Heartbreakingly Horrific…

Over the past couple of years, I have become a devoted follower of Dark Horse Comics, especially their Hellboy and B.P.R.D. series.  Though I have devoted significant attention to the intersections of spirituality/theology/religion and popular culture in film, television, and print, the latter has rarely included comics.  I read numerous comics each week, but because I feel less knowledgeable about the histories, theories, and techniques of the art form, I am less comfortable writing about them.  However, a recent short Hellboy series entitled “The Crooked Man” was just too good to ignore. [Read more]

A Princely Offering

Thankfully, with each new Harry Potter film, I have a thoroughly enjoyable experience while being challenged to reflect on a key spiritual or theological insight in a fresh new way.  The latest release, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, does not disappoint. [Read more]

Irreversible: A Review

I recently heard a story about the legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa who, upon accepting a lifetime achievement award when he was in his 80s, said in his speech, “I am just beginning to realize the possibilities of film.”  This from one of cinema’s greatest artists whose films will endure and inspire for generations to come!  Each new generation reveals fresh possibilities as new technologies and their accompanying challenges emerge.  Some contemporary filmmakers respond in creative new ways…most do not.  Perhaps one of the possibilities about which Kurosawa spoke is film’s ability to play with time.  A few recent films have used this to some success:  one might immediately think of Memento.  I’m sure there are a host of others that I have yet to see or have forgotten.  A film I saw recently, Irreversible, though deeply disturbing in its violence, uses a disrupted chronology to re-interpret this violence and to simultaneously soothe and enhance its disturbing effects. [Read more]

After Life

One of the most influential books that I have read over the past few years has been Marcus Borg’s The Heart of Christianity, specifically his comments on the distinction between faith, belief, and knowledge and the concept of truth in all of them.  These have had a great impact on my own faith and the ways in which I interact with and think about fellow Christians and people of other faiths.  As Christians, we (or most of us) believe quite a bit but know relatively little about what we believe.  Perhaps the epitome of this tension can be seen in our assertions of life after death.  We might believe in eternal life, but we certainly don’t know that it exists, much less what it looks like or what we will “do” when we arrive.  In his first work of fiction, SUM:  Forty Tales From the Afterlives, neuroscientist David Eagleman gives us a wealth of afterlife possibilities.  Few of these mirror the common Christian notion of heavenly mansions and streets of gold, but they all have deep moral, spiritual, theological, and justice implications. [Read more]

Bay’s Movie(s) not Transforming

Two things we know about Michael Bay:  he loves to blow stuff up and he loves America.  It’s a fitting pair given the explosive way most Americans celebrate their independence.  Unfortunately, his desire to blow stuff up is just as infantile as his view of the country that he loves so much. [Read more]

Starting the Conversation: Film, Homosexuality, and the Church

Dr. Frank Tupper recently attempted to lead a seminar on Baptists, homosexuality, and the Church at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly this week.  Unfortunately, it was cancelled, signalling even moderate Baptists’ inability to discuss the matter.  This inexplicable navel-gazing on the part of the CBF makes them little better than the SBC, and, in fact, one could argue that at least the SBC knows what it believes and is willing to stick to its convictions, misguided though they may be.  After the jump, check out a highlight from Dr. Tupper’s explanation for the necessity of such a seminar and then a list of films that can hopefully help start the conversation among faith communities. [Read more]