Urban fantasy is one of my favourite fictional genres, juxtaposing the fantastic with the mundane (Urban Fantasy with a real character; Urban fantasy on my mind). The world the stories create is one we can imagine ourselves living within, with mystery and magic just around the corner if only the veil hiding it could be ripped away (apocalyptically?). (more…)
Greenflame
Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture, photography and faith from the Aotearoa New Zealand
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The final part of this series wraps a up a few additional entries. There may be others and if I come across them later I’ll add them to this post. A mix of denominations this time including a number of shows I only vaguely know about.
See previous posts:
Also, I’ll probably get this book by Richard Wolff sometime soon. I wonder if there is a British equivalent?
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In this third instalment of Storying Pastors, Priests and Ministers we go a little new school and a little old school looking back at TV shows with priests and pastors as central characters. There are more than a few with recurring ‘sleuthing priest’.
(For those of you catching up here are the first two parts: Storying Pastors, Priests and Ministers and Storying Pastors, Priests and Ministers (Part 2)) (more…)
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The Storying Pastors, Priests and Ministers post generated a flurry other suggestions on Facebook, so here’s the next set of the TV shows that connect with ministry life in one way or another. I have to say, though, that these entries concentrate on the frailty and fallibility of human beings without too many positive examples of ministry or redemptive behaviour (though Father Ted does frequently and effectively point out how odd the church can be).
(There will be a third post later on with some older shows)
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Inspired by a friend’s binge-watching of The Vicar of Dibley I thought I’d compile a list of fictional TV programmes that are centred around the central character being a priest, minister, chaplain or pastor. Obviously, ministers are recurring characters in different shows, e.g. Father Mulcahy in MAS*H, but what about those series that are specifically based around the life of a minister and their congregation. Mainly a list for myself, so no real commentary on each entry. There will be more, but these are the ones that sprang to mind straightaway.
(If you’re looking for a list of clerical sleuths in book then there’s a great list here – https://crimereads.com/divine-mystery-10-great-clerical-sleuths/) (more…)
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Writing is not natural for me. School tasks such as writing about your holidays or knocking out different kinds of essays were like pulling teeth; each word dragged kicking and screaming onto the page. Partly, that was because I never felt happy with the quality of my handwriting, but mostly because I like thinking about what I’m going to write first. Some people write to think, the words flowing out on the page as their thinking is shaped. Hemingway is to have said that writing was sitting down at your typewriter and bleeding; I can relate to that. (more…)
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If you’ve followed the DC animated movie scene over that past thirteen years or so, you’ll know that alongside the main features released primarily on DVD and Bluray there are sometimes additional short films released alongside those features. These are typically branded as part of the DC Showcase series (referring back to this anthology series of comic books) and are short films of about 10 minutes or so featuring a more obscure or second tier character from the DC universe. (more…)
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If you’re at AAB/SBL and are part of blogging or social media communities around religion and other things etc. then James McGrath has proposed catching up at a couple of the receptions. I’m planning to get to at least one of these. Should be fun. Details at the link below.
Social Mediators at #AARSBL19
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/religionprof/2019/11/social-mediators-at-aarsbl19.html
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Over that last few days in the evenings I’ve caught up on a couple of comic narratives that play with thems of religion, power, and empire. I finally got around to reading Jonathan Hickman’s Pax Romana which involves the Roman Catholic Church, time-travel, and attempting to rewrite history for a “better future”, as well as getting my hands on the third volume of Matt Hawkin’s The Tithe: Samaritan – Veritas (see Religion and Comics – A Top 10 (Part 3)). Both stories reflect on the shaping of empires and the use and abuse of power by secular and religious protagonists.
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I’m currently thinking about Batman in dialogue with Christian theology, but over the weekend I had the opportunity to read the 2015 re-rebooted Omega Men series from DC featuring the then White Lantern, Kyle Rayner. I’m most familiar with the Omega Men connected to the Silver Age Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, in the 1980s but somehow missed the rebooted New 52 version in 2011. That’s all moot now, as the 2015 version is now canon, at least for the moment.In this particular story, the setting is the worlds of the Vega system where the Guardians of the Galaxy have no authority, and in which Kyle Rayner goes ringless (powerless) to attempt to broker peace between the Citadel (an oppressive corporate entity that holds the worlds in thrall) and the Omega Men (who are portrayed as terrorists disrupting the peace in their war against the Citadel). On the face of this, this would be a typical superhero attempts to broker peace narrative, with the superhero typically finding a via media for the parties to choose after everything has melted down.
What makes this story a little different are two things: firstly, the brokered peace isn’t achieved, with victorious Omega Men, having been aided by Rayner rejecting his third way and becoming tyrants themselves; and secondly, this is one of the few places where we get to see Rayner express his own religious faith in response to what is going on around him. It was the latter matter that I found particularly interesting.
The Omega Men narrative is framed in the context of Vega’s religious system based on the worship of two god, Alpha, who is the beginning of all things, and Omega, the one who will usher in the end of all things. Into this Rayner is thrown, at times dealing with a corrupt priestly systems and seemingly nihilist elements of these faiths. In the midst of his powerlessness, Rayner prays at various times:
This is the first time, I can remember Rayner praying like this – maybe now he does because of his experiences on the other side of the Source Wall where he encountered the DC Comics equivalent of God? That said, it comes out framed particularly in the form of his grandmother’s Catholic faith, recognised here by the cross of hers he wears around his neck. That cross becomes a recurring object in the narrative, in frame whenever Rayner’s faith in God and himself is tested.
Rayner’s apparent frustration with his faith and his own self-image comes through in his engagement with those who follow Alpha and Omega, in this case with the Omega Man, Tigorr, where his physical battle is caught up with his spiritual side.Ultimately, Rayner’s mission to Vega fails. Those who were oppressed rise up with Rayner’s help and overthrow the Citadel, but then they reject his third way and choose the path of vengeance becoming the very oppressors they sought to overcome. At the end, Rayner is left contemplating the body of the Citadel ruler, offers a broken benediction of sorts for him, and casts his grandmother’s cross into the ruler’s blood where is it subsumed in the midst of the omega symbol. I’m left wondering if Rayner gave up his faith here – cast into the end of things, or perhaps, he offered the token of his faith to this alien oppressor to leave as a symbol of hope in the midst of this tragedy where there were no winners and only losers.
The Omega Men was outside of the main Green Lantern continuity and maybe the events and character defined here won’t turn up again, but I’ll be looking for them.