Christian Reviewers Call the Film 'Gravity' an Allegory for God, Jesus

Alfonso Cuaron's box-office-record-smasher "Gravity" also broke new ground for faith in Hollywood, according to Christian reviewers who praised the film.

They saw the presence of God throughout the film in an allegory of the death and resurrection of Christ, a personal interaction with God, and a God-given hope in the afterlife.

In "Gravity," the audience sees "the paradoxes of the Christian faith echoed on the screen," Paul Asay, senior associate editor for Focus on the Family's review blog, Plugged In, told The Christian Post.

In an editorial for the Washington Post, Asay linked the story of medical engineer Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) to the ancient myths of Osiris, Gilgamesh, Hermes, Odysseus, and Orpheus.

After the tragic death of her young daughter, Stone travels into space, suffers catastrophic accidents that nearly kill her, and at one point runs out of oxygen. At that point, she witnesses a visitation
which gives her new purpose in life. In the empty dark of space, Asay wrote, she is reborn.

This death and rebirth echoes ancient myths, but it also mimics the story of Christ.

"But the most powerful (and, in my belief, the truest) of these stories is that of Jesus, who died and (as is written in the Apostle's Creed) descended into hell, and rose again to bring us the possibility
of new life," Asay wrote.

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