The Doctor and the Apostle: Intersections Between Doctor Who and the Letters of Paul

By Jeffrey A. Nelson

What could a first-century church planter and tentmaker who helped forge the earliest years of a new religious movement possibly have in common with a British time traveling alien who first appeared in the 1960s to teach children about history?

Doctor Who has been a beloved science fiction franchise for over fifty years. Paul's letters have been around for quite a while longer, with the earliest ones that he wrote dated less than a generation after the life of Jesus. Both have inspired and instructed people on how to live and have stoked the imagination for what individual and communal life can be in their own way. And both were or are deeply flawed, sometimes struggling against their own tendencies or those of others in order to help bring about something greater for their respective worlds.

The Doctor and the Apostle explores the similarities and differences between Doctor Who's title character and Paul of Tarsus, comparing and contrasting the stories of each. Whether a fan of one or the other or both, the reader will gain a greater understanding of the possibilities of a life of faith, as well as a deeper appreciation of how pop culture and Scripture may help inform one another.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: Aug 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781725263185

Jeffrey A. Nelson

Rev. Jeff Nelson is ordained in the United Church of Christ and serves on its national staff after 15 years as a pastor. He is also a certified spiritual director in the Ignatian tradition. An active writer and blogger, his writing has appeared at New Sacred, the Christian Century blog, the Shalem Institute blog, The High Calling, and The Englewood Review of Books.

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"You don’t have to be a fan of, or even familiar with, Paul or Doctor Who to appreciate these well-told stories of two imperfect, traveling helpers who rely not only on their own leadings and wisdom, but also on learning from their companions as well as their opponents. Be prepared to see connections between Galatians and Cybermen, and resurrection and regeneration; nuances of gender roles; and jargon-free discussions of Paul’s own writings and later additions."

—Jonathan H. Harwell

Rollins College, co-editor of Theology and Prince

In this book, Jeff Nelson answers the question a select few have longed to see answered: what happens if you compare the lives, activities, and values of the Doctor and the Apostle Paul? For those who never thought to ask this question, his book is all the more interesting and valuable, since it opens up fascinating avenues along which you’ll better appreciate your faith and fandom—whether as a Whovian, a Christian, or both—and at the same time be led to ask new questions that will deepen your understanding of stories and/or letters that you think you’re familiar with.

—James F. McGrath

Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature, Butler University

"If you could take the Tardis to Tarsus, what would you learn? If this question has you intrigued, Jeff Nelson is your trustworthy guide. A feast for Doctor Who fans, and a generative space for students of the Apostle Paul, this book lives up to its claim to mine the intersections of history, culture, ethics, and faith in ways that make both the show and the Bible more relevant and fun for everyday life."

—Deborah Krause

President and Professor of New Testament, Eden Theological Seminary

"Jeff Nelson’s The Doctor and the Apostle left me with a deeper appreciation of Doctor Who and a better understanding of the Apostle Paul—both of which I have complicated relationships with. Nelson’s unique approach to the intersections of pop culture and the Christian understanding of the Christian biblical canon will enable you to peer into the similarities of science fiction and Scripture. I’m sure you will find yourself in the pages of this book in ways you hadn’t thought possible. It’s worth your time."

—Robert W. Lee

Author of A Sin by Any Other Name: Reckoning with Racism and the Heritage of the South

The Doctor and the Apostle

Intersections Between Doctor Who and the Letters of Paul

Jeffrey A. Nelson

The Doctor and the Apostle

Intersections Between Doctor Who and the Letters of Paul

Copyright © 2020 Jeffrey A. Nelson. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Wipf & Stock

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-7252-6317-8

hardcover isbn: 978-1-7252-6315-4

ebook isbn: 978-1-7252-6318-5

Manufactured in the U.S.A. 08/19/20

All scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible (NRSV), copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

For Chris and Gavin, who know best what this led to.

Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.

—The Twelfth Doctor

Table of Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Fifteen Lives and Two Universes

Chapter 2: Tents, Houses, and a Blue Box

Chapter 3: The Struggle with Identity

Chapter 4: Strength in What Seems Weak

Chapter 5: Christ Died for the Pudding Brains

Chapter 6: The Open Question of Redemption

Chapter 7: Unified, Not Assimilated

Chapter 8: Companions Make a Difference

Chapter 9: Thank the Universe for Women

Chapter 10: Regenerating Hope

Afterword

Acknowledgments

I wrote the bulk of this book under some very interesting personal and professional circumstances. I was in the middle of a job transition, and my family and I were as caught up as everyone else in concerns over the coronavirus. It was challenging at times to keep my focus for this project. I drew support from a wide variety of people to remain centered, both for purposes of writing and for the strange context in which I had to complete it.

I am grateful once again to Matthew Wimer, Daniel Lanning, George Callihan, and the rest of the team at Wipf and Stock for their aid and guidance in each step of the publishing process. It was a pleasure to work with you all again.

Thank you as always to my family for their gifts of patience and time as I stole away to write, and for their ongoing love.

I had so many people loving and praying me through my changing of ministry positions, among them Ian Borton, Mindy Quellhorst, Elizabeth Dilley, George Miller, Mike and Jeanne Murawski, Alex and Hope Molozaiy, Brian Burke, Gayle Tucker, and the group known best as The Cohort. Thank you as well to my Community of Practice clergy group: Melody Ward, Gene McAfee, Allen Kahler, Steve Hockstra, Brent Gundlah, and Adam Marquette. I am glad to have so many companions with whom to share this journey with all its twists and turns.

Thank you to the people of Grace United Church of Christ, who got to hear more than their fair share of pop culture references on Sunday mornings over the years, including a few from Doctor Who that turned out to be the earliest seeds for this book.

And a thank you to Daniel for introducing me to The Doctor all those years ago. I hope that you’re doing well, wherever you are.

1

Fifteen Lives and Two Universes

I sometimes say that I was a Doctor Who fan before I realized it.

When I was in elementary school, I was hanging out with a friend at his house. Our relationship had begun thanks to a mutual love of science fiction and fantasy, especially Ghostbusters. But that day he was eager to show me some episodes of a show he’d recorded, which featured a strangely dressed man who could travel through time and space in a blue police call box that was noticeably much bigger on the inside.

The man only went by the name The Doctor. In these particular episodes, his most defining sartorial choices were a long tweed coat and an even longer multicolored scarf. He was joined on his adventures by a young woman named Romana and a robotic dog named K-9. The episode I most clearly remember, and which I have long deemed my definitive first experience of the show, was a series called Meglos, during which The Doctor tries to foil a shape-shifting alien cactus in its efforts to steal a powerful glowing element known as the Dodecahedron and use it for destructive purposes. My friend showed me other adventures, but this one stood out for reasons that are lost to me.

I do remember loving the fantastical elements of the show, especially The Doctor’s ship and the fact that he could regenerate into a new form in order to avoid death. This earliest introduction to the world of Doctor Who made a lasting impression, and its mythology found its way into my playtime in many ways.

Given the influence of this show on my imagination, however, I never made much of an effort to watch more than what my friend had on hand at his house. Even more inexplicably, I didn’t make it a point to watch when I was older and had easier access to it via reruns on TV or through the library. I didn’t even get into the series when it was first revived in 2005, although I can recall a tinge of joy in reliving old memories when its return was announced.

But once I finally decided to delve back into the world of The Doctor a few years later, I remembered everything that I loved about it. When your show’s central character can go to any planet and any point in time that they want, there are very few limitations that can be placed on the potential for the predicaments they can get into and the strange figures they can meet. I was past due to get to know the boundless possibilities of action and excitement that Doctor Who offered, and just as I had back in my most formative years, I was not disappointed.

All of this is to say that I consider myself a genuine Whovian. I am also a minister with an interest in how popular culture and faith may interact with each other. I’ve been a fan of Jesus for at least as long as I have been of Doctor Who, although I like to think that I’ve been more committed to the former than the latter over the years.

From a spiritual perspective, the potential for learning about faith through the exploits of The Doctor is rich and deep. The show often reflects on the power of kindness, peace, love, endurance, and working together over and against the use of violence, hatred, intimidation, and destruction. It has explored themes of inequality, racism, oppression, creation care, the interaction of religious belief and science, genocide, fundamentalism, and ethics, among so many other issues that a life of faith should have something to say about, if it is to be in any way useful and relevant.

And that is the premise of this book. There is so much that Christians may be able to learn from Doctor Who. I have long thought that pop culture can sometimes be a more accessible onramp for exploring important truths about God, life, service, and community than Sunday worship or Bible study can be. Sometimes this is because the former is just more interesting and engaging. Sometimes it’s because the former is more willing to talk plainly about life’s complexity and struggles. And sometimes it’s just because the former is easier to understand. That sounds like a critique of more traditional expressions of faith, and I suppose that it is. But whatever helps us connect more deeply to the truths that my belief system professes, there seems to be more sense in making use of it than avoiding it.

All of that is why I decided to write about one of my favorite shows in this way. Christians can cull a lot of insight from Doctor Who that pertains to their faith journey. Whether you’re already a fan or this book is your very first brush with the show, I hope that this is true for you.

Our Principal Players

I’ve already begun to explain why I see value in exploring the Doctor Who universe for its relevancies to faith. It touches on many subjects that parallel what it means to be a Christian—how to love God and love neighbor in the spirit of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The Doctor encounters situations that, while set in fantastic times and places with strange and often non-human characters, nevertheless have the basic questions and dilemmas of life at their core. These include how to treat those who are different from us, whether to solve disputes using violence or more peaceful means, what it looks like to trust or hope when you can’t clearly anticipate an outcome, what it means to rely on others and live in community, and how it looks to believe in others’ redemption even if they are unable to do so themselves.

There is also the figure of The Doctor him—or herself, and the growth, conflict, change, failures, and successes that the viewer is able to watch them experience. Far from being an omniscient or all-powerful character, The Doctor experiences many flaws and struggles. In more than one instance, The Doctor describes themselves as just a traveler who stops in and helps people the best that they can, while learning along the way as much as any other character on the show.

As will be explored throughout the book, these lessons do not often come easily. Part of what makes The Doctor such a compelling character is that they are completely immersed in the situation. They choose to insert themselves in mystery, conflict, and danger, and they react to it with as much fascination, frustration, anger, joy, curiosity, and wonder as anyone else would in a similar predicament. They have the benefit of having lived so long and seen so much that they usually have the knowledge and wisdom to eventually get themselves out of it, but not before deepening their understanding along the way.

For those less familiar with the show, a few basic facts are appropriate to share about The Doctor and the universe in which they reside. The Doctor is an alien from the planet Gallifrey, who is able to travel through time and space thanks to their ship, the TARDIS, which looks like an old British police box. They often travel with one or more companions who are usually human, although there have been some rare exceptions to that over the years.

The Doctor has had at least fourteen different faces since the show’s debut. This