Heretical musings on religion and culture from a literary scholar
I went to Skepticon 5 expecting a group of heretics that would get a kick out of my inversed reading of Milton's Paradise Lost, which claims that Satan is the hero of the story (which was actually the mainstream reading before it became the "mistaken reading", and is now coming into vogue again by top Milton scholars). I was surprised to find that Satan makes atheists uncomfortable. Atheists already have a huge image/perception problem, with the ...
Stories have always had the magical power to give our lives meaning and perspective. Stories about how the world was created, why there is evil in the world, why we should be good even when no one is watching, and what happens after death. Around 2,000 years ago, some guys cobbled together a book of recycled pagan stories and pinned it to a Jewish cosmology of Good and Evil, resulting in the Christian Bible. Good people ...
As a theology student/ex-Christian I'm practically required to watch movies about exorcisms, God, Satan, and Christianity. And usually they suck. So it was refreshing to watch "The Rite" (2011) and be entertained. The Rite is a brilliantly complex movie, with stunning special effects, moments of panic and macabre, and of course, world-class acting (Anthony Hopkins , Colin O'Donoghue , Alice Braga). That said, there are certain pitfalls. The plot revolves around an American seminary student, who joined priest-training ...
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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