A. David Lewis shared this call for papers for a volume on “Marveling Religion” (with a pun that will hopefully be clear to all fans of comic books and superhero movies):
Call for Papers:
Marveling Religion: Critical Discourse and the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Lexington Books (Initial Interest)Editors: Jennifer Baldwin and Daniel White Hodge
Marveling Religion: Critical Discourse of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an edited volume with interest in contracting and publishing from Lexington Books. It aims to explore central themes of race, gender, religion, politics, society, love, time, space, power, soul, reality, or mind, etc. as expressed (or neglected) in phases 1-3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ultimately, the invitation is: As religious and/or theological scholars, what do our perspectives contribute to popular discourse on the MCU?
What shall we say about the snap—or any other fascinating dimension of the MCU? How might aspects of intersectionality be at work in the MCU? How does one define evil and good via the MCU?
Contributions are openly welcome from any religious perspective (including atheisms). We are currently accepting proposals for chapter contributions and invite you to contribute a chapter to the volume. The timeline is currently in development. Rough dates are: July 1, 2019: Abstract (250 words) and proposals of your chapter (750-1000 words) January 1, 2020: Rough drafts, 10-12 key words, author bio (100-200 words) March 1, 2020: Final manuscript All documents should be emailed to BOTH Jennifer and Daniel at jlbaldwin78@gmail.com and dwhodge@northpark.edu.
Manuscripts should be 5000-7000 words and explicitly engage a character or theme within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. You are welcome to make connections to the comic materials but the canon of the manuscript is the films. Please also engage resources from religious studies, theology, intersectionality studies, or ethics in conjunction with critical lenses (including postmodernism, postcolonialism, queer theory, trauma studies, race theory, gender analysis, climatology, etc) Sections will be focused around the manuscripts received. This call is intentionally pretty open. It is your academically nerdy playground.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email Daniel White Hodge or Jennifer Baldwin. Also, if you are aware of a scholar or organization who would be well suited to participate in this project, please feel free to forward this call to them.
Thanks for your work,
Jennifer Baldwin & Daniel Hodge
For more on the importance of the Marvel Universe in general, and Captain Marvel in particular, from a religious perspective, see the posts on the subject from The Persistent Preacher, Jesus Creed, and Godless in Dixie.
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