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I must admit that I watched THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION more than once between 1994 and 2004,
and not once did I grasp its Christian themes. It’s shocking, really, considering how the movie
unmistakably paints Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) as the Christ-like savior of Shawshank State Prison.

Andy behaves not only like he is of – but like he remains in – another world. He strolls through the yard,
like a man taking a walk in the park. Lacking support from inmates and officials alike, he labors to
establish a library, a safe place for fellow prisoners to renew their minds through study and their hearts
through music. He seeks to share his message of hope, reminding friends of the fundamental reality
lying beyond Shawshank’s walls. His effect is lasting and profound, as friends continue to share stories
of his deeds long after he departs.1/

If you spotted these and other superficial similarities between Andy and Christ, well done. I trust that you
appreciate, however, that thinking about the Gospel of Andy Dufresne in a distinctively Christian way is a
venture of a wholly different nature. Thinking Christianly requires not only a familiarity with the story of
Christ but an enduring, sensitive awareness of life’s fundamental realities as Christianly conceived.2/

Earth and everything in it were created by and belong to God. We were created to be in relationship
with Him and each other.

Humans have rebelled against God and are drawn to evil through weaknesses in their fallen
nature.

Only God is able to restore His relationship with man, and He has done so by sacrificing His only
Son, Jesus Christ. Through Christ’s death on the cross, our eternal Father offers forgiveness from
the past, new life today and hope for the future.

Life on earth is brief yet determinative of our eternal destiny. Eternal afterlife will be spent either
with God in heaven, or without Him in hell.

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1/ The parallel between Jesus and Andy is by no means exact. For instance, Andy is drawn into sin, first aiding the warden’
s financial fraud and later stealing from the warden himself. Moreover, the day prior to his escape from Shawshank, Andy
confesses to Red that he failed to fulfill his duties as a husband, which failure, in some sense, led to his wife’s murder. Yet,
immediately after appearing to grasp his own broken moral condition, Andy shifts to a worldview that does not reflect
Christian thinking at all: “Somebody else [pulled the trigger]. And I wound up in here. Bad luck, I guess. . . . It floats
around. It’s got to land on somebody. It was my turn, that’s all. I was in the path of the tornado.” This sentiment reflects
more the naturalistic view that our lives are nothing more than the product of random chance.

I recently attended a presentation of Dr. Ken Boa (http://reflections.gospelcom.net), in which he analyzed this film. He
concluded that Andy is very much a character in the Humanist tradition, striving to create his own micromeanings (e.g., by
continuing his rock collecting hobby), even though he realizes that his prison life has no macromeaning at all.

2/ When we see Christian imagery in films (or books, television, print, etc.), we also must remain sensitively aware that even
those who do not follow Christ often recognize that Christian symbols and stories resonate deeply with many people.
Filmmakers (or authors, advertisers, etc.) may trade on that value, acquired over centuries, and then twist it, intentionally or
not, to fit their own agenda.