"Rough" was an understatement.
In essence, it's just not the same story. Everything feels like a weird fever dream of the finished product we're all familiar with. Characters have similar names but different identities. The "Death Star" becomes "The Star Fortress" and apparently is not capable of destroying planets. The Jedi become the "Jedi Bendu," which are a rival martial arts clan with the Sith. The Force becomes the "Force of Others," and apparently is more an abstract belief system than a living force that can be learned and used in attack, self-defense, wisdom or anything else, for that matter. The Empire is headquartered on Alderaan, for goodness' sakes! I mean, come on! Han Solo is a giant green alien. And there is a Luke Skywalker...but he's this Kenny Rogers lookin' guy on the right. *sigh*...
As I was kind of getting my hackles up reading this thing, I realized that what I was having such a hard time with was setting aside my preconceived notions of what Star Wars is. When I set that aside, it felt like a decent storyline (maybe not worthy of six films and counting, but decent). What the writers of this book have done was messed with my "canon": the mutually agreed upon universe in which the characters of Star Wars live, move and have their being. It's like when you're little, you're pretending with a group of friends and you want to play cowboys, and all of a sudden one of them decides you're on a spaceship. That's not what we agreed on! Yes, I'm looking at you, Daniel Craig...
Especially after the recent tragic demise of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, (and of course the birth of the much-maligned "alternate timeline" of the new Star Trek films), I think fans in a lot of fandoms have been reflecting on the idea of "canon": who decides what's legit, and how. And as a person of faith, it gets me thinking of the very origin of the word "canon," and how it relates to our beliefs.
The word "canon" (coming from the late Greek "kanon" or "measuring stick") refers to any rule or dogma agreed upon by an ecumenical Church Council...the most well-known of which is what ancient spiritual writings are and are not considered "Scripture." The Old and New Testaments we have today were decided upon by gatherings of global Christian leaders in the late fourth century. Now, since that time, there have been differences of opinion and church splits, which have led us to a Protestant Bible, a Catholic Bible, an Ethiopian Orthodox Bible, and several others, all with different orders of books and different books included/excluded. Further complicating matters, there are several Jewish canons for the Hebrew scriptures, also each a little different from the Christian versions.
In addition to all these slightly different canons of scripture (not to even speak of translations), we also have the issue of what to do with all of what I call the "fan fiction." Stuff that is not in the canon of scripture, but was clearly written by God's people over the years, with the intent of strengthening our faith. Stories and traditions about Jesus and the saints, writings both by and attributed to saints, and the ever-popular "non-canonical gospels." A lot of this stuff goes way back. And to further complicate things, from a literary and historic perspective, some of it seems to have a more solid claim on "canonicity" than some other New Testament writings that "got in."
The Gospel of Thomas is one example. Not only does this thing include sayings that share a common source with the canonical Gospels (not to mention probably pre-dating John's Gospel), but also there's a certain--I don't know--"Jesus-ness" to it that feels very authentic to our faith. It's worth a read.
With other "fan fiction", you can tell why it didn't make the cut. A favorite of mine in that department is the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which includes a lot of interesting stories about Jesus as a kid that seem just a little out of character. (Note especially chapter IV, in which a kid bumps into Jesus and he essentially force-chokes him to death. Harsh stuff.) This doesn't make the cut on a historical basis (second or third century at the earliest), and it doesn't really help us better understand, believe in or follow the Jesus we know from the other Gospels. Might make a cool spin-off series, though... :-)
As defensive as Protestants can get about the "canon" (especially those who have marked out the literalist territory that the stuff that's "in" it is utterly inerrant and contains zero factual errors, and the stuff that's "out" is basically of the Devil), I have to admit...I dig a lot of the "fan fiction." The saints have some great stories. The Philokalia and other works of the Desert Fathers/Mothers seem to ring with the same simple wisdom as Jesus' sayings. Saint Augustine has quite the tale to tell, and also many great theological works (all of which Luther read and cherished, by the way). It's all worth a read, if it strengthens your faith and helps you fall in love with Jesus even more.
With anything that people love, there will always be the fights about what's "real," what's "authentic" and what's part of the "canon." Whether it's Star Wars, Star Trek, or anything else, it's a collaborative enterprise, and the true test of a "canon" is not what somebody in authority (even the creator of said franchise) says, but what sparks people's imaginations and stands the test of time. So props to you, my friend and almost-namesake, Timothy Zahn. I think for the fans, you'll always have a special place in the "canon."
And if this is true for novels and films, much more so for the Word by which we live. In the end, whether or not you call any of the Bible "fiction" (I think there's a lot more "fact" in there than we give it credit for!) we have to remember that the "canon" of scriptures was not compiled by the writers themselves. they had been long dead, every one of them. It was the fans. The devotees. The ones who had read this stuff, lived their lives trusting in it, and fallen in love with the One who inspired it all. As I told a friend of mine recently, we don't worship Jesus because he's the star of "the Bible." We read the Bible--and the "fan fiction"--because we're already in love with Jesus.
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