Jason Bruner Wurmbrand’s fierce apologetics in Tortured for Christ against communism, which he called “a spiritual force—a force of evil,” weren’t countered with a full-throated endorsement of democracy.
Tag Archives: visual culture
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.
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.
Tactile Materiality and Iconic Abundance in Zen? 7 Questions for Pamela Winfield and Steven Heine
Pamela D. Winfield and Steven Heine We hope to demonstrate the tactile materiality and iconic abundance of the tradition, thereby calling attention to the vast range of “stuff” in Zen.
Religion on Display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
Judith Weisenfeld Fortunately, visitors will encounter aspects of African-American religious life in unexpected places throughout the exhibits that give a broader sense of the places and people involved in this history.
Staking Monsters: Killing the Racist Trope in Horror and Reality
Kelly J. Baker How do we create monsters? And ultimately, how do we destroy them?
Teaching True Believers
Jolyon Baraka Thomas The religious studies classroom is a strange place. Whether one teaches in a public university or a private one, the subject matter demands that students set aside personal commitments in order to engage with religion both critically and respectfully.
“Cannot tell Aught but the Truth”: Photography and Birth of a Nation (1915)
Rachel McBride Lindsey Through plot device, camera technique, and historical conceit, Griffith’s epic story of the triumph of racially defined and providentially guided national unity out of racially contrived sectional chaos leans heavily on the early history of American photography.
Literary Antecedents and Contemporary Reflections of Thomas Dixon’s “The Clansman”
Carolyn M. Jones Medine As The Clansman demonstrates, the Ku Klux Klan was a structure within which white men acted out their vision of southern society and through which they used terror to enforce those visions. The KKK may have been the United States’ first cellular terrorist structure: it was and is covert, local and de-centered, mobile, and opportunistic, multiplying by opportunity and interpersonal connections.
A Dreadful and Improbable Creature: Race, Aesthetics, and the Burdens of Greatness
Judith Weisenfeld The plot of The Birth of a Nation features two intertwined narratives: a political story that moves from national unity to division in war and back to unity, and a romance in which a couple unites despite the obstacles the war presents. The Birth of a Nation is also, of course, a story about the subjugation of people of African descent, a process director D. W. Griffith frames as carried out by honorable white men who had no choice in the face of social chaos.