Disney’s 1997 Hercules begins with a performance by the Muses, who recount "the Gospel Truth" of a story which actually begins long before the enduring tale of Hercules. The context of the older tale is essential for understanding key features of the subsequent story. Similarly, our 2023 works, Disney as Doorway to Apologetic Dialogue and Disney & the Moral Imagination (published jointly as Disney & Apologetics) explore how enduring animated musical tales are enfolded by the Christian vision of reality, especially when it comes to moral theology.
To be clear, we do not argue that Disney films will "give the Gospel." In the words of Francis Schaeffer, writing at the popular level of theology and Christian philosophy, ""We must never forget that the first part of the gospel is not "Accept Christ as Savior," but "God is there." Only then is one ready to hear God's solution for man's moral dilemma.”[i] We believe that many Disney films have an imaginative power and aesthetic allure that is able to resonate with some of our deepest moral convictions. Because of this, Disney stories lend themselves well to theological analysis. That is, Disney tales—often appealing to the truth, goodness, and beauty of a kingdom-ever-after, and the fact that good will overcome evil—can serve as doorways to apologetic dialogue on issues of ethics, aesthetics, and theological formation.
To paraphrase C. S. Lewis' idea of God speaking through mythology, it seems God has scattered "good dreams" throughout history and across cultures, pressing into the human conscience and our deep intuitions of something not as it ought to be, something which ought to be set right, along with our need for divine intervention or some great mediating "magic." The story of reality enfolds the other stories human beings tell. If the Christian story is true, then it is no surprise to find many of the stories we most love to tell resounding with the themes of a
tale as old as time.
You can purchase Disney & Apologetics in paperback, Kindle, and Audible formats. This volume would make a great gift for anyone interested in ethics, theology, and Christian Apologetics.
[i] Francis A. Schaeffer, “The God Who is There,” in Francis A. Schaeffer Trilogy (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1990), 144.
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