By Danny Anderson For the past several years, my family and I have made a tradition of watching through Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy in the Thanksgiving window. In all honesty, the tradition wasn’t born out of an intentional act of religious devotion. Thanksgiving break simply provided ample free-time to luxuriate in the…
Tag: Hope
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…
Reflections on Raya and the Last Dragon Part 2: On Steps of Faith and the Redemptive Power of Charity
By Jeremy E. Scarbrough This is the continuation of a two-part reflectionon themes that stood out to me after viewing Raya and the Last Dragon when it debuted. In Part I, I pondered the worldview-nature of narratives in general and Raya’s fascination with the human condition in particular. I also considered the significance of sacrifice in the film….
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…
Doomsday Clock and the Triumph of Hope
By Matthew Brake [Beware Spoilers!] In 2016, DC Comics, particularly writer Geoff Johns, made a bold move and tamped with one of the most sacred cows in comic book fandom—Watchmen. After the initial success of the New 52 reboot, which saw DC Comics do away with years of complicated backstory in order to draw in…
“I want to tell you a different story”: Hope Parallels in The Walking Dead and The Resurrection
By Justin Martin *Warning: minor spoilers for Seasons 2, 4, 5, and 9. “Why is he up there addressing the people like that?” This was one of my first thoughts when I saw Siddiq on stage addressing the people of the kingdom (Season 9, Episode 15), arguably the most devastating loss among The Walking Dead…
Faith, Hope, and Love in Daredevil: Born Again
By John Markle In September of 1986, American comic book writer Frank Miller published arguably one of the most well-composed comic books of all time, Daredevil: Born Again. In Daredevil: Born Again, a continuation of Miller’s earlier Daredevil issues, Matthew Murdock, known by few as the heroic Daredevil of Hell’s Kitchen, goes through a spiritual…
Blade Runner 2049: 5 Star Review
Check out Leah Schade’s review of Blade Runner 2049 over at EcoPreacher: Blade Runner 2049 is cli-fi (climate fiction) at its best with superb visual effects, an absorbing storyline, fascinating characters, and poignant religious/philosophical themes. Read more here.
Man of Steel and a Theology of Hope
In Man of Steel, Zack Snyder’s 2013 Superman reboot, there is a scene where Superman and Lois Lane are in an interrogation room and discuss the emblem on his chest: Lois Lane: What’s the ‘S’ stand for? Superman: It’s not an ‘S.’ On my world it means ‘hope.’ I’ve always had a soft spot for heroes like…
Pop Culture and Theology 