Religion, Theology, and Stranger Things

Religion, Theology, and Stranger Things PDF Author: Adam J. Powell
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1978715730
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Religion, Theology and Stranger Things: Studies from the Upside Down on Evil, Ethics, Horror, and Hope brings interdisciplinary analysis to the teeming spiritual side of the hit television series. With chapters from social scientists, historians, theologians, and Biblical scholars, the volume addresses the many different theological, religious, and supernatural themes present in the fictional world of Hawkins, Indiana. From spiritualism to secularism, Mormon gender norms to monsters of abnormality, rock & roll to Dungeons & Dragons, an international list of scholars come together to argue that imaginative realms like the one created by the Duffer brothers can serve to showcase and to scrutinize the common impulses and needs of our culture and ourselves. To venture into the darkness of the Upside Down is to venture into the depths of human experience. This volume explores the shadows and suggests a few paths back into the light.

The World Turned Upside Down

The World Turned Upside Down PDF Author: Michael S. Heiser
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781683593225
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The paranormal television series Stranger Things taps into the mysterious elements that have fueled spiritual questions for millennia. The otherworldly manifestations in Hawkins, Indiana offer compelling portrayals of important spiritual truths--and many of these truths are echoed in the supernatural worldview of the Bible.

Jesus the Stranger

Jesus the Stranger PDF Author: Kenneth J. Collins
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781628248937
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book is "a narrative journey, a thematic presentation of the suffering, alienation, and rejection of Jesus Christ by a host of people, those for whom Jesus was "the other," and in many respects, therefore, a stranger. Jesus is presented in this grand constructed narrative, carefully laid out and composed of key gospel texts, against the backdrop of a cast of oppositional characters who unwittingly help to portray Jesus in his utter goodness, deep humility, and abiding love."--Introduction

Welcoming the Stranger

Welcoming the Stranger PDF Author: Patrick R. Keifert
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 9781451415506
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
This book is an astute rethinking of theology and pastoral ministry that overcomes sentimental notions of hospitality.

Strange Rites

Strange Rites PDF Author: Tara Isabella Burton
Publisher: Public Affairs
ISBN: 9781541762527
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
A sparklingly strange odyssey through the kaleidoscope of America's new spirituality: the cults, practices, high priests and prophets of our supposedly post-religion age. Fifty-five years have passed since the cover of Time magazine proclaimed the death of God and while participation in mainstream religion has indeed plummeted, Americans have never been more spiritually busy. While rejecting traditional worship in unprecedented numbers, today's Americans are embracing a kaleidoscopic panoply of spiritual traditions, rituals, and subcultures -- from astrology and witchcraft to SoulCycle and the alt-right.As the Internet makes it ever-easier to find new "tribes," and consumer capitalism forever threatens to turn spirituality into a lifestyle brand, remarkably modern American religious culture is undergoing a revival comparable with the Great Awakenings of centuries past. Faith is experiencing not a decline but a Renaissance. Disillusioned with organized religion and political establishments alike, more and more Americans are seeking out spiritual paths driven by intuition, not institutions. In Strange Rites, religious scholar and commentator Tara Isabella Burton visits with the techno-utopians of Silicon Valley; Satanists and polyamorous communities, witches from Bushwick, wellness junkies and social justice activists and devotees of Jordan Peterson, proving Americans are not abandoning religion but remixing it. In search of the deep and the real, they are finding meaning, purpose, ritual, and communities in ever-newer, ever-stranger ways.

After the Baby Boomers

After the Baby Boomers PDF Author: Robert Wuthnow
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400831229
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
Much has been written about the profound impact the post-World War II baby boomers had on American religion. But the lifestyles and beliefs of the generation that has followed--and the influence these younger Americans in their twenties and thirties are having on the face of religion--are not so well understood. It is this next wave of post-boomers that Robert Wuthnow examines in this illuminating book. What are their churchgoing habits and spiritual interests and needs? How does their faith affect their families, their communities, and their politics? Interpreting new evidence from scores of in-depth interviews and surveys, Wuthnow reveals a generation of younger adults who, unlike the baby boomers that preceded them, are taking their time establishing themselves in careers, getting married, starting families of their own, and settling down--resulting in an estimated six million fewer regular churchgoers. He shows how the recent growth in evangelicalism is tapering off, and traces how biblical literalism, while still popular, is becoming less dogmatic and more preoccupied with practical guidance. At the same time, Wuthnow explains how conflicts between religious liberals and conservatives continue--including among new immigrant groups such as Hispanics and Asians--and how in the absence of institutional support many post-boomers have taken a more individualistic, improvised approach to spirituality. Wuthnow's fascinating analysis also explores the impacts of the Internet and so-called virtual churches, and the appeal of megachurches. After the Baby Boomers offers us a tantalizing look at the future of American religion for decades to come.

A Theology of Migration

A Theology of Migration PDF Author: Groody, Daniel G.
Publisher: Orbis Books
ISBN: 1608339491
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
"A systematic look at migration that seeks to reimagine the operative political, social, and cultural narratives of immigration through a Eucharistic theology"--

Theology Without Walls

Theology Without Walls PDF Author: Jerry L. Martin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429671547
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
Thinking about ultimate reality is becoming increasingly transreligious. This transreligious turn follows inevitably from the discovery of divine truths in multiple traditions. Global communications bring the full range of religious ideas and practices to anyone with access to the internet. Moreover, the growth of the nones and those who describe themselves as spiritual but not religious creates a pressing need for theological thinking not bound by prescribed doctrines and fixed rituals. This book responds to this vital need. The chapters in this volume each examine the claim that if the aim of theology is to know and articulate all we can about the divine reality, and if revelations, enlightenments, and insights into that reality are not limited to a single tradition, then what is called for is a theology without confessional restrictions. In other words, a Theology Without Walls. To ground the project in examples, the volume provides emerging models of transreligious inquiry. It also includes sympathetic critics who raise valid concerns that such a theology must face. This is a book that will be of urgent interest to theologians, religious studies scholars, and philosophers of religion. It will be especially suitable for those interested in comparative theology, inter-religious and interfaith understanding, new trends in constructive theology, normative religious studies, and global philosophy of religion.

The Aesthetics of Atheism

The Aesthetics of Atheism PDF Author: Kutter Callaway
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506439896
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
To really understand God, you have to understand atheism. Atheism and Christianity are often placed at polar opposite ends of a spectrum, forever in stark conflict with each other. In The Aesthetics of Atheism, Kutter Callaway and Barry Taylor propose a radical alternative: atheism and theism need each other. In fact, atheism offers profound and necessary theological insights into the heart of Christianity itself. To get at these truths, Callaway and Taylor dive into the aesthetic dimensions of atheism, using everything from Stranger Things to Damien Hirst's controversial sculptures to the music of David Bowie, Nick Cave, and Leonard Cohen. This journey through contemporary culture and its imagination offers readers a deeper understanding of theology, culture, and how to engage faith in a chaotic and complex world where God is present in the most unexpected place: atheism.

Ordinary Radicals (SECOND EDITION): A Return to Christ-Centered Discipleship

Ordinary Radicals (SECOND EDITION): A Return to Christ-Centered Discipleship PDF Author: Jonathan Hayashi
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781632965905
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
How do we live out the gospel in our lives? What we believe about the gospel determines how we will follow the Great Commission and make disciples. This second edition of Ordinary Radicals, Pastor Hayashi lays bare the roots of the gospel, reinforcing the command and privilege of the Great Commission while bringing thought-provoking questions to reinforce how each chapter can be applicable to every individual and group. Church leadership must be focused on discipleship. If you have a leadership problem, you have a discipleship problem, and if you have a discipleship problem, you have a Great Commission problem. Why bother with discipleship? Because the cost of non-discipleship is too great! Living with radical abandonment for God's glory, faithful adherence to His person, and urgent obedience to His ministry is the only way to live a successful, fruitful Christian life. This book offers a step-by-step process for living out the Great Commission to revolutionize the world through the local church.

Stranger God

Stranger God PDF Author: Richard Beck
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506438415
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Accessible, challenging, funny, and one of the best reads on how to love others in any situation. Love and hospitality can change the way you see the world and others. That's exactly what modern-day theologian, Richard Beck, experienced when he first led a Bible study at a local maximum security prison. Beck believed the promise of Matthew 25 that states when we visit the prisoner, we encounter Jesus. Sure enough, God met Beck in prison. With his signature combination of biblical reflection, theological reasoning, and psychological insight, Beck shows how God always meets us when we entertain the marginalized, the oppressed, and the refugee. Stories from Beck's own life illustrate this truth -- God comes to him in the poor, the crippled, the smelly. Psychological experiments show how we are predisposed to appreciate those who are similar to us and avoid those who are unlike us. The call of the gospel, however, is to override those impulses with compassion, to "widen the circle of our affection." In the end, Beck turns to the Little Way of St. Thérèse of Lisieux for guidance in doing even the smallest acts with kindness, and he lays out a path that any of us can follow.