Book Review: The Gospel According to Lost by Chris Seay

To say that Lost is a phenomenon would be an understatement. Over the last 6 seasons, I’ve watched and listened as viewers have followed the trials of their favorite island castaways and with the final season just beginning, it seemed appropriate for me to review The Gospel According to Lost by Chris Seay.

As many viewers are aware, Lost is more than a story about a group of people who get stranded on an island, it’s a multi~layered story that explores fate, reason, faith, guilt, salvation and a host of other philosophical and religious tenents. And it’s within this framework that Seay seeks to explore the relationship between the television series and the Judeo~Christian beliefs in redemption and salvation. Although he acknowledges the show’s exploration of other religious beliefs, his analysis is grounded in the teachings of Jesus Christ with reference to the Holy Bible.

One of the strongest points in Seay’s analysis relate to the power of words and the belief that they can shape a person’s future. As an example, Seay talks about the names of the characters and how their names influence their personalities. The writers, he believes, put a lot of thought into the naming of the characters much like Jewish parents put serious thought into the names of their children because they knew there was power (or failure) in a name.

Seay also examines the story of Hurley, who believes he is cursed. This curse, Seay writes, can be traced back to the casual utterance of Hurley’s father: “Having hope is never stupid. You gotta believe good things will happen; then they will. In this world, son, you’ve gotta make your own luck.” With those words, Hurley’s father abandoned him, leaving a young boy (and, ultimately, a grown man) feeling “lost” and worthless. Therefore, the question arises, did Hurley allow his father’s abandoment and fruitless words to bury him in hopelessness or could he have escaped the “curse” and made his own luck?

Whether you are a Christian or not, this book offers and interesting analysis of a television series that has offered so much to so many people.

Disclaimer: This book was provided to me courtesy of Thomas Nelson (which is now BookSneeze) free of charge in exchange for a review. To purchase the book, you may click on the picture or the link which will take you to bookschristian.com. I am an affiliate of the company. This does not in any way influence my review.