Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

Since visiting with missmurchison while attending a local Science Fiction convention with Tanya Huff as the guest of honor will be much more fun (as well as a great deal more affordable) than going to Chicago for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 1-4, I'm happily making my arrangements for a trip to Iowa, instead (to return home in plenty of time to vote for Obama, of course, on Nov. 4th).

However, for anyone else who might be planning to attend the AAR meeting in Chicago -- or who simply might be curious about some of the more fhan-relevant papers being presented this year -- here are some of the highlights I noted in the online program book:



Matthew Rogers, Northwestern University:
“By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth”: Comic Book Occultism and Excursus Religion

'The Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth' surveys representations of occult themes in American comic books from early horror comics to 21st century post-superhero stories, with a particular focus on the Doctor Strange character as developed during the 1960s and 70s 'occult explosion.' Notable aspects of the Doctor Strange protagonist and storyline include appeals to eclectically secularized supernatural entities, an understanding of dreams as a medium for communication with spirits, and esoteric Orientalism of the type associated with the Theosophical Society. These comics constitute an especially detailed documentation of a type of visual imagination actively developed to address notions of occult magic that are consistent with the forms that Robert Ellwood has theorized as 'excursus religion.' This study also proposes that the comics medium itself has also become more of an excursus literature, as its attention to occult topics has been sustained over the last four decades.


Layne Little, Pondicherry, India:
The Secret Masters behind the American Superhero: American Pop-cultural Encounters with Yogis and Ascended Masters in the High Himalayas

In this paper, I examine the origin stories of a range of super-heroes from 1922-1966 to demonstrate that this pervasive and prominent narrative element emerged as a bi-product of imagined dialogues between European occultists in India and their (often fictitious) Hindu informants beginning . . . [description interrupted]


J. Barton Scott, Duke University:
Comic Book Karma: Myth, Gender, and the Hindu Modern in Shekhar Kapur’s Devi

Acclaimed film director Shekhar Kapur now helms the Bangalore branch of Virgin Comics, plying a remobilized Hindu mythology to 21st century Anglophone consumers. His explicit aim is to “modernize” Indian comics so that they can outpace their Japanese and American competitors on the world market. My paper interrogates this comic book modernity through close analysis of the texts themselves, especially the series Devi (2006-). First, I explore how the comics use Indian narratives to articulate cosmopolitan sensibilities, suggesting the rich potential of karmic plot structures for mythologizing the global. Second, I explore how the contest between primordial religion and progressive modernity, between geographically bounded Indian pasts and diasporic Indian futures, imposes itself violently on the eroticized bodies of the comics’ female protagonists.


Emily Clark, University of Missouri, Columbia:
Of Catholics, Commies, and the Anti-Christ: The Use of the Apocalyptic Narrative in Cold War Comics

This paper explores apocalyptic Cold War era comic books. The comics’ authors use apocalypticism to powerfully and clearly show the line between “good” and evil.” Two comics, both by Catholic educators, portray a communist take-over of America, where religion is targeted for attack by the communist leaders. These dramatic “what-if” stories draw upon an apocalyptic narrative with the destruction of America by the evils of communism. These comics are then compared with a Chick Publications comic that depicts the relationship between Catholicism and Communism in a very different light; here communism is “a branch of the Roman Catholic Church,” and the Vatican is the source of hate and evil in the world. These religious comic books serve as a case study to see how comics can draw upon apocalypticism to reach out to their readers with the aim of having an effect on their perspectives.


David Congdon, Princeton, NJ:
A Beautiful Anarchy: Religion, Fascism, and Violence in the Theopolitical Imagination of Guillermo del Toro

According to director Guillermo del Toro, there are two kinds of horror films: those in favor of the present world -- the “Establishment” -- and those against it. One kind uncritically affirms our present reality; the other, the one he prefers, rebels against it with “a beautiful anarchy.” Del Toro sees film as the medium for the imaginative reinterpretation of the horrors of fascism in the context of what he calls a “spiritual reality.” In this paper I examine the “theopolitical imagination” of del Toro in three of his films: “Hellboy,” “The Devil’s Backbone,” and “Pan’s Labyrinth.” Each of these works demonstrates del Toro’s use of fantasy as a way to subvert the fascist ideology of the “Establishment.” I argue that despite his rejection of faith, del Toro's films display a distinctly Christian theological imagination. I conclude by critiquing his use of violence and suggesting areas of dialogue between theology and contemporary world cinema.


Alena Govorounova, Nanzan University:
Visualizations of Shinto and Buddhist Ecophilosophies: On Religious Aesthetics in Miyazaki Hayao’s Ecofantasy World

The proposed paper will explore the underlying Shinto and Buddhist motives epitomizing the ideals of spiritual, psychosocial and gender liberation in the works of the Japanese animator Miyazaki Hayao – a creator of the most spectacular ecofantasies in the world today. This will be realized through a semiotic analysis of Miyazaki Hayao’s animated films as visualized systems of signification. The proposed paper will attempt to bridge the fields of visual arts with biosemiotics, ecophilosophy and psychoanalysis, leading to a more contextual understanding of the interactions between religion, nature, gender, language and cross-cultural perceptions of film. Specifically, it will summarize the impact that Miyazaki’s ecofantasies have on re-spiritualization of human existence through visualization of Shinto and Buddhist philosophies.


Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio, Boston University, Presiding:
Theme: The Potterian Way of Death: J. K. Rowling's Conception of Mortality

An in-depth look at the ideas of mortality and immortality in the Harry Potter series, with an analysis of the residue they might leave in the politics, ethics, and theology of the generation now reaching adulthood.

Panelists: Lois Shepherd, University of Virginia; Paul Corey, McMaster University; Oona Eisenstadt, Pomona College


Theme: Just Gaming? Virtual Religious Worlds and Religious Studies

Scholars have studied online religion for some time now. Yet one important aspect of our digital mediascape has been ignored: Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). One of the most popular forms of online media, MMORPGs are more than digital playgrounds, but are also virtual arenas in which real-life possibilities are played out. This panel explores religion on two MMORPGs: Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft, and Linden Lab’s Second Life. The panel maps the intersection of religion and these virtual worlds and how research of virtual worlds expands our understanding of the phenomenon of religion in general. Combining case studies with various methodological and theoretical perspectives, the six presentations examine human inventiveness, conflict mediation, and adaptation as they intersect with marriage, myth, ritual, ethics, identity, gender, and theology. The panel will play with the traditional format, allowing the audience to have hands on experience of the online worlds.

Panelists: Rabia Gregory, University of Missouri, Columbia; Steven Benko, Meredith College; Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, University of Heidelberg; Rachel Wagner, Ithaca College; Kimberly Knight, Emory University; Gregory Grieve, University of North Carolina, Greensboro



Not as riveting as some of the topics I've seen other years (and unfortunately, I forgot to make note of the panel which included a paper titled, The Next Generation of Intimate Ministries: The Online Business of Evangelical Sex Toys, on the theological and sociological significance of the growing online market for Evangelical Christian 'marital aids' -- which has no fannish relevance, per se, but just struck me as slightly freaky in an intriguing way), and certainly not enough to make me regret for one minute that I won't be able to attend, but still . . . . It's vaguely comforting (to me, at least) to know that these topics ARE being discussed in Academia!