Category Archives: religion

‘JINN’ horror film and Muslim folklore

April 12th, 2014 | Posted in folklore, Islam, religion

The Huffington Post recently featured an essay discussing the forthcoming horror film Jinn. The interesting thing about the piece is that it comes from the Religious News Service, authored by Omar Sacirbey, and HuffPo describes the film with the title “‘Jinn’ Horror Movie Features Elements of Muslim Folklore, Interfaith Themes.” When these elements come together […]

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NOAH discussion at Cinefantastique’s Spotlight Podcast

March 31st, 2014 | Posted in Christianity, Cinefantastique, Judaism, podcast, religion

I was fortunate to be a guest at Cinefantastique Online with their Spotlight Podcast 5-13.1 with the discussion of NOAH. I commented on the film as a piece of cinema, and was also able to provide some thoughts on interpreting biblical texts and how this relates to religious communities and film artistry. Listen here.

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Brown University Graduate Student Conference on the Monstrous and the Religious Imagination

January 23rd, 2014 | Posted in conference, fantasy, monster theory, monsters, monstrous, religion

Brown University is presenting an upcoming conference titled “Beasts Monsters, and the Fantastic in the Religious Imagination.” The schedule from the website: Friday, February 28, 2014 Keynote Address 6:30-7:30pm  Dinner Reception 7:30pm  Saturday, March 1, 2014 Breakfast 8am-9am I. Morning Session: Doing Things with Demons 9am-10:45am  “When a Bad Being Does Good Things: The Demon […]

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Guillermo del Toro on his personal religion and monsters as metaphors

October 26th, 2013 | Posted in Guillermo del Toro, monsters, religion

Guillermo del Toro is one of the most interesting contemporary people working in genre. He brings a philosophical, mythical, and religious depth to reflection on the material as revealed in these video clips.

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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and cultic/self-help America

October 1st, 2013 | Posted in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), new religious movements, religion

Previously I have written about Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and suggested that it may contain commentary on the religious right. My thinking found some connection to an interview with the film’s director, Philip Kaufman, by Michael Doyle in the September 2013 issue of Rue Morgue magazine. It is found on pages 21-22: Were […]

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Kahless and The Postmodern Faith of Star Trek: The Next Generation

August 25th, 2013 | Posted in postmodernism, religion, science fiction, Star Trek

BBC America has become one of my favorite channels since it features heavy does of science fiction programming. On Saturday afternoons it has given me an opportunity to watch episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and to look at them more closely than I have in the past. Recently I watched the episode “Rightful […]

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Titles of Interest: Avatar and Nature Spirituality

August 18th, 2013 | Posted in Avatar, Books, religion, Titles of Interest

Previously TheoFantastique has engaged various facets of Avatar, including its incorporation of psychedelics and shamanism, its similarities to a new religious movement, utopianism, and its involvement with Dark Green Religion. In regards to the latter element I interacted with the work of Bron Taylor, and with this post I am pleased to mention a new […]

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Bainbridge on eGods and Faith Versus Fantasy

April 12th, 2013 | Posted in fantasy, fantasy role playing games, games, religion, video games

PopMatters includes a lengthy excerpt and summary of an intriguing volume by William Sims Bainbridge, eGods: Faith Versus Fantasy in Computer Gaming (Oxford University Press, 2012). The publisher’s website includes the following description: What is the relationship between religion and multi-player online roleplaying games? Are such games simply a secular distraction from traditional religious practices, […]

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Planet of the Apes franchise and religion

February 18th, 2013 | Posted in Planet of the Apes, religion, science fiction

Last weekend I had AMC channel on for most of the day as they celebrated the 45th anniversary of Planet of the Apes which debuted in 1968. During their celebration, AMC played each of the films in the original franchise of the 1960s-70s back to back. I am a lifelong fan of the series having […]

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Star Wars as Medieval Religious Art

October 19th, 2012 | Posted in art, religion, science fiction, Star Wars

I recently came across a link to some art by Chey Chao that took Star Wars and framed it in the context of Medieval art. Not only is the art interesting, but since Star Wars drew heavily from various mythological sources, has become a mythology in its own right, and provides the basis for the […]

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