Something Like a Phenomenon

Last updated on: September 10, 2010 at 8:04 am By J. Ryan Parker

The fact that video game industry revenue has surpassed $19 billion dollars and that one on-line game commands a following of over 8 million people certainly constitutes a phenomenon. Yet until recently, few scholars, and even fewer theologians, have taken the initiative to critically engage the medium. Far more prevalent are the critics who either primarily focus on a game’s entertainment value (which essentially serves retail) or those critics who bemoan the presence of sex and violence in increasingly graphic... Read more

Confessing a Story

Last updated on: September 3, 2010 at 9:08 am By J. Ryan Parker

When I get around to creating my list of the most spiritually significant films of 2010, Get Low will certainly be included and will most likely top the list. My review of one of the best films you’re likely to see this year after the jump. (more…) Read more

A Review of "Movie Love: The Complete Reviews of Pauline Kael, 1988-1991"

Last updated on: September 1, 2010 at 5:51 am By J. Ryan Parker

Pop Theology contributor Richard Lindsay provides a review of a collection of one of the most (in)famous film critics of all time, Pauline Kael. (more…) Read more

Demon Possession or Something Else?

Last updated on: August 23, 2010 at 6:44 am By J. Ryan Parker

My research into Contemporary Christian Cinema keeps turning up more and more films, many of which were straight to DVD releases. Here are my thoughts on the latest one I’ve watched. (more…) Read more

Letters to God…Pornographic?

Last updated on: August 20, 2010 at 11:16 am By J. Ryan Parker

Possibility Pictures is one of the more recent Christian film production studios to emerge in a Post-Sherwood Pictures world. Their first feature-length film, Letters to God, released in theaters earlier this year, and the DVD hit shelves earlier this month. I think it’s time to create a new genre: Christian Pornography. (more…) Read more

7 Women: A Review

Last updated on: August 18, 2010 at 7:47 am By J. Ryan Parker

A couple of days ago, I posted a review of Peter E. Dans’ book, Christians in the Movies: A Century of Saints and Sinners for Patheos’ Faith Forward blog. Dans traces a representational arc that reveals Hollywoods’ portrayal of Christians as gradually moving from sacred to the scandalous from the 1920s to the 2000s. Of course, there are exceptions in each decade, but in general, he makes a fairly compelling argument. However, he fails to see how more recent cinematic... Read more

Saving a Genre

Last updated on: August 10, 2010 at 8:16 am By J. Ryan Parker

Over the past couple of years, I have frequently written and spoken about the potential of Sherwood Pictures to be a influential model for the future of Christian filmmaking. This influence will come not only through their films, but in the ways in which other communities of faith their production strategies. The first church to respond to the call has been New Song Community Church in Oceanside, CA, whose $500,000 production, To Save a Life, earned $3.7 million at box... Read more

Being (Really) Human

Last updated on: August 9, 2010 at 11:42 am By J. Ryan Parker

Pop Theology contributor Richard Lindsay reviews Being Human, the BBC vampire/ghost/werewolf series import currently on its second season on BBCA. (more…) Read more

Get A(n Extra) Life

Last updated on: August 3, 2010 at 3:22 pm By J. Ryan Parker

Later this year, I’ll be presenting a paper on the ethical/theological/moral implications of video games. As luck would have it, a public discussion over whether or not video games qualify as art broke out in on-line and print media over the past few months. Film critic Roger Ebert oppossed this notion while arguments for it appeared in readers’ comments to his posts and in video game publications like Kotaku.com and Game Informer. Writer, professor, video game addict Tom Bissell‘s latest... Read more

Yes They Are…

Last updated on: July 26, 2010 at 3:18 pm By J. Ryan Parker

Pop Theology contributor Richard Lindsay and I were talking about reviews of mainstream films that feature gay and lesbian couples in lead roles and how reviewers often argue that these films aren’t about homosexuality or homsexuals but rather about human beings. These reviews clearly hope to allay potential viewers’ fears about these films being “too gay.” Their emphasis on the humanness of their gay or lesbian characters is somewhat condescending in the process. So I’ll say this straight away, The... Read more

What was the name of the disciple who replaced Judas Iscariot?