Christ figure

A Christ figure, also known as a Christ-Image is a literary technique that the author uses to draw allusions between their characters and the biblical Jesus. More loosely, the Christ Figure is a spiritual or prophetic character who parallels Jesus, or other spiritual or prophetic figures.

In general, a character should display more than one correspondence with the story of Jesus Christ as depicted in the Bible. For instance, the character might display one or more of the following traits: performance of miracles, manifestation of divine qualities, healing others, displaying kindness and forgiveness, fighting for justice, being guided by the spirit of the character's father, and the character's own death and resurrection. Christ figures are often martyrs, sacrificing themselves for causes larger than themselves.

In postmodern literature, the resurrection theme is often abandoned, leaving us with the image of a martyr sacrificing himself for a greater good. It is common to see Christ figures displayed in a manner suggestive of crucifixion as well.

Literature

Stage, television and film

Comics and animation

References

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  23. Stucky, Mark (2006). "Middle Earth's Messianic Mythology Remixed: Gandalf's Death and Resurrection in Novel and Film" (PDF). Journal of Religion and Popular Culture. XIII (Summer). Retrieved 25 Nov 2006. [¶35] Although most viewers of the films would likely not notice all this symbolism, Gandalf’s death and resurrection scenes are clearly messianic metaphors that add an additional spiritual dimension to the mythology of The Lord of the Rings.... [¶36] After publication, Tolkien thought his book’s description of the return of Gandalf was a “defect.” He explained that Gandalf “must return at that point, and such explanations of his survival as are explicitly set out must be given there—but the narrative is urgent, and must not be held up for elaborate discussions involving the whole ‘mythological’ setting....” The visual nature of film can often compress information into a scene equivalent to many scattered pages of text, and Jackson “encoded” more Christ figure imagery into his scenes than Tolkien’s “severely cut” account. Since Jackson’s films visually amplified Tolkien’s Christological association in Gandalf’s death and resurrection scenes, Jackson’s cinematic presentations of Gandalf as a Christ figure may have communicated more fully the vision of what Tolkien had intended all along.
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External links

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