Tag Archives: Andrew Tripp

contributors

Congratulations Are in Order

Here’s to S&S’s own Andrew Tripp and Elizabeth Coody for the recent completion of their respective degrees!
10818479_10103105330764060_3955091181240171730_o Andrew earned his doctorate from Boston University’s School of Theology and can be see above with his Dean, Bryan Stone. 11392865_10205739301774825_6816019726001676994_nElizabeth, likewise, completed her doctorate at the University of Denver/Iliff School of Theology and can be seen above with her parents.

Huzzah for the new S&S doctors!

academic, controversy, events, interviews, online

Comics at Universities, Protested and Praised

Andrew Tripp
Andrew Tripp

Some further evidence of religion and comics penetrating ever more deeply into academia…in both a negative and positive light:

  • Bleeding Cool and the German magazine Taz reported that a graphic novel exhibition by the German university of Duisburg-Essen was the subject of outrage and vandalism by Muslim protestors. The “What Comics Can Do!” exhibit included art from Craig Thompson’s Habibi and Rutu Modan’s Exit Wounds that the protestors found offense for their use of the Arabic word for Allah and for presumably pro-Israel sentiments.
  • BU Today, a publication of Boston University, highlighted a recent article in its School of Theology Focus magazine, a profile on pastor Andrew Tripp and his appreciation for superheroes and comics in accomplishing his job. They had a foundational influence on him, he admits, ““The superheroes and the comeback characters spoke to something profound about what it meant to be human.”

 

articles and essays, cultural

Superheroes in Stained Glass and on Liturgy

Andrew Tripp, a contributor to Graven Images: Religion in Comic Books and Graphic Novels, has written an essay for STHConnect (STH = School of Theology at Boston University) on how superheroes and their film adventures may reflect upon liturgy. Preaching to the choir, as it were, of those involved in Christian liturgical practice, he posits, “The structure of the cinema and the imaginative world of the superhero film offer tools for new understandings of liturgy in your congregation. […] The community participates in stories we uplift as sacred in the past through scripture and in the present through witness and testimony.” Best yet, he’s responding to readers’ comments on the piece, so have a read and lend him some thoughts.

Meanwhile, if superheroes aren’t informing the church’s preacher, they may be decorating the church: io9‘s Lauren Davis featured the artwork of Brandon Michael Barker who has been reimagining classic superhero comics covers as stained glass windows “dressed up with a touch of Christian iconography.” Rao has included Spider-Man from Amazing Fantasy #15 below, but follow the link to see more!

Brandon Michael Barker's stained glass superheroes
Brandon Michael Barker's stained glass Amazing Fantasy #15