CFP: Theology and the DC Universe Over the last several years, scholars have demonstrated the saliency of popular culture as a site for the academic study of religion, in areas including video games, science fiction, film, and comics. The study of religion and comics is flourishing with several monographs, edited volumes, and articles having come out in the last several years. As of yet, there has not been any sustained focus and investigation of the religion and theology in the DC... Read more
CFP: Theology and Batman Editors: Matthew William Brake and Rev. C. K. Robertson, Ph.D. In 2019, Batman turned 80 years old. First appearing in Detective Comics #27, that famous title hit #1000 back in March. Since his debut, Batman has been a cultural force across multiple medium, whether in the comics that spawned him, the 1960s campy television series, the animated series in the 1990s, or the movies of Tim Burton, Zack Snyder, and especially Christopher Nolan. With Warner Brothers set to debut a... Read more
Call for Abstracts Exploring The Orville Edited by David Kyle Johnson and Michael Berry McFarland Publishing Please circulate and post widely. Apologies for cross posting. Although it was first expected to just be “Spaceballs for Star Trek,” Seth MacFarlane’s science fiction series The Orville has proved to be much more. In a way, The Orville is a cross between M*A*S*H and Star Trek; it intermixes serious social commentary and philosophical arguments with one liners and comedy bits brought to... Read more
This call for papers has a great theme: Marco Manuscript Workshop 2020 “The Ends of Manuscripts” January 31-February 1, 2020 Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies The University of Tennessee, Knoxville The fifteenth annual Marco Manuscript Workshop will take place Friday, January 31, and Saturday, February 1, 2020, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The workshop is organized by Professors Maura K. Lafferty (Classics) and Roy M. Liuzza (English), and is hosted by the Marco Institute for Medieval and... Read more
Due to my current research interests, I am keeping an even closer eye on news about the intersection of technology and ethics than I normally would. Here is a round up of some things that I thought were interesting. If you’re an academic, don’t miss the calls for papers at the end! Robots arrive on campus Church of England updates prayer book to include prayers about the internet Why a climate activist is concerned about AI and other technology BBC... Read more
So many calls for papers came to my attention, that I thought it better to gather them in a blog post than to circulate them separately on social media. But first, a few links that are also germane to this topic. Let me start with one about Octavia Butler, since today would have been her 72nd birthday: The Grand Cultural Influence of Octavia Butler Now here are some more links to articles related to the topics of the numerous calls... Read more
Wolfram Wagner has composed a significant number of works that incorporate biblical text, whether as the sole or primary focus, or interspersed with other texts. Unfortunately the only example that is readily available online for you to listen to is his Pater Noster (Our Father): However, he has an oratorio that explores the story of Job, a work called “According to the Scriptures” that unsurprisingly has scriptural resonances, a Psalm setting, motets, the Ave Maria, and more. I have not yet... Read more
Across the Gospel tradition, a trio of siblings who reside in Bethany make several highly significant appearances. Lazarus gets most of the attention, perhaps understandably, not always being singled out as possibly the author of the Fourth Gospel, but because he is central to a story in which he is raised from the dead, which was bound to draw attention. But his sisters do not deserve to be neglected, and they are also said to be close friends of Jesus.... Read more
I have been benefiting from audiobooks to no end, and I have been podcasting more than I’ve been listening to podcasts, I say to my shame, since I believe that we should listen unto the podcasts of others as we would have others listen unto ours. (On that topic, I will be taking a break from podcasting, or at least doing so less frequently, during these summer months, but the podcast will return to its usual place and time around... Read more
This call for papers just came to my attention from the Journal of Religion, Film, and Media: JRFM 2020, 6/1 CALL FOR PAPERS Science Fiction and Religion Even more than other film genres, science fiction movies confront viewers with societal problems and make experimentation with other models possible. Science fiction can thus be connected to explorations of religion, faith, and belief. Does a machine (a robot, a computer, an android, or a ship) have a soul? What about the concepts of determinism and... Read more
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