u/NoogLing466

RZ says that Star Wars is unChristian because the Jedi philosophy is closer to Buddhism with its detachment and asceticism rather than Christianity. He even made some videos saying the Sith code is closer to Christianity.

I want to challenge this idea, though more from the Legends or Expanded Universe lore. In my understanding, the series has always criticised the Old Jedi Order for being too ascetic. This is why in the New Order, Luke allows the Jedi to marry and have relations to lovers, children and previous family. We can even see this motif in the Old Republic Era where the Jedi and Sith team up to fight a worse enemy, and that their respective leaders (Darth Marr and Grandmaster Satele Shan) reconcile and seek 'Balance' in the Force.

I actually really like Star Wars and think it can be beneficial media for Christian living. I think the Light-Dark side dichotomy is just the deficiency-excess dichotomy of Aristotle made aestheticised into two rivalling orders. Star Wars always talks about balance between them, and the Christian tradition has historically also prescribed the golden mean between excess and deficiency (specifically, in the case of Star Wars, the virtue is right relation to the world, with the Sith having excessive love to wordly goods and the Jedi having excessive detachment from them).

Moreover, though the Force is more akin to an impersonal energy than a Theistic God, it does have a plan and is providential. Both Jedi and Sith codes even have cool parts, e.g., the last two lines of the Jedi Code are "There is no chaos; there is harmony. There is no death; there is the Force." which professes both providence and the overcoming of death, whereas the last two lines of the Sith Code are "Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me." which represents freedom.

Finally, Redemption is a big part of the original trilogy and strongly resonates with our instincts that no person is beyond repentance, even if they are as evil as Vader who slaughtered children.

Edit: I just thought too that just as God can bring good out of our evil, so too does the Force in Star Wars explicitly permit evil to allow greater goods to come forth from it.

Hello friends! I have a question on the Late Platonic view of Daimons.

Proclus says this in Book VII of Theology of Plato:

"Since however the genus of dæmons is everywhere an attendant on the Gods, there are also dæmons who are the fabricators of generation; some of whom indeed rule over the whole elements, but others are the guardians of climates, others are the rulers of nations, others of cities, others of certain families, and others are the guardians of individuals. For the guardianship of dæmons extends as for as to the most extreme division."

My question is that, for the Daimons who rule over temporary things like certain nations, cities, or families, what happens when these things perish, eg., a city becomes destroyed? Do the Daimons just find another task, or do they become inert? If the former, would it be immediately or after some time? I heard various daimons would also govern certain species of animals, and so these too could go extinct and the same question could be asked of them.

Thank you in advance for any answers, and have a blessed day!