By Danny Anderson Is it going too far to call Pet Sematary an Easter movie? Hear me out. First, let’s admit up front that Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer’s 2019 adaptation of Pet Sematary doesn’t explore the depths of human grief that it’s source material does. Stephen King’s 1983 novel is a classic work of…
Fan Theories, Eschatological Anxiety, and Avengers: Endgame
By Rev. Samuel Blair Our popular culture has had a long love affair with the end of the world. The word “apocalyptic” is commonly used in reference to something being cataclysmic and destructive, but in Biblical literature it referred not to “end of the world” doomsday scenarios, but to revelatory passages where the veil of…
Easter Arrives Early: Lenten Reflections and Redemption in Queer Eye
By Katherine Billotte-Kelaidis The third season of Netflix’s Queer Eye dropped the first Friday of the Eastern Orthodox Lent. So, after going to the Akathist to the Theotokos, I came home and put on Queer Eye. Then I engaged in some very un-Lenten conduct: I binged. By the time I was done, I had not only watched…
When Did Magneto Become Jewish?
By Alana Vincent It’s 2019. We all know that Magneto, the longest-running and most recognisable X-Men villain, is Jewish. More than Jewish, he’s a Holocaust survivor—the most Jewish sort of Jew.[1] It’s worth interrogating exactly when, and how, and why, Magneto became Jewish. When the character was first introduced in 1963, he was a fairly…
How to Train Your Dragon and The Hidden Good Creation
By Corey Patterson The third and (most likely) final installment to the How to Train Your Dragon film franchise is another heartwarming addition to the series. The film highlights the dragon riders’ new calling as dragon liberators. Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless the Night Fury, and the rest of the crew travel from island to island in an…
Signifying and Scripturalization in Xena: Warrior Princess
By Princess O’Nika Auguste Xena: Warrior Princess is a fantasy/historical fiction action and adventure show that aired on television from 1995 to 2001. Xena is a spinoff of Hercules the Legendary Journeys. Xena and Hercules both are based on Greek mythology although they divulged into other forms of mythology and history including Christian mythology and Christian…
Who Has a Problem with Evil? Halloween, Fascism, and Theodicy
By Danny Anderson Ted Bundy is once again having a moment. The current interest in his story can be traced to two new productions: Netflix’s four-part documentary series Conversations with a Killer, and the film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile which recently premiered at Sundance and stars Zac Efron. The critical conversation around the Efron…
Matthew Brake on Sectarian Review Podcast Discussing Religion and Comics
Hey everyone! Recent I (Matt) had the opportunity to go on the Sectarian Review podcast, hosted by Danny Anderson. The Sectarian Review has become one of my go to podcasts. Danny let me come on and plug a new book series I’m co-editing with A. David Lewis for Claremont Press on Religion and Comics (there’s…
Comics and the Art of the Cliffhanger
By Pastor Will Rose When the weather allowed, I rode my bike to Wrightsville Beach Elementary School. On the way to school I would stop at a convenient store and spend my lunch money on the newest Uncanny X-Men comic book on the spinner rack. When I was younger, I loved the action and the…
A Tale of Two Priests: Questions of Love and Forgiveness within Silence.
By Elijah Keay “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Martin Scorsese loves to tell stories that deal with identity crises and deep personal struggles. Silence, while perhaps not his best movie but…
Pop Culture and Theology 