A Beautiful Pattern: The Aesthetics of Virtue in Knives Out

By Colin Toffelmire Rian Johnson’s celebrated murder-mystery Knives Out is intricate, fun, and funny. The plot always leans forward, the acting is excellent, and it is relentlessly clever. What’s more, for the persistent viewer, the film rewards multiple viewings. First come the various hints and clues in the dialogue, and then more subtle hints and…

Virtue Ethics and Moral Transformation in A Christmas Carol

By Jake Doberenz “Spirit!” he cried, tight clutching at its robe, “hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse.” -Dickens, A Christmas Carol Personal change is a major theme in both religion and literature. We can recognize that in any…

Advent, Twelvetide, and the Unreasonable Hope of Christmas

By Katherine Billotte-Kelaidis It is a little bit awkward for me  to sit down to write about “pop culture and Advent,” because a) I am from a tradition in which Advent as such does not exist (and I promise to explain below) and b) it seems to me that popular culture has, over the past…

Call for Papers: Theology, Religion, and the Office

Call For Papers: Title: Theology and The Office Volume Editors: Daniel J. Cameron & John W. McCormack Abstract and CV Due: January 31, 2023 Initial Final Paper Due: June 30, 2023 In 2020, seven years after the show officially ended, the hit NBC series The Office was the number 1 streamed tv show with over…

John Carpenter and the Origins of Evil

By Danny Anderson Let there be no doubt about my position. John Carpenter is a great artist. And critics, many of whom seemingly made careers out of missing this point, have largely come around to acknowledge this fact. If there was any remaining doubt about Carpenter’s artistic achievements, Jordan Peele, the director of three modern…

Horror, Theology, and the Fragmented World

By Brandon R. Grafius Every prophet in the Hebrew Bible has a call narrative, a story where God speaks to them directly and commissions them to be a prophet. Think of Moses at the burning bush, the young Samuel being woken by a voice in the middle of the night, or Jeremiah being touched on…