Jesus Christ, which is often utilized in film to add depth to the protagonist in the story. Such Christ figure symbolism can also be seen in films such as the 1999 hit The Matrix and the original Star Wars film (1977). Along with these visual suggestions, there are also thematic elements that underlie Cool Hand Luke which involve Biblical allusions and metaphysical questions.
[v] Edershiem, Alfred. Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database: Biblesoft, Inc.
The Shadow of the Galilean sheds light on the historical context of Jesus by showing how people of ancient Palestine received his message; then he shows how this illuminates the actions and sayings of Jesus by revealing that his most important teaching was that he was the son of God, and that while some aspects of his teachings were permissible or even attractive to members of both Roman and Jewish authority, the baggage of this claim was too much to carry.
The foundation of the Christian faith is cradled within truth of the virgin birth, life, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As diverse as the world-wide Christian culture is, the truth in the birth and life of Jesus stands without border and language limitations. Just as each individual life story can be adapted to be relevant for a variety of audiences, the birth story of the Messiah was also. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are an example of the well-rounded and diverse narration of the birth story of Jesus—Matthew’s narration spoke to the history of the Jewish people and Luke presented to the citizen of Rome.
It is possible to write on the life of Jesus from the information gathered from the bible. I will be dividing my essay into three parts. In the first part of the paper, I will talk about the nature of the gospels, John’s views vs. the Synoptic, discuss if the authors of the gospels are eyewitnesses and how they used written sources. Also I will talk about the Q source. Then I will elaborate on the topic of how Matthew and Luke were similar. Then I will continue on by discussing how the Old Testament uses Moses, Samuel and Elijah to interpret Jesus, and finally whether or not the Sermon on the Mount happened. In the second part of my paper, I will talk about Jesus’s birth and childhood, his miracles, his resurrection, and what Jesus did to cure people, spirits and how they are interpreted to the prophet, magician and the mad man compared to Saul and Elijah. The final part of the paper I will talk about what Jesus talked about as regards to the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of the Romans and what he intended by speaking of the end of the world. I will also speak of the reasons behind the Romans executing him. My sources for this paper will be the New Jerusalem Bible Readers edition as my primary source and lecture notes from Professor Trumbach.
The Bible has been translated into 451 languages, sold over 6 billion times, and depicted in over 40 movies. The Bible and the crucifixion of the Messiah are prominent aspects in cultures all around the world today. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has been translated, dramatized, televised, adapted, and cartooned. In “The Dream of the Rood,” translated by R.M. Liuzza, the Biblical cross comes to life to tell its own version of Christ’s death and resurrection. The author recreated the Biblical account to appeal to the Anglo-Saxon warrior group to effectively convert them. However, the story from the cross’s perspective matches the crucial material of the Biblical account of the crucifixion without defaming Christ.
One of the many things that puzzle people even today; is how Jesus was portrayed and how he became a part of history throughout the centuries. Fortunately, within the book Jesus Through the Centuries, written by Jaroslav Pelikan, readers are able to get a sense of what societies viewed Jesus as and how he was/is important to many aspects of the world such as; the political, social, and cultural impact he had left. As Pelikan discusses this very topic and theme in his book, we see how there’s a connection between his audience in this book and Jesus’s are closely similar. When he got his motivation to write about Jesus through the Centuries, Jaroslav had an open audience, which was intended for anyone of all ages, races, and beliefs to read
Deception is the foundational issue prevalent in The Matrix, Plato’s allegory of the cave, and Rene Descartes meditations. In each of these excerpts the goal of answering the question of what is real and how to uncover the truth is essential. Another question that arises throughout all three excerpts is whether or not the individuals will be able to handle the truth when it is finally learnt. In The Matrix Morpheus reveals to Neo that the life he had previously accepted as an absolute reality is really a virtual reality that is manipulated by a computer which is essentially controlling the mind of every individual as they lie unconscious connected to this
In the Gospel of Matthew, the infancy narrative contributes a large sum of background information of Jesus that contributes to the development of Matthew’s Christology. In order to analyze how Matthew develops the Christology, we have to cut the infancy narrative into sections. This paper will discuss background information of the writing of this Gospel, literary elements of Jesus’ miraculous conception that reinforce his Jewishness, how Magi and literary devices help to understand Matthew’s Christology, what important biblical hero the infancy narrative parallels, and what foreshadowing is caused from this infancy narrative. Comparatively, the use of divine intervention in dreams to fulfill prophecy has been a key focus of the infancy narrative in order to create an unusual birth narrative and develop the unique Christology that Matthew envisioned specifically for the Jewish Messiah.
The first part of the book focuses on providing the reader with an overview of Palestine under Roman rule, a land filled with turmoil and false messianic figures. Aslan gives specific examples of failed self-proclaimed messiahs, such as Judas the Galilean and “the Samaritan”, who attempted to overthrow Roman rule but eventually were
This paper will focus on the theological nature of CS Lewis’ book based film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. This will include a number of noticeable parallelisms, allusions and symbolisms found in
There are times when a movie is made that is said to have themes that are parallel to themes in various religious cultures; the Matrix, written and directed by The Wachowski Brothers, is one of those movies. The Matrix series eventually ended in a Trilogy with fans stating that there were various religious connections throughout all three movies. For the purpose of this reflection I will be focusing on the original Matrix movie. I will also focus mostly on the Christian religious ties that are sprinkled throughout the first movie. Finally, I will explore the idea that Neo, is represented as a savior of sorts and how this can tie into saviors of any religion.
Through the movie we see parallel’s of Neo and Christian Mythology. Temptation from Satan to Jesus and the temptation to Neo from the Agents, are some very profound similarities between the two personages.
This essay starts with the use of Roman architecture to practice Christianity. Then I will write about how the image of the Roman emperors became the inspiration for the image of the Jesus. Finally I will discuss the way Romans used the same iconography and narrative they already had as a formula to image the bible.
Many Americans flocked to see Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” On over 2.000 screens across America the viewed the “harrowing depiction of Jesus' last 12 hours in wide-screen vivid color.” (Allen 2004) People viewed images of Jesus being flogged, crucified and left to die. This violence caused some Christians discomfort with theology, and some Jews’ fear that it will “incite violence against them because of its portrayal of Jews’ involvement in Jesus’ death.” (Allen 2004)