Professor of Religion @TempleUniv. designer of guitar effects. Jew. Glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity.
Nov 30, 2021 • 35 tweets • 8 min read
I’m revisiting what is, in my view, the ultimate Christmas movie for our time. It’s Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut.
A long(ish) thread. 1/
I remember hearing @ThatKevinSmith speak shortly after it first came out. He didn’t like it (he called it “Eyes Wide Shit”). But I hope he’s changed his mind over the last 20+ years, because it has many, many layers that demand exploration. 2/
Nov 27, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
One of the quiet joys of the second episode of Get Back are subtle shots of Glyn Johns in the background. He’s silent, mostly, taking it in. 1/
Johns was one of the great recording engineer and producer of the era. He had worked with the Stones, Steve Miller, and he was the engineer who had just finished recording Led Zeppelin’s first album. 2/
May 31, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
@Baroness_Nichol I’d like to reply to you with sincerity and respect, not anger: your statement suggests that you are unaware of the role that hatred of Jews has played in Christianity for many centuries. It is still there, in various forms. 1/@Baroness_Nichol Dr. Bond’s discussion of this aligns with work that many of our colleagues have done for a very long time on this subject. Every religion has dark corners, including Christianity, and a deep tradition of anti-Jewish violent mythology is part of that. 2/
May 24, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
@Aruthasexy1 Hi, professor of religion here. The Bible is a collection of texts that originated independently of each other, often out of existing oral traditions. 1/@Aruthasexy1 Some of these traditions/texts contain historically useful information. Many are not, but can still tell us about the world of the ancient authors and their intended audiences. 2/
May 17, 2021 • 19 tweets • 5 min read
How a monster thinks. A thread.
I want to break down this tweet from @mtgreene, because looking closely at it language tells us a lot about what is going through her mind and the minds of other Q-MAGA radicals. 1/
First, a few caveats. Yes, she's a monster. Human beings can be monsters. The worst monsters always are. So please, don't @ me with "you're dehumanizing her" baloney. 2/
Apr 14, 2021 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
Finishing my undergrad Religion in Film course with a unit entitled "Star Wars and the Making of Religion". No matter how you feel about the films, this is a phenomenal way to synthesize the issues an introductory religion course covers throughout the semester. 1/
First, there is the existence of the (rightly) dreaded "Star Wars Holiday Special" (1978) that came out even before The Empire Strikes Back was released, setting the stage for SW to be some sort of synecdoche for contemporary religious world-making. 2/
Sheldon Adelson - the megadonor to the GOP who received the genuflection of virtually all hopefuls on the Republican national stage - is dead. 1/
Adelson pumped money into the very GOP machinery that has enabled Trumpism, facilitated policies that have torn children from their parents, cultivated racism, antisemitism, and white supremacy, and that has now led to the deaths of 350,000+ Americans from COVID. 2/
In this video, once-significant actor and now-apologist for fascism Jon Voight claims that "the Left" is burning down and destroying American cities. 1/19
Trumpists make this charge regularly, i.e., that “the Left” (or some variant thereof) is “burning down” American cities. I live in one of the cities often targeted by these claims, Philadelphia. It isn’t burning down. 2/19
Nov 24, 2020 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
@marcorubio Every verse you quote can be countered by others. "Do not rejoice when your enemies fall" is countered by Exod 15:1-18, a song of rejoice at the defeat of Egypt at the Red Sea. Vomiting out a random verse is a meaningless posture, a sign of fake, performative faith. 1/@marcorubio But let's look at what you've actually quoted. The verse says not to rejoice in the fall of your enemy...not because it's a matter of compassion or respect, but only because God might get mad at you and actually empower your enemy. 2/
