Christ and Pop Culture
@christandpopculture.com
Where the Christian Faith meets the common knowledge of our age. Subscribe today and support our mission: https://christandpopculture.com/subscribe/
“The modern temptation of worship leaders is to reverse this pursuit and focus more on personal brand than ministering to God and others, assuming that if their brand is successful enough, genuine ministry will just automatically happen.”
A Life Laid Down or a Platform Built Up? - Christ and Pop Culture
A personal brand should be a byproduct of ministry, but too many worship leaders hope that ministry is a byproduct of brand.
christandpopculture.com
Film adaptations like Christopher Nolan’s #TheOdyssey “often tell us more about those who adapted the material than the original source itself—sometimes reflecting the reality of their time, sometimes showing us how they wish things could be, sometimes warning us of what might come.”
The Greatest Story Ever Adapted: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and the Adaptation at the Heart of the Gospel - Christ and Pop Culture
Why does this story continue to appeal to us? What does this latest version say about both the filmmaker and us? Nolan’s Odyssey gives us one man’s journey; what we need, though, is not just an adapta...
christandpopculture.com
Longtime CAPC editor/writer @ginadalfonzo.bsky.social has just published a new book titled “The Screen and the Mirror” on Wipf and Stock. They’ve graciously allowed us to share the opening chapter, which focuses on John Frankenheimer’s “The Manchurian Candidate,” with our readers.
CAPC Exclusive: Read the First Chapter From Gina Dalfonzo's The Screen and the Mirror - Christ and Pop Culture
Gina Dalfonzo's new book considers how flawed movie characters can teach us about our own fallen natures.
christandpopculture.com
Wrote about a film that continues to snake its way into the recesses of my mind over @christandpopculture.com—Alex Garland's ANNIHILATION. I never get tired of writing about or thinking about or being transformed by this one
Modern Transcendence in Movies: Annihilation Ventures Beyond Reason - Christ and Pop Culture
Alex Garland's 2018 sci-fi/horror film reminds us that the world contains powers that refute our modern rationality.
christandpopculture.com
New from @micahrickard.bsky.social: Alex Garland’s “Annihilation” (2018) uses a blend of sci-fi and horror to encourage us to consider the powers that lie beyond our ability to describe and control. Read the full article: christandpopculture.com/modern-trans...
Natalie Portman in Annihilation
ALT: Natalie Portman in Annihilation
static.klipy.com
AI tools can be great for boosting efficiency. But is efficiency what we really want when it comes to spiritual formation?
Spiritual Formation in an Autocomplete World - Christ and Pop Culture
Remove enough friction and you don’t have a more efficient formation process. You have no formation process. You have content delivery.
christandpopculture.com
Looking back at this year’s #WorldCup, here are some of the more notable moments — both on and off the pitch — that brought @opus.ing joy during those six weeks.
Moments of Joy From the 2026 World Cup - Christ and Pop Culture
The whole world coming together proved even more beautiful than the beautiful game itself.
christandpopculture.com
The speed at which AI is advancing, and the ways its advancement are changing how we think and work and relate, currently outpace our ability to describe and discuss its impact.
We Need New Words for the Experiences We Didn’t Have Before AI - Christ and Pop Culture
The speed of AI's advancement currently outpaces our ability to describe and discuss its impact.
christandpopculture.com
"When a society turns a human being into an icon, the truth is the first casualty. Facts and evidence become secondary to feelings and loyalty. People stop asking what is true and begin defending the version of reality they need to be true." Excellent piece. #filmsky #MichaelJackson
Christ and Pop Culture@christandpopculture.com · 3w agoFor millions, #MichaelJackson was a vessel into which a lonely world poured its hopes, nostalgia, childhood innocence, and longing for redemption. Cecily Cox reviews the recent Michael biopic and what it says about our need for modern idols.
Caro Claire Burke’s #Yesteryear, about a tradwife influencer who awakens in the 19th century, has been one of the summer’s hottest — and most controversial — novels. In her review, Sarah Greene highlights how Burke’s novel challenges several competing cultural narratives.
The Way Out of the Maze: A Reflection on Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear - Christ and Pop Culture
Burke’s novel pulls the psychological and physical curtain back to reveal where the promise of a simpler life falls short.
christandpopculture.com
For millions, #MichaelJackson was a vessel into which a lonely world poured its hopes, nostalgia, childhood innocence, and longing for redemption. Cecily Cox reviews the recent Michael biopic and what it says about our need for modern idols.
A Cultural Critique of Michael Jackson and Modern Idolatry - Christ and Pop Culture
Why do so many of us still desperately want to believe in Michael Jackson?
christandpopculture.com
Mainstream #Batman stories have largely pushed in the direction of psychological horror and urban decay. Matt Fraction’s relaunch is so refreshing because it understands that Batman can suffocate beneath too much solemnity.
The Bat in Daylight: Matt Fraction, Batman, and a New Day in Gotham City - Christ and Pop Culture
You don't wait for institutions to become trustworthy, or people to become good, or the city to become clean before deciding whether it's worth fighting for.
christandpopculture.com
Ultimately, Kendrick Lamar’s theological vision presents a challenge: to examine not only his message but our own assumptions about faith and justice.
The Nature of Kendrick Lamar’s “Suffering Servant” - Christ and Pop Culture
Lamar’s music is a battlefield of competing theologies embedded in the dissonance of lived experience.
christandpopculture.com
“To hoard power and live a performative religion is to misrepresent God and to ignore love, to disobey, and ultimately to be annihilated.” Chris Fogle does a deep dive into Jonah’s tale of narcissism and big fish.
The Prophet and The Pagans: Narcissism versus Humility in Jonah - Christ and Pop Culture
Whether pastors or politicians, average Jo(nah)s or communities as a whole, we must move from being self-absorbed to being self-abnegating.
christandpopculture.com
New from @micahrickard.bsky.social: David Lowery’s #TheGreenKnight thrusts the viewer into “the strangeness of the enchanted world,” revealing that humanity’s rational mastery over the earth is a self-satisfied illusion.
Modern Transcendence in Movies: The Threat of Enchantment in The Green Knight - Christ and Pop Culture
David Lowery’s Arthurian tale reveals that humanity’s rational mastery over the earth is a self-satisfied illusion.
christandpopculture.com
“The Monolith,” a recently announced tabletop game from @plaidhatgames.bsky.social, seeks to satirize religious nationalism. But will players get the joke?
Sanctifying Splatter-punk: Rage, Fear, and Embodied Play in Christian Art - Christ and Pop Culture
Want to know what questions haunt our society? Ask horror.
christandpopculture.com
“The themes of Disney’s run may have been far more biblical than viewers realized… [T]he showrunners, it turns out, have quite a bit to say about the nature of Christian grace.” Josiah DeGraaf reviews the second season of “Daredevil: Born Again.”
Daredevil: Born Again Tests the Limits of Christian Grace - Christ and Pop Culture
The Disney superhero series can help us appreciate the brazenness of Christ’s grace.
christandpopculture.com
When I first pitched this piece, I didn't realize that we were actually entering into a golden era of cinematic Pentecosts
Christ and Pop Culture@christandpopculture.com · 2mo agoA new series from @micahrickard.bsky.social explores how movies reveal modern notions of transcendence. The first installment considers David Lowery’s “Mother Mary,” starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel.
The way we engage in disagreement is just as important as the content that we are disagreeing about, and the way we speak to others is just as important as the beliefs and ideas we hold.
Spiritual Oneupmanship and the Dangers of Digital Discipleship - Christ and Pop Culture
The way we speak to others is just as important as the beliefs and ideas we hold.
christandpopculture.com
A new series from @micahrickard.bsky.social explores how movies reveal modern notions of transcendence. The first installment considers David Lowery’s “Mother Mary,” starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel.
Modern Transcendence in Movies: The Spirit Descends on Mother Mary - Christ and Pop Culture
Mother Mary declares that the modern age is not so impervious to the spiritual as it would like to think.
christandpopculture.com
The latest from @ginadalfonzo.bsky.social: “The ending of any life, born or unborn, has effects that ripple outward and impact many lives, often in wholly unexpected and deeply painful ways. Literary efforts to deal with the subject, if they’re honest, will reflect this.”
Abortion Stories, Reproductive Wrongs, and Our Need for Each Other - Christ and Pop Culture
If one overarching theme can be discerned in such a variegated collection, it’s this: No abortion takes place in a void.
christandpopculture.com
#007FirstLight allows James Bond to possess authentic magnetism without turning him into either a joke or pathology.
The Last Unapologetic Hero: Masculinity and Heroism in 007 First Light - Christ and Pop Culture
The game assumes the audience already understands the dangers built into the Bond archetype, and then it moves beyond them.
christandpopculture.com
One of the biggest lessons in @netflix.com’s #CobraKai is that second chances can happen, that people can be forgiven, and that the least likely people can change for the better.
“Cobra Kai Never Dies”: The Redemption of Johnny Lawrence, John Kreese, and Cobra Kai - Christ and Pop Culture
Part of what makes the Cobra Kai series so great is how it shows Johnny and Kreese’s transition into heroes.
christandpopculture.com
“To learn a foreign language, and to make consistent efforts to communicate with those who speak that language natively, cultivates godly maturity.”
Love, Language, and The Lost Princess: What Murcia Taught Me - Christ and Pop Culture
Learning a foreign language, and making consistent efforts to communicate with its native speakers, cultivates godly maturity.
christandpopculture.com
If God designed human life, then His Word reveals the right way to live—in terms of biological health, mental well-being, and societal health—which requires a submitting of the whole self to His authority.
How To Live Forever: Bryan Johnson and the Mind-Body Relationship - Christ and Pop Culture
Bryan Johnson is an extreme example of body/mind duality, and his religious commitment to biological health should be heeded as a warning.
christandpopculture.com
Lauren Gross reviews Brittany Fichter’s “Before Beauty”: “[She] may not have set out to write an allegory, yet the gospel is woven so deeply into the fabric of this tale that it preached to me.”
Encountering the Gospel in Brittany Fichter's Before Beauty - Christ and Pop Culture
The gospel is woven so deeply into the fabric of this tale that it preached to me.
christandpopculture.com
Can dance music be more than just escape? Could it also be a place of radical embodiment and prayerful presence? Can Christ speak, through DJs, to the cavernous heart that’s hungry for something greater?
Can Christ Speak Through DJs? EDM Provides a Soundtrack for Metamodern Longing - Christ and Pop Culture
EDM allows young people to lay down pretense and come clean about their desires.
christandpopculture.com
One year has passed since #Andor ended. @opus.ing wrote about the series’ condemnation of moral complacency in the face of evil, as evidenced by one particularly haunting scene from the finale.
The Sad Fate of Mon Mothma's Husband Is One of Andor’s Most Striking Lessons - Christ and Pop Culture
Would we really be so quick to throw away our status and privilege for a life of hardship, struggle, and near-certain death? Andor’s Perrin has lost nothing. Except his soul
christandpopculture.com
The two “Avatar” franchises present very different perspectives on violence and retribution. And for Christians, only one of them rings true.
Avatar vs. Avatar: A Christian Case for Nonviolence Even in the Face of Injustice - Christ and Pop Culture
It’s by Christ's death that we can love our enemies, seek peace with those that want to harm us, and refuse to take vengeance when we are wronged.
christandpopculture.com
Movies and TV series love to play with quantum physics as a way to explore fantastical concepts like the multiverse. But quantum physics also gives Christians a way to carefully think about God’s transcendence and his interactions with creation.
Why Should Christians Care About Quantum Physics? - Christ and Pop Culture
The appeal of the multiverse metaphor in everyday conversation is that it functions as an anaesthetic for regret and makes decisions feel less weighty.
christandpopculture.com