By Fr. Linh Hoang Sorry to bother you is a statement that polite telemarketers say when customers answer their phones. It is a way to get your attention and draw you into their sales pitch. Sorry to Bother Youis also a movie about Cassius Green an unemployed, black Oakland, California resident who lands a telemarketing job….
Become Ocean’s Spiritual Frontier
By Sam Bennett Born in Mississippi and raised amid California’s suburban sprawl, composer John Luther Adams lived for forty years in Alaska. Not just a vague source of inspiration, he intended to produce a translation in sound of Alaska’s surrounding environment. His most celebrated attempt is the symphony Become Ocean (2013). A key element of…
Islamic Arts and “Arabian Nights Mode”
By Fatima Hye As a Muslim in America, I always felt that there was a rift in our community. Either you were a practicing Muslim, and therefore had zero interest in the arts, or you engaged in the arts, but weren’t very practicing. In my view, this issue (that other faith-based communities sometimes face as well:…
Call for Papers: Theology and the Marvel Universe
Call for Papers: Theology and the Marvel Universe Editor: Gregory Stevenson (gstevenson@rc.edu) Theology and Pop Culture is currently seeking contributions for a potential edited volume from Rowman and Littlefield on the intersection of theology and the Marvel Universe. Essays may focus on comic books/graphic novels, film, and television/streaming series. Essays should be written for academics,…
Chaos and Order in the Works of Grant Morrison
By Abigail Bilby Religious scholars argue that the battle between chaos and order has been in existence since before humans were able to conceive of it (Mobley p. 16). Ever since their arrival, humans have carried an obsession with the idea of chaotic beings and events existing in direct conflict with what is considered to…
Sidebar: Everyday Evil and the Visions of 616 Hickory Branch Lane
From our friend Rev. Samuel Blair over at The Chaplain’s Report: “The fatal flaw of the Vision in creating his family and trying to live a normal life is that that he did not see how much evil there was in normal life. The Vision, he recounts to himself, has saved the world 37 times….
EXTENDED Call for Papers: Theology and Game of Thrones
Call for Papers: Theology and Game of Thrones Theology and Pop Culture extending the deadline for abstracts to AUGUST 1 for a potential volume on the work of George R.R. Martin and the world of Game of Thrones. Essays should be written for academics, but avoid “jargon” to be accessible for the layperson. Potentials ideas…
Kingdom Hearts and Learning to Walk in the Dark
By Corey Patterson Right before the start of E3 this year, we were granted with the release date of the much-anticipated Square Enix game Kingdom Hearts 3: January 29, 2019. The franchise has received a massive influx of fans with the multiple installments throughout the years, and it’s showing no sign of coming down. I…
Rick and Morty, the Viability of Religion, and Experiencing the Sacred (or: Show Me What You Got!)
By Matthew William Brake In the episode “Get Shwifty” of Rick and Morty, the acclaimed Adult Swim show known for its sci-fi adventures and nihilistic brand of humor, a giant head (known as a “cromulon”) appears in the sky above Earth with one simple demand: “SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!” This challenge ultimately involves Earth…
Grant Morrison, Final Crisis, and the Power of Apocalyptic Storytelling
By Julie Rivera Anyone that has heard a Grant Morrison interview can deduce that he has some interesting ideas about the world, which he portrays using metafiction, unique storytelling, and spirituality. While Morrison does not identify as a Christian, some of his works reflect Christian themes. His graphic novel Final Crisis uses the idea of…
‘In God We Trump’ – Film Review
From our friend Rev. Leah Schade over at EcoPreacher: “How is it possible for those who profess to follow a savior who preached inclusivity, respect for all peoples, humbleness, and nonviolence to venerate a man whose every Tweet, every speech, and every action flies in the face of our understanding of what it means to…
Free Will: Reality or Illusion? A Debate with Matthew Brake and Professor Gary Andrews
About 2 months ago, I (Matthew Brake) was invited to debate Professor Gary Andrews, a psychology professor at Lehigh Carbon Community College in Schnecksville, PA to participate in a debate about the existence of Free Will. Professor Andrews contended that human beings do not have free will, and I argued for a (constrained) free will. The…
What an Old Hollywood Melodrama Taught Me About the Gospel
By Louis Markos At the core of San Francisco (1936; W. S. Van Dyke), as at the core of so many film classics, is a love triangle. Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald), the innocent, devout daughter of a country parson, has come to the Barbary Coast in hopes of becoming a singer. As the story progresses,…
The Power of Narrative Preaching (or: The Pastor as Dungeon Master)
By Rev. Samuel Blair One of the side things I enjoy is playing fantasy roleplaying games with a group of friends online. Destroying giant bees ridden by bow-wielding goblins from the comfort of my office chair is always fun. However they can be very exciting not merely for the fun of fighting but the chance…
FREE Bible and Culture Class
Hello everyone! I wanted to let you all know that I (Matthew Brake) am teaching an 8-week class on the Bible and Culture online for a small Christian school in Bowie, MD called William Seymour College. William Seymour is a new school, led by a former professor of mine named Dr. Estrelda Alexander, who founded…
Fenway Park: From Profane Space to Sacred Place
By Michael Xiarhos, Ph.D. What is it that makes a place sacred? Essentially, we are talking about creation, that is the creation of the sacred place from profane space. Sacredness can be attributed to a certain place because of a singular event associated with that particular location: The Sepulcher in Jerusalem is a prime example of…
Sex, Prayer, and Broken Being in Nymphomaniac
By The Very Reverend Archimandrite John Panteleimon Manoussakis (For Antonio Mizael) “Yahweh, you seduced me unlawfully, and I consented to being seduced; you raped me, and you were too strong for my resistance to prevail.” Jeremiah 20:7 “Thou art victorious; open-mouthed he gapes at your beatitude, you took him as a woman, cut him through, opened…
Pop Culture and Theology Listed as one of Top 20 Pop Culture Blogs and Websites To Follow in 2018
Feedspot has selected Pop Culture and Theology as one of the Top 20 Pop Culture Blogs and Websites to Follow in 2018. After only being active for one year, we are honored to be listed in the same company as a number of well-established pop culture sites. This would not have been possible without all of…
The Infinite Strangeness of Atonement
By Corey Patterson [WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!] If you’re a Marvel fanatic, you’re probably still wiping the tears from your eyes after Infinity War. The film lived up to the “war” in its name with the mad Titan Thanos wiping out half of the life in the universe. His murderous act was…
Call for Papers: Theology and Prince
Call for Papers: Theology and Prince Editors: Rev. Katrina E. Jenkins (kejenkins@rollins.edu) & Jonathan H. Harwell (jharwell@rollins.edu) Theology and Pop Culture is currently seeking contributions for a potential edited volume of essays on theology and the life, music, and films of Prince Rogers Nelson. Essays should be written for academics, but avoid jargon in order…
The Incarnation as Condemnation in Lars von Trier’s Dogville
By The Very Reverend Archimandrite John Panteleimon Manoussakis Lars von Trier’s Dogville offers us an alternative interpretation to the mystery of the incarnation than what Christianity has traditionally come to understand in Christ’s humanization. Instead of the possibility of salvation, Dogville suggests Christ’s incarnation as the possibility of a universal condemnation. The story of God-becoming-man remains…
A Different Kind of Power: Superman and Paul Tillich
By Corey Patterson If the average person is asked to describe Superman, chances are they will undoubtedly talk about his vast strength. They would speak of his ability to leap tall buildings and pick up cars. However, few would describe his caring personality and kind demeanor, and to be fair, these have been deemed secondary…
Traditionalism, Modernism, and the Spirit of the Crowd
By Cole DeSantis The French philosopher, literary critic, anthropologist, and sociologist René Girard has garnered much attention among certain Christian theological circles. Bishop Robert Barron once published an article on his Word on Fire blog in 2015 in which he described Girard in the title as a “Church Father.” James B. Murphy, a professor at…
Call for Papers: Theology and Game of Thrones
Call for Papers: Theology and Game of Thrones Theology and Pop Culture is currently seeking contributions for a potential volume on the work of George R.R. Martin and the world of Game of Thrones. Essays should be written for academics, but avoid “jargon” to be accessible for the layperson. Potentials ideas include but are not…
Hindu Themes in Western Popular Culture: A Tale of Two Georges, Part Two
By Jeffrey D. Long Introduction In the first part of this two-part series on the ‘two Georges’–Harrison and Lucas–who have played roles in infusing Hindu themes and thought into Western popular culture, I focused upon George Harrison, whose Hindu connections and commitments were quite open and well known. Starting with the brief sitar passages in…
Call for Papers: Theology and Black Panther
Call for Papers: Theology and Black Panther Theology and Pop Culture is currently seeking contributions for a potential volume from Rowman and Littlefield on the character of Black Panther in comics, television, and film with a specific emphasis on Black Liberation Theology. Essays should be written for academics, but avoid “jargon” to be accessible for…
Hindu Themes in Western Popular Culture: A Tale of Two Georges, Part One
By Jeffery D. Long Introduction: Who Are the Two Georges? The basic premise of this two-part series is that a variety of Hindu themes have come to permeate Western culture and consciousness over the course of the last fifty years. As many readers may know, Philip Goldberg has chronicled this phenomenon in his groundbreaking work,…
Stranger Than Fiction: Giving Yourself to the Story
By Leigh Lim Nothing illustrates the difficulty in coming up with a masterpiece better than “Stranger Than Fiction,” a fable about a person living his life and a writer writing about his thoughts and choices. In a crazily “meta” twist on the idea of the unseen hand (I guess in this film it is a…
Liberation Theology in Black Panther
By Corey Patterson Marvel Studios’ film Black Panther blends superhero action, drama, thriller, and a variety of other genres in an unforgettable film experience. Unlike the previous stand-alone Marvel pieces, this story explores the societal and cultural factors that shape the titular character, T’challa a.k.a. Black Panther. One of the most prominent themes found in…
Jessica Jones: Freedom and Guilt
By Corey Patterson With the upcoming second season of Jessica Jones set to premiere on Netflix March 8th, I thought it’d be a good idea to revisit the first season and all its intricacies. The series, along with Daredevil, helped shape the Marvel TV show landscape over the past few years by introducing us to…
The Philosophy of Young Sheldon
By Cole DeSantis One of the most popular shows currently airing on CBS is the series “The Big Bang Theory.” First premiering eleven years ago, the show tells the story of four young, socially awkward scientists in their various social and personal exploits. The show quickly gained popularity due to one of these characters, the…
Logan, Diana, and Thor: Christ-Haunted Heroes
By Armond Boudreaux It is easy to think of superheroes as a uniquely American and uniquely modern creation. Their eagerness to go out into the world and punch bad guys certainly appeals to American sensibilities, and the sci-fi origins that characterize many of them certainly speaks to modern preoccupations with science and technology. And of…
Freedom, Despair, and the Self
By Cole DeSantis One of the more memorable moments from the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in 1969 was folk guitarist and singer Richie Havens’ set, which opened the festival. Anyone who, like myself, is interested in music and culture from that era will recall how Havens was asked to open the festival after several…
The Secular Future of Black Mirror
By Carina Julig The wildly popular Black Mirror aired its fourth season recently, delivering more narratives examining our complicated relationship with technology and the pros and cons of what a high-tech future could look like. Black Mirror is a British television show produced by Netflix, where each episode is an individual story—think The Twilight Zone…
Letter to My Son: Reflections on Religion, Brain Damage, Football, and My Life
By Scott Merrill, Ph.D. Is it a coincidence that America is the strongest, richest and most vibrant society and also the sole country whose national sport is gridiron football? Greg Easterbrook, The King of Sports Football can be called a sociological practice of the folk religion….that often includes ritual expressions of patriotism. Prayers prior to…
Voldemort Fears Death and Dumbledore Does Not: A Decisive Difference
By Jack Holloway “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21) I finished reading the Harry Potter books in 2017. I was denied them as a kid, and so enjoyed them for the first time as an adult. I am actually glad of this, because as an adult I saw…
Sting – 57th & 9th: An Ecotheological Review
By The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade Sting and ecotheology? Seriously? What possible connection could there be between the famous pop music artist and the study of ecology and religion? I have been a huge fan since the Police in the 80s, and throughout Sting’s solo career in the subsequent decades. His latest album met…
Blade Runner and Theology
By Stephanie Pacheco The Blade Runner films show us a version of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that looks exactly like we do. My take on Blade Runner—both the original and Blade Runner 2049—is that it concerns androids less than appearances suggest, but rather asks us: “What makes us human?” The 2017 sequel utilizes dazzling cinematography to…
“Get Out”: Racism in the Place of Theological Discourse
By Fr. Linh Hoang I am not a person who goes to horror movies. The reason is that I am never sure of their message besides just wanting to scare the living daylights out of people. Like most people, I don’t think being scared is entertaining. With that dismissive attitude aside, I decided after persuasion…
The Lyrical Faith of Sufjan Stevens
By Carina Julig Though he is not a ‘Christian musician,’ indie singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens has built a cult following among Christian listeners, and his haunting music has a deeply religious quality. Stevens’ ethereal songs frequently convey musings about faith, while at other times, he is directly talking to God. Religious imagery is especially prominent in…
2017: Top Five Posts
I want to thank all of the people who have made the inaugural year of this blog possible. Of course, without you, the reader, there would be very little point to this project, which attempts to make theology accessible to the wider public. To our contributors, we literally could not do this without you. Thank…
The Children Everyone Was Waiting For
By Roberto Mussinatto There are a few days left before Christmas, and we can already feel in the air this soft joy and sense of waiting which make Christmas different from any other celebration in the year. We feel like something we were looking for is ready to come; it seems like nature feels it, too….
Asgard and the Kingdom of God in Thor: Ragnarok
By Corey Patterson [SPOILERS!!!] If Marvel fans were expecting a continuation of the dark tones from the sequel to Thor and Thor: The Dark World, they would find themselves in a losing bet. The latest installment, Thor: Ragnarok, brings to life a world of color and humorous scenes, more akin to Guardians of the Galaxy…
Is God Funny?
By Alison Downie, PhD Is God preposterous to you? He is to me. But let me explain: The God I work daily to trust bears no resemblance whatsoever to the “God” many Christians preach about and the “God” so many reject as absurd. The endlessly essential theological question is: What sort of God is being…
The Psychoanalytic Structure of Daredevil’s Catholic Guilt
By Ritchie Savage, PhD In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, the classical sociological theorist, Max Weber, attempts to make a distinction between his ideal types of Protestantism and Catholicism, and the capacity for the former, not only to embody the movement toward rationalization in history, but also the attention toward capital accumulation….
Movie Review: White God
By Katy Scrogin and Cláudio Carvalhaes Starring: Zsofia Psotta, Sandor Zsoter, Szabolcs Thuroczy, Lili Monori, Laszlo Galffi and Lili Horvath. Genre: Drama, Foreign Directed By: Kornél Mundruczó Release Date: March 27, 2015 Website: http://www.magpictures.com/whitegod/ Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpYaY7ulTEc Who would have guessed that a revolt of dogs in Budapest would be a metaphor for our times? Kornél Mundruzcó’s…
Re-engineering the Bible: Samson, Delilah, and the Grateful Dead
By Bruce Chilton The story of Samson and Delilah, Samson’s last paramour among many unsuitable women (Judges 16:4-31), has attracted painters such as Rubens, poets such as Milton, and even the film-maker Cecil B. DeMille. (He cast Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr in the title roles in his 1949 film.) Bob Weir with the Grateful…
Call for Papers: Fordham Pop Culture & Theology Graduate Student Conference
Fordham Theology Graduate Student Conference: “Pop Culture and Theology” Friday, April 20, 2018 at Fordham University Rose Hill The Theology Graduate Student Association invites graduate students in theology, Bible, religious studies, ethics, and related fields to submit abstracts that explore the relationship between popular culture and theology from classical as well as contemporary perspectives. For…
The Reformation and Pop Culture: Why Hollywood Should Take a Chance on Martin Luther
By Ed Simon There is some scholarly dispute as to whether Martin Luther actually did the thing he’s most famous today for: dramatically nailing his world-changing critique of the Catholic Church to a church door 500 years ago. The image of the fiery monk affixing his Ninety-Five Theses to the entrance of the Wittenburg Castle…
