Book Review: The Gospel According to Lost by Chris Seay
By Chris Brantner

With books like The Gospel According to Tony Soprano and The Gospel Reloaded on his resume, you get the feeling that Chris Seay has some experience walking the fine line Evangelicals have drawn between “Christian” and “Secular.” With that in mind, I opened the pages of this book with mixed feelings of interest and wariness.

Let me preface my review with a little confession- unlike millions of Americans, I don’t live and die by Lost. As a matter of fact, I haven’t watched an episode since season 3. Do I hate it? No. Do I love it? Not so much. It’s good TV, but with such a busy schedule, at some point I had to make some TV watching decisions. Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t run from shows deemed “Non-Christian” either. Truthfully, I cut out Lost (which honestly seemed to be losing momentum after the second season anyway) in favor of spending my evenings catching up on episodes of Mad Men and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

However, the idea of making connections between Lost and the Gospel- well if nothing else it sounded creative. And I was right.

As far as I’m concerned, Chris Seay succeeds in three ways with The Gospel According to Lost.

1. Chris successfully analyzes and brings to light character struggles and motivations. He breaks down all the major players by discussing how their pasts led them to their current roles in relation to the island. He also highlights a major flaw in each character, and explains how the island attempts to change it (it is the magic of the island that’s healing the hurts, isn’t it?)
2. Chris also forces readers to use these character portrayals to turn the light inward and examine themselves. As he repeats throughout the text, Lost viewers aren’t just watching, they’re participating. And part of the participating involves making connections between character’s choices and ourselves. And the best part is, most of us can relate to nearly every single character in an intimate manner.
3.  He successfully combines conversation about pop culture and Christianity without sounding like some cheesy youth pastor struggling to remain relevant. And thus, Chris dispelled my biggest fear about the book- that it would hold a bunch of forced, metaphorical links in order to capitalize on the success of a current cultural phenomenon. Instead, Chris offers multiple compelling connections between Lost’s twisting plot lines and the major themes found in the Bible.   

Of course, an opponent of the book could make the argument that Chris draws parallels to the Gospel that the writers of Lost didn’t intend. And they’re probably right. But who cares? Don’t good artists always leave their art up to individual interpretation? That’s the true beauty of art. For example, you and I may look at the same painting and glean two completely different messages from it. A third person might get absolutely nothing out of it. Who’s right? No one and everyone.

In the end, Chris gave me lots to meditate on- and he may have given me that extra nudge to go rent Seasons 4 and 5.

It’s time I became a Lost participant.