Books
Rooting in Relationality
Recent publications on plant consciousness invite us to rethink our entanglements with plant life and our understanding of ourselves among other species. By Natalia Schwien Scott
Paths of Coincidence in Thomas Hardy
The melodramatic aspects of Thomas Hardy’s novels lend themselves to an examination of the ordinary uncertainty of life—the landscape of Michael Jackson’s Coincidences: Synchronicity, Verisimilitude, and Storytelling. By Maria Cecilia Holt
The Trouble with Oneness
Three recent books offer helpful frameworks for considering temperament and conversion in experiences of “oneness with nature.” By Shane Baker
Climate Grief and the Secular Spirituality of Earth-Mourning
We need to approach earth-mourning as a necessary spiritual practice that reckons with the disorienting power of grief and the potential for meaningful change. By Dorothy Dean
Ecotheology
A selected reading list from Dan McKanan’s course.
Words in the Blood
In Blood Theology: Seeing Red in Body- and God-Talk, Eugene F. Rogers, Jr. exposes the toxic allure of blood imagery in Christian art, literature, and practices. By Mark D. Jordan
Prison Theology
Austin Reed’s antebellum memoir The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict subverts notions of incarceration as spiritually regenerative. By Klaus C. Yoder
Racial Liberalism and the Ethics of Law and Justice
A selected reading list from Terrence L. Johnson’s course “Racial Liberalism and the Ethics of Law and Justice.”
Building Trust through Truth-telling
A Q&A with Wendy Sanford and Mary Norman about These Walls between Us: A Memoir of Friendship across Race and Class. By Eva Seligman
Dune, or the Order of Time
Convergences of messianism, religion, and politics in Frank Herbert’s Dune and Dune Messiah resonate with his time and our own. By Charles M. Stang
Film & Television
A Biblical Theology Illuminated
Gatsby: The Cinematic Illumination of a Biblical Theology. By Daniel Ross Goodman
An African Ecological Ethics of Invitation
An African’s take on Journey of the Universe. By Mohammed Girma
Cancer Rites and the Remission Society
50/50 captures the rites and rituals of cancer patients. By Paul Stoller
Way, Truth, and Life in Art
Lech Majewski’s film, The Mill & the Cross. By Mary M. Anderson
The Wordsmith’s Two-Edged Power
Don Draper uses words to shape reality in Mad Men. By Peter Boumgarden
Determination vs. Determinism
Determination vs. Determinism in The Adjustment Bureau. By Kevin Madigan
Ash and Breath: Christ on ‘The Road’
A Christological reading of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and the film based on it. By Charles M. Stang
A Homeland Imagined and Consumed
Swades: A nonresident Indian rediscovers ‘home.’ By Richard Delacy
Perfect Machines, Avenging Angels
The New Sci Fi: Battlestar Galactica and The Sarah Connor Chronicles. By Brett Grainger
The Tip of an Ideological Iceberg
Demographic Winter: The Decline of the Human Family. By Kathryn Joyce
