Theology and Spider-Man

Theology and Spider-Man PDF Author: George Tsakiridis
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1978710909
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Theology and Spider-Man provides a look at the religious themes present in one of the most popular heroes of the past half-century, Spider-Man. In order to create a systematic theology of Spider-Man, the contributors delve into themes of sin, salvation, and creedal theology, while also addressing liberation theology, Black theology, bioethics, and hermeneutics. This volume balances theological depth with discussion of the comics and films, which makes it a perfect collection for those interested in theology, Spider-Man, or both.

Theology and Spider-Man

Theology and Spider-Man PDF Author: George Tsakiridis
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1978710909
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 309

Get Book

Book Description
Theology and Spider-Man provides a look at the religious themes present in one of the most popular heroes of the past half-century, Spider-Man. In order to create a systematic theology of Spider-Man, the contributors delve into themes of sin, salvation, and creedal theology, while also addressing liberation theology, Black theology, bioethics, and hermeneutics. This volume balances theological depth with discussion of the comics and films, which makes it a perfect collection for those interested in theology, Spider-Man, or both.

Theology and Spider-Man

Theology and Spider-Man PDF Author: George Tsakiridis
Publisher: Fortress Academic
ISBN: 9781978710894
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
Engaging themes of sin, salvation, and creedal theology, the contributors to Theology and Spider-Man create a systematic and constructive theology of one of Marvel's most popular heroes.

Theology and the Marvel Universe

Theology and the Marvel Universe PDF Author: Gregory Stevenson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1978706162
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
In Theology and the Marvel Universe, fourteen contributors examine theological themes and ideas in the comic books, television shows, and films that make up the grand narrative of the Marvel Universe. Engaging in dialogue with theological thinkers such as Willie James Jennings, Franz Rosenzweig, Søren Kierkegaard, René Girard, Kelly Brown Douglas, and many others, the chapters explore a wide variety of topics, including violence, sacrifice, colonialism, Israeli-Palestinian relations, virtue ethics, character formation, identity formation, and mythic reinvention. This book demonstrates that the stories of Thor, Daredevil, Sabra, Spider-Man, Jessica Jones, Thanos, Luke Cage, and others engage not just our imagination, but our theological imagination as well.

Do The Gods Wear Capes?

Do The Gods Wear Capes? PDF Author: Ben Saunders
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441127224
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Brash, bold, and sometimes brutal, superheroes might seem to epitomize modern pop-culture at its most melodramatic and mindless. But according to Ben Saunders, the appeal of the superhero is fundamentally metaphysical - even spiritual - in nature. In chapter-length analyses of the early comic book adventures of Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, and Iron-Man, Saunders explores a number of complex philosophical and theological issues, including: the problem of evil; the will-to-power; the tension between intimacy and vulnerability; and the challenge of love, in the face of mortality. He concludes that comic book fantasies of the superhuman ironically reveal more than we might care to admit about our human limitations, even as they expose the falsehood of the characteristically modern opposition between religion and science. Clearly and passionately written, this insightful and at times exhilarating book should delight all readers who believe in the redemptive capacity of the imagination, regardless of whether they consider themselves comic book fans.

American Theology, Superhero Comics, and Cinema

American Theology, Superhero Comics, and Cinema PDF Author: Anthony Mills
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135014361
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Stan Lee, who was the head writer of Marvel Comics in the early 1960s, co-created such popular heroes as Spider-Man, Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, and Daredevil. This book traces the ways in which American theologians and comic books of the era were not only both saying things about what it means to be human, but, starting with Lee they were largely saying the same things. Author Anthony R. Mills argues that the shift away from individualistic ideas of human personhood and toward relational conceptions occurring within both American theology and American superhero comics and films does not occur simply on the ontological level, but is also inherent to epistemology and ethics, reflecting the comprehensive nature of human life in terms of being, knowing, and acting. This book explores the idea of the "American monomyth" that pervades American hero stories and examines its philosophical and theological origins and specific manifestations in early American superhero comics. Surveying the anthropologies of six American theologians who argue against many of the monomyth’s assumptions, principally the staunch individualism taken to be the model of humanity, and who offer relationality as a more realistic and ethical alternative, this book offers a detailed argument for the intimate historical relationship between the now disparate fields of comic book/superhero film creation, on the one hand, and Christian theology, on the other, in the United States. An understanding of the early connections between theology and American conceptions of heroism helps to further make sense of their contemporary parallels, wherein superhero stories and theology are not strictly separate phenomena but have shared origins and concerns.

The Gospel According to Superheroes

The Gospel According to Superheroes PDF Author: B. J. Oropeza
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9780820474229
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
And 1970s, and the dark and violent creatures who embody the pre- and post-millennial crises of faith. Lavishly illustrated, the articles come to startling conclusions about what we have really been reading under the covers with flashlights for generations. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Superheroes Can’t Save You

Superheroes Can’t Save You PDF Author: Todd Miles
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
ISBN: 146275080X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
Comic superheroes embody the hopes of a world that is desperate for a savior. But those comic creations cannot save us from our greatest foes—sin and death. Throughout the history of the Church there have been bad ideas, misconceptions, and heretical presentations of Jesus. Each one of these heresies fails to present Jesus as the Bible reveals him. In Superheroes Can’t Save You, Todd Miles demonstrates how these ancient heresies are embodied in contemporary comic superheroes. Miles compares something everybody already knows (who the superheroes are) with what they need to know (who Jesus is), in a book that makes vitally important Christian truths understandable and applicable to a wide audience.

Graven Images

Graven Images PDF Author: A. David Lewis
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0826430260
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
Comic books have increasingly become a vehicle for serious social commentary and, specifically, for innovative religious thought. Practitioners of both traditional religions and new religious movements have begun to employ comics as a missionary tool, while humanists and religious progressives use comics' unique fusion of text and image to criticize traditional theologies and to offer alternatives. Addressing the increasing fervor with which the public has come to view comics as an art form and Americans' fraught but passionate relationship with religion, Graven Images explores with real insight the roles of religion in comic books and graphic novels. In essays by scholars and comics creators, Graven Images observes the frequency with which religious material—in devout, educational, satirical, or critical contexts—occurs in both independent and mainstream comics. Contributors identify the unique advantages of the comics medium for religious messages; analyze how comics communicate such messages; place the religious messages contained in comic books in appropriate cultural, social, and historical frameworks; and articulate the significance of the innovative theologies being developed in comics.

Marvelous Myths

Marvelous Myths PDF Author: Russell W Dalton
Publisher: Chalice Press
ISBN: 0827223609
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
What makes someone a hero? In the early 1960's, the image of a superhero was someone with a square jaw, a muscular build, and a quick smile whose biggest personal problem was trying to keep their girlfriends from guessing their secret identities. Then writer Stan Lee and artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko created a group of superheroes who revolutionized comics. These heroes, including The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Spider-man, The X-men, Iron Man, Captain America and others, were not perfect heroes living in a perfect world, but fallible people with physical ailments and personal problems like our own. While the authors and artists who created them did not intend to write explicitly religious stories, their tales of imperfect heroes who try to do the right thing despite the many challenges they face, provide us with the opportunity to reflect on our own faith journeys as we strive to live heroic lives in the real world. Each chapter reflects on the heroes' most famous adventures and discusses the ways in which we are called to overcome many of the same obstacles they face as we strive to carry out the ministries to which God calls us. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection or group study.

American Theology, Superhero Comics, and Cinema

American Theology, Superhero Comics, and Cinema PDF Author: Anthony R. Mills
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780203754047
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Stan Lee, who was the head writer of Marvel Comics in the early 1960s, co-created such popular heroes as Spider-Man, Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, and Daredevil. This book traces the ways in which American theologians and comic books of the era were not only both saying things about what it means to be human, but, starting with Lee, they were largely saying the same things. Author Anthony R. Mills argues that the shift away from individualistic ideas of human personhood and toward relational conceptions occurring within both American theology and American superhero comics and films does not occur simply on the ontological level, but is also inherent to epistemology and ethics, reflecting the comprehensive nature of human life in terms of being, knowing, and acting. This book explores the idea of the "American monomyth" that pervades American hero stories and examines its philosophical and theological origins and specific manifestations in early American superhero comics. Surveying the anthropologies of six American theologians who argue against many of the monomyth's assumptions, principally the staunch individualism taken to be the model of humanity, and who offer relationality as a more realistic and ethical alternative, this book offers a detailed argument for the intimate historical relationship between the now disparate fields of comic book/superhero film creation, on the one hand, and Christian theology, on the other, in the United States. An understanding of the early connections between theology and American conceptions of heroism helps to further make sense of their contemporary parallels, wherein superhero stories and theology are not strictly separate phenomena but have shared origins and concerns"--Provided by publisher.