Love and Monsters: Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water and its Horror Influences
Amy S. Li While the personalities and embodiments of these fantastical monsters vary from film to film, what ties them together is del Toro’s understanding of their potential to instill fear, but more importantly, to inspire love and empathy amongst humans.
Ethnic Christianities: 7 Questions for Prema Kurien
Prema Kurien My research showed that immigrant churches like the Mar Thoma face several challenges if they are to successfully institutionalize as an “ethnic” church in a context where Christianity is the majority religion.
From Job to Kevin: Scripture and Scripturalists in the Leftovers
Jill Marshall People do things with texts, in fictional worlds and in the real world.
Religion and the Black Power Movement: 7 Questions for Kerry Pimblott
Kerry Pimblott When I talked with Illinois-based scholars and activists about Black Power they would often mention Reverend Charles Koen and the United Front organization of Cairo, Illinois, as an important but forgotten local struggle.
Religion in Hip-Hop, Part 2: Unpacking the Methodology
L. Benjamin Rolsky While a significant component of our collective work as scholars and historians of religion, the critical method cannot fully capture the data under study because it never fully touches the ground.
Religion in Hip-Hop, Part 1: Exploring the Religious History of Kendrick Lamar
L. Benjamin Rolsky Lamar’s words may indeed be best understood through a method that foregrounds uses or functionality over content, but to read these words is to build an archive for millennial religiosity and spirituality in the twenty-first century through a nearly ubiquitous art form and commercial industry—hip-hop.
On Gender and American Judaism: 7 Questions with Sarah Imhoff
Sarah Imhoff Men have gender too, and that gender is not unchanging or ahistorical.
Watering the Roots of Mormonism: The Erie Canal’s Contribution to the Faith
S. Brent Plate Religious groups took various routes out of the area, often seeking ever greener pastures to the west. Many groups that began along the canal, like the Mormons, Spiritualists, and Adventists, spread to remote corners of the globe.
Comedy Central’s “Nathan For You”: Kafka for Late Capitalism
Daniel Anderson Yet there is a deeper connection between Kafka and Nathan For You. It lies in their insight into the utter control their worlds’ institutions wield over people.
On Getting to Know the Seemingly Different: 7 Questions for Kyle Conway
Kyle Conway But the paradox of salable diversity is not insurmountable. Over the course of six seasons, the show’s makers found ways to push against the limits they faced.