The Routledge Companion to Superhero Studies [Final Call] Deadline for abstract submissions: 24th May 2024 Editors: Lorna Farnell and Carl Wilson The editors have already commissioned a substantial number of chapters for The Routledge Companion to Superhero Studies and are seeking the last few essays that specifically consider the following topics: · Superhero tourism (including Disney parks) · Merchandise and toys · Superheroes in the Global South · Superheroes and refugees · Superheroes and the Anthropocene · Digital superheroes · British superheroes · Countercu ..read more

By Beth Alford “I want to be a musical preacher for the rest of my life.” This seemingly throwaway comment by singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile has proven to be prophetic, and sums up how the award-winning artist uses her art to loudly proclaim her truth…as real and vital as any that comes by way of religion. After spending dozens of hours absorbing Carlile’s music, interviews, memoir and lyrics, an undeniable theme emerged that I call a Theology of Belonging. It’s a theology that is concerned with real life experiences, and causes us to make room for others. For Carlile, this Theology of Belon ..read more

Call for Papers 2024! Comics! Comics Movies! Comics History! Comics Fandom! Comics Art! The eight volume of the Pace University Journal of Comics and Culture is inviting authors, scholars, cartoonists, and comics creators to submit essays on anything comics! This year’s issue is interested in bringing together a variety of diverse topics and a broad scope of ideas about comic books and anything related to them by extension. Be it history, artistry, development, film adaptations, biographies of creators, themes, politics, book reviews, we are welcoming all! All authors are invited to Potential ..read more

By Scott Donahue-Martens With the paperback release of Theology, Religion, and Dystopia in February 2024, I thought it was time to revisit the content in light of recent societal developments. On the one hand, it is incredible how much can change in the short interval between a final manuscript and a new published format. On the other hand, it is intriguing how a constellation of concerns remains constant. War, ecological disaster, social control of bodies, and technological advances continue to make headlines. Dystopia texts frequently serve as warnings for societal imbalance or impending thr ..read more

Scott Harrower and Christopher Porter (eds) In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war… and religion. Lots and lots of religion. The world of Warhammer 40,000 presents a darkly nihilistic picture of the far future in perhaps one of the most popular, diverse, longest running, and firmly religiously-engaged science fiction settings. Religion and theological themes are woven throughout this universe—explicitly and implicitly—from cults of Emperor worship, militant ecclesiarches, various other-worldly “gods,” and entities, alongside themes of sacrifice, redemption, creation, and ask ..read more

By David K. Goodin Yes, you read that right.  Yes, I am serious.  Stop laughing.  Well, let me backtrack my thesis even before it is presented.  The sexual (let us say for the moment) hijinks of this infamous “boner comedy” are beyond the realm of good taste, basic human decency, and even contemporary statutory law.  Yikes—all the yikes.  Let me say that from the onset.  It’s right up there with notorious rape-by-deception that is played for laughs in The Revenge of the Nerds (1984).  Here, in the original, we even have predatory voyeurism distastefully ..read more

Every year, we post links to the top five original posts for the year (check out our lists from previous years: 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022). Blogs from previous years and calls for papers certainly get a lot of views, but this list focuses specifically on the top views for this year’s original posts. If you are interested in publishing a piece with us, please email Matthew Brake at popandtheology@gmail.com. Here is this year’s list: Sympathy for the Devil: Jeffrey Dahmer and the Tension of Redemption Why Should Theologians Read H.P. Lovecraft? All-Star Superman as Religious Creed Grant Morr ..read more

Metaphysics and the DC Universe Editor: Matthew Brake The universe of DC Comics has existed for 85 years. During that time, numerous writers, artists, and editors have expanded and added to the lore of the DC universe. In doing so, a complex storyworld (what JRR Tolkien called a “subcreation”) has emerged, one with its own complex history and internal logic. Part of this internal logic includes metaphysical ideas about how the DC universe functions. This volume seeks to explicate the metaphysical ideas that have emerged in the DC universe. This volume isn’t trying to use the DC Universe as a f ..read more

Title: Theology, Religion, and Ted Lasso Volume Editor: Daniel J. Cameron Abstract and CV Due: January 31, 2024 Initial Final Paper Due: April 30, 2024 Dr. Karen Eifler of the University of Portland published an article in March 2023 for the National Catholic Reporter entitled “Why Religion Needs Ted Lasso.” In her short article she argued that the show from Apple TV+ “showed up in our world at the perfect time. Ravaged as we were in August 2020 by a world pandemic, pervasive threats to democracy, painful racial reckonings and climate disaster, this sitcom had something of the Divine to show a ..read more

By Jake Doberenz Every year, as the weather turns crisper, festive lights are strung up high, and Christmas inches closer, a unique phenomenon occurs in the world: the “defrosting” of Mariah Carey. Mariah Carey, popular for her earworm “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” represents the epitome of seasonally popular singers. She is so much associated with Christmas that she’s become a meme—images of her encased in ice have surfaced, with captions saying that she’s “defrosting” so she can enter the musical landscape once again for the Christmas season. Even my fifth graders have heard of the meme ..read more