Dead Theologians Society: St Athanasius

Today is the Feast Day of St. Atahanasius of Alexandria. 

One of the great Greek Fathers of the Church, Athanasius was a fierce defender of Trinitarianism, and an opponent of Ariansim. He was born near Alexandria, Egypt in the late 290s, and was writing theological treatises by the time he was in his mid-twenties.

Athanasius attended the Council of Nicea in 325, assisting his bishop in his role as a deacon. He was raised to the bishopric himself a few years later, and served in that position for most of his life. He spent much of his life defending the "homoousian" position on the Trinity, which became the standard orthodox view.

He was exiled 5 separate times during his 45 years as Bishop, as different Emperors had varying positions on the Church, and of the Arian heresy. He became known as the "Father of Orthodoxy" and the "Father of the Canon."

He died in 373, at approximately 75 years of age.

Holding Christian Film Accountable

I recently discovered the YouTube film critic "Say Goodnight, Kevin." The premise of the reviews is that Christian movies should be held to the same standards that every movie is held to, in terms of script-writing, production, acting, and effects.

Recently, he posted this video about "How To Make A Christian Movie." Like most of his videos, this one contains a nice balance between insightful and humorous. The mockery is never cruel. His desire to see better quality product come from the evangelical entertainment industry is sincere. And his critique of that industry is completely on-point.

 His YouTube channel contains a range of series beyond this one, and though I haven't seen them all, they do appear to be of similar quality.

Alan's Christian Comic Corner

 The Unforogttens: Mission of Tranquillity #1, Trinity Comic Ministries, 1993. The untitled story is created by Timothy A. Gagnon.

I think it started with the Frank Peretti novel “This Present Darkness,” and its sequel “Piercing the Darkness.” These were published in 1986 and 1989 respectively. Those books both fed on a growing interest in spiritual warfare in the evangelical church, and also contributed to that growing interest. Many evangelical novels and albums of the era reflected this interest, so a comic book featuring similar content makes sense.

Three teens are performing a Satanist ritual in the woods, and summon a demon. They are interrupted by a warrior of God (called Faith), who appears to be an angel, but is in fact a human who has been empowered by God to fight Satan and other evils. Two of the three teens repent of their ways, the demon is expelled, and Faith meets up with two similar beings. At the end of the issue, an unsuspecting hitchhiker appears to be kidnapped by demonic forces.

There is one scene in particular that surprised me. The lead character is Catholic, and his salvation came as a result of a conversation with a priest, in a confessional. Evangelical publishing is not known for taking ecumenical stances, so this scene stood out in a positive way. It had a simple storyline and overly dramatic dialog, but there were also interesting moments and subtle touches sprinkled throughout. Re-reading more than two decades after first buying it was not the embarrassing experience that I had thought it may have been.

Yes, this is a self-published book, produced by an amateur creator. And some parts of it are definitely “amateurish.” The lettering stands out in a negative way, as does the spelling of the word “tranquility,” and the overall 1990s-ish nature of the art. And the book is a half an inch taller than standard comics means that storing this issue has been a challenge. But despite being crunched for more than two decades in bags and boxes and bookshelves, this issue is in remarkably good condition. The paper quality is surprisingly high, and this 20-year-old issue has not suffered a single tear or a rip.  

This black-and-white book contains 30 pages of story, which is at least 5 pages longer than most mainstream stories of the same period. Most comics of his era were priced in the $1.50 - $2.50 range, so this book’s $1.95 cover price was appropriate. There were three more issues of this title published, and they are on the to-be-reviewed list.

We Will Be Attending

In 2013, the Audiofeed Festival began, as an attempt to keep the core “family” of the Cornerstone Festivals together, after that festival ended after its 2012 event.

We have attended two of the first three Audiofeeds, and it has begun to develop a culture and history of its own. And as it grows, the quantity and quality of the musical acts continue to improve.

More information about Audiofeed can be found at their website.

He is Risen Indeed

Podcast #004 - The Jedi Path

"You've Taken Your First Step Into a Larger World."


In this all-new, super-special fourth podcast episode, Emily & Alan talk about some of the religious and theological topics that arise from Star Wars. We talk about the Force, dualism, and warrior monks.

We also talk about our thoughts on "The Force Awakens," and cover lots of terrific feedback from our terrific feedbackers.

Click on the player below to listen to the episode:





You may also subscribe to the podcast through iTunes or the RSS Feed.

Link: Anderson Cale's music 

We would love to hear from you about this issue, the podcast episode, or the podcast in general. Send e-mail feedback to dorknesstolight@gmail.com 

You can follow Alan on twitter @ProfessorAlan or the podcast @DorknessToLight

Church Teachings ... via LEGO!

Father Roderick Vonhogen is a parish priest in the Netherlands. He is also one of the Catholic Church's leading voices in the use of new media, social media, and podcasting. He has even written a book about his experiences as a Catholic geek priest. You may remember him as the fellow with the awesome reaction video to the first "The Force Awakens" trailer:

One of his recent efforts is to make 60-second stop-action Lego videos to explain church teachings. Such as Pentecost:

And the Pope's declaration of "A Year of Mercy:"

What the world needs now is ... definitely ... more teachings delivered via LEGO!