By Matthew Brake When an immoral leader leaves office, it’s too easy for his detractors to breath a sigh of relief in the hopes of “going back to the way things were.” And for the moment, that’s fine, but we must do the hard work of asking about the conditions that allow such a leader…
The Pastor of Cobra Kai
As she often does, our friend Rev. Leah D. Schade at the EcoPreacher blog has written another great blog on a piece of pop culture–the hit series Cobra Kai! Rev. Schade specifically points out how the series does an excellent job of accurately portraying a mainline Protestant pastor: “He didn’t turn into a Bible-beating, gay-hating,…
Analyzing Religion in Jonathan Hickman’s HOUSE OF X #2
David Canham has been working on a series for our friends at Sequart analyzing the religious ideas and symbolism in Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men run. David has a really great piece looking at the theme of reincarnation in the character of Moira MacTaggert. David does an excellent job analyzing the characters and comparing the form of…
2020: Top Five Posts
2020 was certainly a tumultuous year. I’m proud of all of the contributors to the blog, especially those who contributed something timely to the circumstances we found ourselves in, whether concerning the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter protests, or the rise of of conspiracy theories in our national discourse. I wanted to highlight the most…
Matisyahu’s “One Day” and the Burden of Hope: An Advent Reflection
By Danny Anderson This semester, I taught Chaim Potok’s The Chosen, the story of young, Hasidic Jew, Danny Saunders, and his journey to an orthodoxy that still engages the world outside his Hasidic community. In an attempt to explain that dynamic to my mostly Catholic students, I brought up the example of Matisyahu, the hip-hop-reggae-human beatbox…
The Code of the Elves: A Primer for Joy
By Jake Doberenz In the 2003 Christmas classic Elf (I think I can call it a classic now), the elves have about perfected a recipe for joy. Elf, directed by Jon Favreau and starring Will Ferrell and Zoey Deschanel, depicts the elf-raised human Buddy as he ventures into the wild world of New York City. Buddy, raised…
35% Holiday Discount on Theology and Pop Culture Series
Happy Holidays everyone! Rowman and Littlefield is running at 35% discount on its books during the holiday season, and that includes in-stock print titles and ebooks for the Theology and Pop Culture series. I’m not sure if it works with pre-orders (like with our upcoming Theology and Horror title), but it definitely is good for…
Call for Papers: Theology and Dystopia
Call for Abstracts: Theology and Dystopia Edited by Scott Donahue-Martens and Brandon Simonson From the Greek dus- (“bad”) and topos (“place”), dystopia as a genre is often characterized by its use of post-apocalyptic and totalitarian imagery. Dystopia stands in contrast with its counterpart utopia, an equally far-off yet disparately ideal world. Both dystopian and utopian worlds abound with…
Sports and Play in Christian Theology
By John Tucker Sport is a major preoccupation of the modern world. It consumes the time and energies of millions of people around the globe. It shapes the identity of individuals, communities, and nations.[1] For many participants, it operates much like a functional equivalent of religion, giving them a way to interpret and understand the…
Conspiracy as Evangelical Liturgy
By Danny Anderson An Opening Salvo Though too few media outlets cover it, there is in fact a sober and intellectually serious strain of Christianity in America. Revenue imperatives will probably always drive the media to focus on what historian John Fea refers to as the “Court Evangelicals” and other bizarre artifacts from the fringes of…
Pop Culture and Theology 