In one of his recent film articles for the Baptist Press, Phil Boatwright bemoaned the overwhelming number of curse words in The Grey. He counted something like 200 of them. One wonders how he managed to keep track of all those F-words while adequately paying attention to everything else in the film. He ultimately argued [...]
Ryan here. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be departing on a world tour of sorts (more on that in a later post). While I will still be posting on all things religious and pop cultural, Richard Lindsay, formerly unofficial but now official co-editor of Pop Theology, will take a more direct role in content [...]
The “liberalism” of Hollywood has long been a point of discussion for cultural critics, film historians, and “conscientious objectors.” All of this has to do with the films’ depiction of violence, drug/alcohol use, religion, and, of course, sex. At the same time, the behavior of the “Hollywood elite” has also been a point of contention [...]
Few arenas are as fruitful for the study of the history of American Christianity than its relationship to American cinema throughout their histories. In two books, The Silents of God: Selected Issues & Documents in Silent American Film and Religion, 1908-1925 and Sanctuary Cinema: Origins of the Christian Film Industry, Terry Lindvall has captured both [...]
Before the new year gets any older, Richard and I offer up some of our “favorites” from 2011. If you’re not familiar with our cinematic looks back, we’re picking out what we thought were some of the most spiritually/theologically/religiously compelling films (that we had the chance to see) of 2011. We’re not saying these are [...]
There’s something to be said about a theology and pop culture scholar who takes The National Enquirer and Hello! as serious theological conversation partners. This is exactly what Pete Ward does in his book Gods Behaving Badly: Media, Religion, and Celebrity Culture. While I don’t think Ward is as “daring” as he could be, his [...]
Who knows when Mad Men will return. Reports say “early 2012.” If you can’t wait, you can always relive your favorite episodes on AMC or pop in a DVD. For fans who want to give a little extra thought to the series, you should check out Gary R. Edgerton‘s collection of essays, Mad Men: Dream [...]
Reading Peter Rollins‘ latest book, Insurrection, is kind of like watching someone dance on a high wire. I don’t say this often (if ever), but Rollins has provided a thrilling work of theology that, while brief, has volumes of implications for the way we think about Christian history, contemporary religious practices, and the future of [...]
Thirty-two thousand years is certainly a difficult length of time for us short-lived creatures to grasp. A central event that helps many people order time, the life of Jesus, only happened just over 2,000 years ago. Yet in his own inimitable way, Werner Herzog connects us with fellow human beings who lived 32,000 years ago [...]
Richard Lindsay shares his reflections on the death (and life) of Christopher Hitchens, the power of words, and the love of God. More after the jump.
