Heretical musings on religion and culture from a literary scholar
If you're looking for a late-summer read, check out the book "Jesus Potter Harry Christ." It claims that both Harry and Jesus are spiritual metaphors told in the literary form of historical fiction. The paperback is selling well on amazon, but we'd like to print hardcover copies - so we've set up a page on kickstarter.com where you can get a better deal and some great freebies by supporting the project. Thanks! Click here for the ...
One of the literary threads I hope to investigate in the future is the tie between vampirism and the ancient tradition of linking death and marriage together; many religions deal with death as an intimate reunion or marriage with a god of the underworld such as Hades or Dionysus. Much of this symbolism was later preserved in Christianity. The following is a paper I wrote recently for a PhD course on Antigone (by Sophocles) Death, Marriage ...
An article that caught my attention this summer is suggestively called "In Israel, diggers unearth the Bible's bad guys." The article continues to detail the archaeological discoveries by a team in Southern Israel, of what used to be the Philistines city of Gath. Although fairly objective, the article mentions the discovery that names similar to "Goliath" existed, as well as a temple with two pillars - which is reminiscent of the one Samson tore down ...
This summer I had the rare experience of sitting around and reading great books in a log cabin by log Tahoe (unlike Thoreau, I didn't build it with my hands). One of the books I enjoyed was "A Brain Wider than the Sky" by Andrew Levy. As a migraine sufferer myself, I was looking for confirmation (which I found) that many famous writers and artistic geniuses suffered from migraines, and that in fact the pain, ...
Did Jesus Christ really resurrect from the grave after three days? Probably not, it turns out. In 2008 archaeologists found a stone tablet that tells of a Jewish rebel hero who died and came back to life after three days. Jesus? No! His name was Simon, and he lived decades before Jesus. What we learn from this is that the Jews already had a template of the messiah that they expected, and they began applying ...
"Penn Jillette is a twenty-first-century Lord of Misrule: big, boisterously anarchic, funny, Rabelaisian, impossible and unique. There isn't--couldn't be--better not be--anybody like him." --RICHARD DAWKINS, bestselling author of The Greatest Show on Earth and The God Delusion So begins the hype over Penn Jillette's new book "God, no! Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales." I just saw Penn on a TV interview and the kindle version of his book will be delivered ...
Last Month Chuck Colson - Christian leader, cultural commentator, and former Special Counsel for President Richard Nixon - commented on my book, Jesus Potter Harry Christ. His central criticism of my book is weak, desperate and unfounded - in fact I write quite a bit about CS Lewis and Tolkien in the book so I doubt Colson has read more than the introduction or summary. But I'd like the opportunity to address the issue, which ...
Danielle Tumminio, the Author of "God and Harry Potter at Yale" has posted an article at Huffingtonpost.com about Harry Potter and Christianity. I'm jealous, because the article is basically a timely tease for her book - and I'd love my own Huffpost article but haven't figured out how to exploit the system for self-promotion. (With the release of Deathly Hallows 2 next week, I think a lot of people will be searching for more info ...
Today I watched the fourth episode of Falling Skies, a new series created by Robert Rodat and movie legend Stephen Spielberg. I'd already been intrigued by the character "Lourdes" played by Seychelle Gabriel, who talks about how her faith is "stronger than ever" and the importance of prayer, giving thanks, etc. In episode four, she leads a group prayer, concluding with the Catholic/Episcopalian creed, "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy ...
Today I watched the Smallville season 4 finale; then I went to see Transformers 3. It was interesting to find that they both feature the exact same story: a giant force is going to overtake earth and use all the people as slaves. One brave hero must find himself, defeat the threat, while at the same time protecting his romance. What's interesting, however, is the fact that Christianity - while sharing many of the same ...
The first time I saw this headline (that hackers used email phishing to steal $680,000 from a church in Des Moines, Iowa) I chuckled. I didn't know at the time that it was a fund for homeless and widowed women - but in principle the idea of stealing from a church isn't upsetting to me. Many churches operate like business; raising money, expanding, raising more money - and collect millions in donations for often little ...
Because I am anti-religious and speak out against the fallacy of Christendom, many people accuse me of being many things that I am not. Generally, Christians usurp everything positive as being under the umbrella of Christianity. So when I say I am "Anti-Christian", they hear, "anti-morality, anti-kindness and goodness, anti-wanting to be a better person, anti-inspiration, anti-joy, anti-love, and anti-hope". And actually, I'm not against any of those. In fact I'm a passionate believer in and ...
If you're interested in religious mythology, astrological symbolism, or supernatural folklore, grab my book Gods of Myth and Man. You can go buy it on Amazon.
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