the gospel according to superheroes: religion and popular culture
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The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion and Popular Culture. religious propaganda: superheroes each represent some aspect of divinity or biblical legend. Holy Superheroes: Exploring Faith and Spirituality in Comic Books Greg Garrett . - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion and Popular Culture
religious propaganda:superheroes each represent some aspect of divinity or
biblical legend Holy Superheroes: Exploring Faith and Spirituality in
Comic BooksGreg Garrett
Who Needs a Superhero?: Finding Virtue, Vice and What's Holy in the Comics
H. Michael Brewer
comparative study of superhero myths and theology
• the collection "instructs the inquirer on how biblical message . . . has been revised and retold through the superhero genre”
• comics are a "multilayered medium" in which "many religious and secular voices may be heard"
• “their stories make implicit and sometimes explicit, points about theology"
at the center of every human spiritual or intellectual journey is a quest for ever-lasting
paradise, for, as a whole, "humanity has lost its original paradise and wants to be restored to
it"
coming apocalypse
C.K. Robertson, "The True Ubermensch: Batman as Humanistic Myth"
prime example of Nietzsche's ubermensch: healthy, independent and strong individual who operates in the "real world" and "affirms life precisely because he understands suffering and 'the eternal recurrence' of events"
variety of ideologies
• intellectual relevance and significance of superhero comics beyond the realm of the spiritual
• provide critiques of society and grant readers a variety of intellectual and emotional experiences