Theology, Religion, and Middle Earth Edited by Scott Donahue-Martens, Ph.D., and Brandon Simonson, Ph.D. Few works have made such a lasting impact on the fantasy genre or captured the imagination as those of J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien’s fiction, essays, letters, and more are widely read and loved. His works, and his high fantasy setting known as…
Tag: Fantasy
Which Fantasy, Whose Theology? Reflections on Theology, Fantasy, and the Imagination: Part 3 – The Post-Christian, Postsecular, and Postmodern
By Andrew D. Thrasher (Click Here to Read Part 2) Underlying contemporary Western culture are the three posts, and each of these, especially the first, underlines a major portion of my co-edited volume, Theology, Fantasy, and the Imagination. The post-Christian turn is characterized by both the turn away from traditional Christian orthodoxy and practice and…
Whose Fantasy, Which Theology? Reflection on Theology, Fantasy, and the Imagination: Part 2 – Invented Religion and Hyperreal Religion
By Andrew D. Thrasher (Click Here to Read Part 1) Carole M. Cusack and Adam Possamai are known for coining the phrases invented religion and hyperreal religion, respectively. While both terms are referring to how popular culture helps to inform and shape contemporary religions, the first refers primarily to how religions are invented based on…
Whose Fantasy, Which Theology? Reflections on Theology, Fantasy, and Imagination: Part 1 – The Baptized Imagination
By Andrew D. Thrasher When I was in undergraduate at George Mason University in 2011, I took a brand-new course in a discipline I came to pursue for more than another decade. The course was called “Religion, Fantasy, and the Imagination” and I remember by the end of that semester, I dreamed I would teach…
Contemplatives in Conversation: The Theology of Cinema, Part 2
By Arthur Aghajanian ***Before continuing, read Part One here… AA: In the context of theology, we might note that film has a special ability to represent things that other art forms can’t. The hypnotic affects achieved through temporal dislocation, the camera’s ability to concentrate attention while being everywhere at once, and the use of montage…
Call for Papers: Fantasy, Theology, and the Imagination
Call for Papers: Fantasy, Theology, and the Imagination Edited by Austin M. Freeman, Andrew D. Thrasher, and Fotini Toso In the world of High Fantasy, authors create fictional worlds that often reflect human religiosity and theological themes in new and creative ways. Through theological and religious analyses of high fantasy and fantasy series, the editors…
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…
Fantasy and Pluralism: Unpacking the Religious Sources of The Wheel of Time
By Andrew D. Thrasher, ThM One of the best Fantasy series produced in the last 50 years, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson’s The Wheel of Time, a 15 book series of almost 15,000 pages produced over a 24 year span, encompasses a fantastic worldview displaying a pluralistic coherence of religious elements found in world religions….
Pop Culture and Theology 