The Big Bang Theory

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith from a place of winter For the Years of Winter…

It is 3 a.m., and I am faced with that haunting wee-hours question that we all must answer sooner or later: why am I interested in the big bang theory? No, not the world creation theory; I settled the question of loop quantum gravity vs. string theory a long time ago. [1]

It’s the Big Bang Theory TV show [BBT] that fascinates me.

Sheldon Cooper [the amazing Jim parsons], Leonard Hofstader [Johnny Galecki, who can nerd you out just by wrinkling his face], Raj Koothrapalli [whom Helen wants to keep as a pet, Kunal Nayyar], and Howard Wolowitz [Simon Helberg], are brilliant physics profs at Cal Poly. Except for Sheldon, who lives entirely in his mind and whose only goal is a Nobel Prize, their only interest is sex. And, occasionally, a bigger office, or a paint-ball victory over the Anthropology Dept, or winning first prize at the comic book store’s Halloween and New Year’s costume contests.

Of course, that’s why they supposedly don’t get sex [although it’s amazing how many otherwise intelligent and attractive women get involved with them ]. When they are not being brilliant, they live in the nerd world of SciFi and fantasy movies and action figures, comic books, Renaissance fairs. They have no clue how the rest of the world works.

Each character is limited by partialness. Howard “is an ass,” [and lacks a Phd]. Raj can’t even speak to a woman without booze, and then he becomes as much of an ass as Howard. Leonard was raised by a mother [Christine Beranski] who is a child psychiatrist with less warmth than a frozen salamander. Sheldon lives entirely in his mind and fantasy.

Still, women who are just as hampered try them out. The short, naive Catholic microbiology PhD candidate, Bernadette Rostenkowski [the adorable Melissa Rauch] falls for Howard, who lives with his mother and can’t leave her. Totally needy nerd Leonard is clueless and is always amazed when Penny [Kaley Cuoco], their next door neighbor and waitress/actress-wannabe, or the voluptuous medical doctor, Stephanie Barnett [Sara Rue], or Raj’s beautiful and talented lawyer sister, Priya [Aarti Mann] or fellow physics prof Leslie Winkle [Sarah Gilbert], who uses men like a… well, like a man uses women, comes on to him. Prof Amy Farrah Fowler [Mayim Bialek] is just as one-dimensional [brain only] as Sheldon, but is also desperate for love and negotiates with Sheldon for affection by starting out with a request for wild all-night animal coitus [Sheldon’s preferred word] and eventually manages to get him to agree to a hug.

 

There are only three nods to religion in the BBT. Howard is a totally secular Jew. Raj is a superstitious Hindu. Sheldon’s mother [the delightful Lori Metcalf] is an E. TX fundamentalist who believes in religious string theory, that Jesus pulls strings. But she is quite pragmatic if it turns out that she’s wrong about which way the strings are pulled.

On the face of it, I have little in common with the folks of the BBT, but I love Sheldon and his little group because they remind me of the church in which I have lived my life. [2] They want love but settle for attention. They want joy but settle for pleasure. They want friendship but settle for competition. They want truth but settle for knowledge. They want Spirit but settle for spirits. They want communion but settle for theories. [3]

At the end of the day, though, they care about one another. They take care of one another. If someone is sick, someone sings “Soft Kitty.” And the next day they get up and try again for love and truth and joy and friendship and communion.

Which is what I think I’ll do now that the day has started. Besides, the BBT re-runs don’t start for another 18 minutes.

JRMcF

1] Bazinga! What Sheldon says when he thinks he’s pulled a fast one on you.

2] The BBT and UMC [General Conference] both end their seasons this week, BBT on CBS at 7 PM, CDT. The end of GC of UMC is a good deal less predictable.

3] Their communion service [The Sheldor’s Supper ?] is fascinating. The remarkably patient Leonard is always the steward because Sheldon won’t partake if the elements are not prepared correctly [diced, not shredded], or if they have been sacrificed to an idol [purchased at the wrong place]. They argue about who gets the best seat. They argue about who gets the last dumpling. They argue about which movie they’ll watch. The same problems Paul had with the church in Corinth. The same problems we’ve had ever since.

The “place of winter” mentioned in the title line is Iron Mountain, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where life is defined by winter even in the summer!

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{I also write the fictional “Periwinkle Chronicles” blog. One needs a rather strange sense of humor to enjoy it, but occasionally it is slightly funny. It is at http://periwinklechronicles.blogspot.com/}

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