Dead Theologians Society: St. Irenaeus

An important early voice against the heresy of Gnosticism, Irenaeus’ writings are among the most important documents produced by the church fathers. He was influenced in his thoughts by St Polycarp, who himself had known some of the apostles and their immediate disciples.

Born in approximately 125 in or near Smyrna, a city on the Aegean Sea in what is now Turkey. He was raised in a Christian home, and may have heard Polycarp teach as young man. He became a priest in Lyon, eventually rising to the position of bishop, replacing the martyred Saint Pothinius.

His theological works, collectedas “Against the Heresies,” were originally written in Greek but quickly translated into Latin. This allowed for the works to be widely circulated, and are credited with dealing a death-blow to Gnosticism. He also wrote again Montanism and other debatable teachings of the age.

Details of the end of his life are scarce, as he seems to have thrown himself into his work as Bishop of Lyon. He is thought to have died in 202, of natural causes.

Podcast Recommendation

I wanted to give a "shout-out" to a podcast that is taking a look at similar content that what we do here, although from not the same perspective.

On the Parliament of Rooks podcast (the name is a reference to the Sandman comic), the husband-and-wife team of Tom & Melanie Lenese discuss all the elements of magic and the supernatural throughout the history of DC Comics. They don't examine the religious minutae of the characters, like we sometimes do here, but the show is an entertaining romp through an area of comics that we love.

They have looked at our favorite character, The Spectre, a number of times. In episode 19, they discussed his Golden Age origin, which is content that we covered on episode 2 of our podcast. They have also talked about such magical stalwarts as Zatanna & Zatara, Doctor Fate, Johnny Thunder, and Eclipso, in addition to the occassional dip into kids comics, such as Stanley and His Monster. The variety of the characters covered is on the strengths of the show.

Check out their show for a weekly dip into the magical side of comic books.

Bible Study, via Preacher

Nobody is going to mistake Jesse Custer, the lead character of AMC's comic-book-inspired TV show Preacher, for a good pastor. But on the third episode, "The Possibilities," which first aired June 12, he did a pretty decent job officiating a funeral.

Earlier in the episode, he performed baptisms, and maybe his heart wasn't in it. But when it came to the funeral at the end of the episode (spoiler, I guess), it seemed that he was taking his job seriously.

He read from 1st Corinthians 15:51 (and 52, although he only identified 51), a passage which is often read at funerals.

^"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."

First, the show gets credit using a real verse (I'm looking at you, X-Files), from a real translation (the New International Version), a translation which seems like a reasonable choice for a small church in rural Texas). Second, it was quoted properly, and in context. And although Pastor Custer is a troubled man - a very, very troubled man - he read the words with an appropriate sense of the moment. As if the words he spoke, their message, have power.

Podcast #005 - Ms Marvel (2014)

"From Jersey City, It's Ms. Marvel!"

In this all-new, all-embiggened fifth episode, Alan and Emily talk about the Kamala Khan version of Ms Marvel, which debuted in 2014. We talk about the significance of her status as a young Muslim heroine. We talk ethnicity, religion, culture, family, and the immigrant experience.

We also cover lots of terrific feedback from our terrific feedbackers, mostly about our recent Star Wars episode. 

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 

Special thanks to Stella, from Batgirl to Oracle, for providing her voice.

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

Comic Book Review: Gotham By Midnight #10

 Gotham By Midnight #10, DC Comics, cover-dated December 2015.

“Nothing Will Stop Us,” by Ray Fawkes, with art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover by Bill Sienkiewicz.

The opening page of each issue in this series contains four long panels that provide a thematic statement of sorts for the issue. It’s hard to construct a better summary of the concept of this series than the words that begin issue #10:

“In a city of horror, I (Jim Corrigan) swore to protect the innocent. When I failed, he (the Spectre) swore to avenge them.”

This issue picks up in the aftermath of last issue’s appearance of the Spectre in the small holding room where Corrigan was being interrogated by Internal Affairs. Detective Lisa Drake tries to calm him, before helping him make his escape.

Meanwhile, Dr. Tarr’s story continues, and we see him dealing with his feelings after Sister Justine’s death. In a creepy scene, he discovers that a sainthood cult is growing near where she died. She has been appearing to neighborhood kids, who have built a shrine to “The Nun of the Narrows.”

 While evading re-capture (in a wonderfully-drawn chase scene), Corrigan and Drake discuss who exactly is in control of the Spectre. Corrigan also tells Drake his origin story. He also convinces her that despite their careers being in shambles at this point, that the thing from the swamp that they’ve dealt with in prior issues, is still out there. As the end of the series approaches, the Midnight Shift still has work to do.

Bono & Petersen & The Psalms

A very interesting short film was released recently, documenting a nearly 15-year long friendship between U2 singer Bono and Bible translator Eugene Peterson. Peterson is the author of the contemporary-language version of the Bible, The Message.

The conversations revolves about their common interest in the Psalms. Based on interviews conducted by Fuller Seminary faculty member David Taylor and produced in association with Fourth Line Films, the film highlights in particular a conversation on the Psalms that took place between Bono, Peterson, and Taylor at Peterson’s Montana home.

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.