Great contribution. Who knew that Queen advocated post-millennial theology? 
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I agree but it doesn’t surprise me that Queen should come up with this.
Anyone interested in eternity shouldn’t be surprised if it feel like that. Maybe it is our expectation for novelty that needs adjusting.
Now, let me clarify something. The song was written in connection with the Highlander film. A Kind of Magic is essentially about the mysterious, almost supernatural condition of being an Immortal. In the film and in the 1990s series, Connor MacLeod (born in 1518 and still alive in the 1980s ) describes his immortality as “ a kind of magic” (when he met her during WWII)
and the lyrics echo the mythology of Highlander through lines such as “one prize, one goal,” “no mortal man”, and “there can be only one”,
For example, in Highlander, “the Prize” is the final reward granted to the last surviving Immortal. According to the lore, the winner inherits the combined power of all Immortals (the result of surviving every duel, since an Immortal can be killed, whether by another Immortal or by a mortal, only through decapitation) and becomes “the One”, That power can then be used either to guide humanity or to dominate it. So when the song refers to ‘one prize, one goal,’ it is pointing to the single ultimate objective of every Immortal in the Game.
Another interesting detail is that they stop aging once they experience their “first death” (but it must be a violent death, not an accident or an illness, otherwise, the “immortality gene” they carry doesn’t activate: so, if someone with the immortality gene is killed at 15, they remain a teenager forever; if they are killed at 30, they remain 30 forever; if they are killed at 70, they remain 70 forever, and so on).
Some Immortals are around 500 years old, such as Connor MacLeod, while Duncan, the protagonist of the series, was born in 1592. Others date back to the Roman Empire, and some are even older still. Methos, for instance, the oldest living Immortal in the series, is more than 5,000 years old.
But yes; the song can also be heard in light of a Christian framework. :))
Which is my I’m not surprised at all that you (and Mark) heard it in that light.
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You wrote a very interesting post. In my view, eternal life will not be a static or ghostly condition (certainly not forever, at least, the intermediate state is not eternal) but a living and embodied participation in the glory of God. Proper eternity belongs to God alone, because God alone is pure act, but the blessed won’t remain disembodied minds: they will rise and live as whole persons, glorified in body and soul. The resurrection of the body means that eternal life is not less concrete than our life now, but more so: a transfigured life of joy, communion, worship, action, and wonder in the renewed creation.
So i really don’t think that there will be any place for monotony or dread/anguish/sorrow in the afterlife (for the saved), but an ever-deepening participation in the inexhaustible beauty of God and the renewed Creation.
I’ve always thought eternity would have to include now and that eternity works just as well whether it is understood as an endless stream of time or an endlessly enduring now.
But I don’t expect an afterlife to be a continuation of my one separate life. If anything it might be a new existence in which you could recall this life or you might be able to recall more lives too.
Moot point for me. Never cared about any afterlife benefit program so long as each day is rich until they run out - and the richness would not be about wealth.
Speaking of Queen, I came across this discussion. Queen was a little after my time of listening, but I have come to appreciate their music. Find Me Somebody to Love - by Robert Brewer
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Funny but while I agree with the article I didn’t care for the song, though I enjoy much of their work.
Think I’ll take a chance and share a movie that speaks to me of my faith. If any category purists have a hard time with it just delete this post. I wouldn’t want to start the appropriate new thread.
I just saw the movie A Rumor of Angels. There are no scenes set in a church nor mention of God in it but it is clearly about faith and its importance. It makes me realize how resilient my faith is being completely open to greater truth rather than loaded down with loyalty to specific propositional truths.
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Heard this one on public radio coming home from our walk today. So I’ll make this a dedication for @Christy and @jpm.
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Thanks, Mark 
Brings me back to hearing my college Gospel choir and memories of a less jaded more earnest me.
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I guess you know my reason for sharing it was knowing how much the Robinson novel which I could never penetrate meant to you both.
I liked hearing several songs by Robeson yesterday as a tribute on his birthday but just now while looking for a connection between the novel and this song I came across a version of the song I like even more for the harmonies these two singers achieve.
The song is a classic (African-American) spiritual I believe. The Robinson novel was named after the small town it is set in. There is a Gilead in the Bible, which the song is referencing. I don’t think the book was overtly referencing either, but there is probably some symbolic literary allusion connection we were supposed to make.
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Robeson was an incredibly talented individual. The only black student at Rutgers and an All-American football player. Sang, acted, and played in the early NFL to pay his way through law school at Columbia. A legendary career unfortunately marred in his later years by his support of the USSR under Stalin. A fascinating character.
In keeping with the thread, I was reminded of another African-American spiritual that I love, Mary by Take 6:
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Big fan of a cappella and I’m sure I’ve heard this group before though no idea which song(s) that may have been.
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Not a capella, but here’s another spiritual that I love. Wade in the Water by Eva Cassidy
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