Christianity and the Climate Crisis in Auteur Cinema

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Christianity and the Climate Crisis in Auteur Cinema Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 3-10-2021 "Will God Forgive Us?": Christianity and the Climate Crisis in Auteur Cinema Margaret Alice Parson Louisiana State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation Parson, Margaret Alice, ""Will God Forgive Us?": Christianity and the Climate Crisis in Auteur Cinema" (2021). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 5477. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/5477 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. “WILL GOD FORGIVE US?”: CHRISTIANITY AND THE CLIMATE CRISIS IN AUTEUR CINEMA A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Communication Studies by Margaret Alice Parson B.A., Otterbein University, 2015 M.A., Ball State University, 2017 May 2021 For Tegan ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation, as with all dissertations, is a communal act. Without the massive support of my community, it never would have come into being. Most significantly, Dr. Bryan McCann. This project was completed because of your empathy and guidance. I can never thank you enough. The other members of my committee, Drs. Mack, Saas, and Shaffer have all offered their expertise and kindness in this project’s growth, and I of course am indebted to them for their comments and encouragement. I wish to thank also the entire department of Communication Studies, as well as the College of Humanities, for their support. Beyond the academic, the friendships in my life that have continually helped this dissertation go from a lofty idea to a completed document cannot be overemphasized. Taylor, thank you for being my first friend in the state of Louisiana and for your unending dedication to me as a scholar and a person. William, your love and kindness, your distanced reinforcement and constant offerings of edits and renaming, they are the reason I was ever able to get this far. Every step I have taken has been with you. Finally, Dylan, you encouraged me and helped me far away from the academy when I needed it the most. You were all there in the deepest, muddiest parts of it all and without you it simply would not have been written. How lucky I am to be able to rely on each of you in my life. It can never be repaid. Finally, to my parents, Claire and John Parson. Where would I be had you not told me one million times that I could do anything? My mom for guiding the way through my undergraduate and then graduate career, working so hard to give me the education I hope to never take for granted. My dad, for telling me the world needs leaders and strong women. You are both the greatest parents in the world. This dissertation is an homage to both of you. Thank you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. v INTRODUCTION. IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT................................. 1 Cinema and the Auteur.................................................................................................... 10 Environmental Film.......................................................................................................... 17 Christian Discourse........................................................................................................... 23 Preview of Chapters.......................................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER ONE. INEFFABLE ECOLOGY............................................................................... 31 (Re)Conceptualizing Nature............................................................................................. 32 The Real and New Materialism........................................................................................ 37 Genre, Lacanian Psychanalysis, and Affect..................................................................... 40 CHAPTER TWO. FIRST REFORMED AND THE BATTLE BETWEEN DOMINION AND STEWARDSHIP....................................................................... 50 Transcendence, Genesis, and Dominion as Form and Genre........................................... 52 Paul Schrader as Auteur.................................................................................................... 57 Transcendence and Environmental Doom in First Reformed........................................... 64 Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 80 CHAPTER THREE. INTERSTELLAR AND THE ECOLOGICAL JEREMIAD OF THE HOPELESS PLANET EARTH..................................................................................... 82 Jeremiad and the Final Frontier....................................................................................... 84 Christopher Nolan’s Deep Blockbusters .......................................................................... 97 The Final Frontier and Ecological Jeremiad in Interstellar............................................ 100 Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 112 CHAPTER FOUR. MOTHER!’S MOTHER NATURE AND THE WHITE FEMININE APOCALYPSE................................................................................ 113 Apocalyptic Rhetoric...................................................................................................... 116 The White Mother Nature............................................................................................... 120 Darren Aronofsky’s Dark Depressing Cinema............................................................... 129 The Inescapable Cycle of the White Woman’s Apocalypse in mother!......................... 132 Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 145 CONCLUSION. HOW TO PREVENT THE END OF THE WORLD..................................... 147 The Missing Pieces of Environmental Cinema .............................................................. 149 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 160 VITA ......................................................................................................................................... 186 iv ABSTRACT Climate change is an unavoidable and real catastrophic threat to the future of Planet Earth. This dissertation is interested in how contemporary auteur cinema draws on Christian forms to give expression to the ineffability of environmental collapse. In this rhetorical generic criticism, I discuss three recent auteur films: First Reformed (2017, directed by Paul Schrader), Interstellar (2014, directed by Christopher Nolan), and mother! (2017, directed by Darren Aronofsky). In order to best rhetorically analyze these films, I perform a generic criticism which utilizes aspects of psychoanalysis and affect theory as per the work of Gunn. Each film is discussed both for its auteur qualities, but also for the Christian forms that are utilized by the auteur to express the cultural anxieties of climate change. Through this analysis, I argue several important conclusions, most importantly that current environmental cinema fails to present opportunities for intervention in global warming, forming audiences with little to no efficacy. By utilizing Christian forms to tell stories about climate change, audiences are both challenged and reaffirmed in their understandings and misconceptions about the links between contemporary Judeo-Christianity in America and global warming. v INTRODUCTION. THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT We may be doomed. As in, the future of the human species on Planet Earth may indeed be hopeless. Increasingly, popular press authors, scientists, and politicians are positing that the human race may have waited too long to prevent total global collapse due to climate change (Wallace-Wells).1 Take, for instance, the opening words of noted climate change journalist Wallace-Wells’ The Uninhabitable Earth, “It is worse, much worse, than you think. The slowness of climate change is a fairy tale, as pernicious as the one that says it isn’t happening at all, and comes to us bundled with several others in an anthology of delusions” (1). As Roy Scranton so joyfully puts it, “to even ask the question of what the future holds today is to face an abyss of suffering that defies all reasonable thought” (par. 5). There are obvious and clear downsides to advertising the inevitability of total ecological collapse. Morton argues to advertise the apocalypse due to climate, is “part of the problem, not part of the solution” (103). However, as Franzen argues, Some climate activists argue that if we publicly admit that the problem can’t be solved, it will discourage people from taking any ameliorative action at
Recommended publications
  • Cinephilia Or the Uses of Disenchantment 2005
    Repositorium für die Medienwissenschaft Thomas Elsaesser Cinephilia or the Uses of Disenchantment 2005 https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/11988 Veröffentlichungsversion / published version Sammelbandbeitrag / collection article Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Elsaesser, Thomas: Cinephilia or the Uses of Disenchantment. In: Marijke de Valck, Malte Hagener (Hg.): Cinephilia. Movies, Love and Memory. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2005, S. 27– 43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/11988. Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer Creative Commons - This document is made available under a creative commons - Namensnennung - Nicht kommerziell 3.0 Lizenz zur Verfügung Attribution - Non Commercial 3.0 License. For more information gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu dieser Lizenz finden Sie hier: see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0 Cinephilia or the Uses of Disenchantment Thomas Elsaesser The Meaning and Memory of a Word It is hard to ignore that the word “cinephile” is a French coinage. Used as a noun in English, it designates someone who as easily emanates cachet as pre- tension, of the sort often associated with style items or fashion habits imported from France. As an adjective, however, “cinéphile” describes a state of mind and an emotion that, one the whole, has been seductive to a happy few while proving beneficial to film culture in general. The term “cinephilia,” finally, re- verberates with nostalgia and dedication, with longings and discrimination, and it evokes, at least to my generation, more than a passion for going to the movies, and only a little less than an entire attitude toward life.
    [Show full text]
  • The Perfect Planet Trailer
    Top Tips: 1. Read the questions carefully. 2. Use a highlighter or your pencil to underline the relevant information from the text. 3. Answer the questions in full sentences unless you need to copy individual words. The Perfect Planet Trailer This is a perfect planet. Life flourishes here thanks to powerful natural forces. Light from the sun reaches us in just eight minutes, powering our living world and its daily and yearly rhythms shape the lives of every creature on Earth. Volcanoes are powerful and uncontrollable forces, but they are the architects of the planet, creating over 80 of the Earth's surface. Life could not exist without them. Our oceans are in constant motion. They're linked by a network of powerful currents that carry nutrients around the globe. Every drop of sea water rides these currents taking a thousand years to complete a single circuit. And where there are currents there is life. From mighty storms to freezing winds, weather is vital to life. Rain clouds form and powerful winds carry this fresh water around the globe revitalizing the land. Annual weather patterns have been stable for thousands of years and it's this reliability on which life depends. Together these forces have shaped our perfect planet. But it's a fragile system. Today there is a new force one so powerful it threatens life on Earth. Human activity is now so dominant that it's disrupting the forces of nature and the vital habitats life needs to survive on Earth. To preserve our planet, we need to act now.
    [Show full text]
  • ENGL A270 | HISTORY of FILM Fall 2021 | Tuesday & Thursday, 4:55-6
    ENGL A270 | HISTORY OF FILM Fall 2021 | Tuesday & Thursday, 4:55-6:10PM Bobet 216 Instructor: Mike Miley | [email protected] | 504.865.2286 Office hours: T/Th 4:15-4:45 PM, 6:15-7:15 PM and by appointment Course Description History of Film is an introduction to the rich and troubling history, impact, and legacy of the motion picture as a commercial narrative art form. The course begins with the creation of the medium in the 1890s and travels around the globe to reach our extremely uncertain and precarious present. Although the medium has developed tremendously throughout the decades due to advancements in style, technology, production, and exhibition, the course will strive to create a sense of continuity, showing how films speak to the legacy of cinema by pointing out the ways in which films influence each other and respond to films of the past. The course will pay particular attention to films and filmmakers who divert from or critique the dominant narratives and forms of film and film history to provide students with a fuller picture of cinema’s capabilities. The goal of the course is not only to educate students on the major figures and developments in cinema but also to expose them to the dynamic field they participate in as spectators and creators to give them the necessary context for a creative and compassionate life in the field. Students who successfully complete the course will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of major events, figures, and films in the history of cinema and will be comfortable with writing about film as a narrative art.
    [Show full text]
  • GIORGIO MORODER Album Announcement Press Release April
    GIORGIO MORODER TO RELEASE BRAND NEW STUDIO ALBUM DÉJÀ VU JUNE 16TH ON RCA RECORDS ! TITLE TRACK “DÉJÀ VU FEAT. SIA” AVAILABLE TODAY, APRIL 17 CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO “DÉJÀ VU FEATURING SIA” DÉJÀ VU ALBUM PRE-ORDER NOW LIVE (New York- April 17, 2015) Giorgio Moroder, the founder of disco and electronic music trailblazer, will be releasing his first solo album in over 30 years entitled DÉJÀ VU on June 16th on RCA Records. The title track “Déjà vu featuring Sia” is available everywhere today. Click here to listen now! Fans who pre-order the album will receive “Déjà vu feat. Sia” instantly, as well as previously released singles “74 is the New 24” and “Right Here, Right Now featuring Kylie Minogue” instantly. (Click hyperlinks to listen/ watch videos). Album preorder available now at iTunes and Amazon. Giorgio’s long-awaited album DÉJÀ VU features a superstar line up of collaborators including Britney Spears, Sia, Charli XCX, Kylie Minogue, Mikky Ekko, Foxes, Kelis, Marlene, and Matthew Koma. Find below a complete album track listing. Comments Giorgio Moroder: "So excited to release my first album in 30 years; it took quite some time. Who would have known adding the ‘click’ to the 24 track would spawn a musical revolution and inspire generations. As I sit back readily approaching my 75th birthday, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I'm incredibly happy that I got to work with so many great and talented artists on this new record. This is dance music, it’s disco, it’s electronic, it’s here for you.
    [Show full text]
  • Future of Public Service Media: Open University Response Summary
    Ofcom – Future of Public Service Media: Open University Response Summary 1. Education is a crucial part of the Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) requirements. Several of the statutory requirements set out in Section 264 of the Communications Act 2003 relate to educational objectives. There are opportunities to strengthen these requirements as part of the new Public Service Media (PSM) offer. 2. The Open University (OU) plays a key role in supporting the delivery of PSB requirements around education through its partnership with the BBC. The partnership co-produces high-quality factual content across several channels and platforms, which is developed in collaboration with academic experts and closely linked to related educational materials hosted by the OU. A key objective of the partnership is to encourage people to embark on learning journeys from the informal, factual content produced with the BBC, through online and printed educational resources which enhance and enrich their broadcast/digital experience, to taking up formal learning opportunites inspired by watching, listening to and engaging with the content produced as part of the partnership. 3. In 2019/20: • A total of 257 hours of content produced via the OU/BBC partnership was broadcast by the BBC. • This resulted in a combined total of 308 million viewing/listening “events” and digital engagement interactions. • The three most popular television programmes broadcast – A Perfect Planet, Springwatch and Hospital (Series 5) all saw viewing figures in excess of 22 million. • There were 765,000 unique visitors to the online educational content related to the OU/BBC partnership hosted on the OU’s free online learning platform, OpenLearn.
    [Show full text]
  • Longsands Student Bulletin for 26 April 2021
    LONGSANDS STUDENT BULLETIN for Monday 26 April 2021 What is The Big Ask? It’s a BIG and exciting chance to have your say! The Big Ask is the largest ever survey of young people in England. It’s being run by The Children’s Commissioner whose role it is to speak up for all children across the country and get their views heard. What are your dreams and ambitions? What would you change if you could? What do you want for your future? And what is holding you back? The last year has been really tough for young people, and you deserve a say in what happens next. The Big Ask will be used to show the people who make important decisions what children really think. THE BIG ASK We're hosting The Big Ask Assembly to help explain a bit more about it and how it aims to help shape your future. And we’re not the only ones who think taking part is important… so keep your eyes peeled for a very special guest! Log onto Doddle this week to access the assembly and The Big Ask Survey. Once you've completed it, please fill in the Microsoft Form to say you've done it and earn a House Point! CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS WEEK’S WINNING HOUSE, HAWKING, WITH 215 HOUSE POINTS IN THE LAST WEEK! AUSTEN 145 POINTS LAST WEEK, 8774 IN TOTAL DARWIN 182 POINTS LAST WEEK, 9591 IN TOTAL HAWKING 215 POINTS LAST WEEK, 8365 IN TOTAL SEACOLE 176 POINTS LAST WEEK, 8821 IN TOTAL TURING 169 POINTS LAST WEEK, 8574 IN TOTAL The race to the top has begun! You can see the running total pictured above.
    [Show full text]
  • 1997 Sundance Film Festival Awards Jurors
    1997 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL The 1997 Sundance Film Festival continued to attract crowds, international attention and an appreciative group of alumni fi lmmakers. Many of the Premiere fi lmmakers were returning directors (Errol Morris, Tom DiCillo, Victor Nunez, Gregg Araki, Kevin Smith), whose earlier, sometimes unknown, work had received a warm reception at Sundance. The Piper-Heidsieck tribute to independent vision went to actor/director Tim Robbins, and a major retrospective of the works of German New-Wave giant Rainer Werner Fassbinder was staged, with many of his original actors fl own in for forums. It was a fi tting tribute to both Fassbinder and the Festival and the ways that American independent cinema was indeed becoming international. AWARDS GRAND JURY PRIZE JURY PRIZE IN LATIN AMERICAN CINEMA Documentary—GIRLS LIKE US, directed by Jane C. Wagner and LANDSCAPES OF MEMORY (O SERTÃO DAS MEMÓRIAS), directed by José Araújo Tina DiFeliciantonio SPECIAL JURY AWARD IN LATIN AMERICAN CINEMA Dramatic—SUNDAY, directed by Jonathan Nossiter DEEP CRIMSON, directed by Arturo Ripstein AUDIENCE AWARD JURY PRIZE IN SHORT FILMMAKING Documentary—Paul Monette: THE BRINK OF SUMMER’S END, directed by MAN ABOUT TOWN, directed by Kris Isacsson Monte Bramer Dramatic—HURRICANE, directed by Morgan J. Freeman; and LOVE JONES, HONORABLE MENTIONS IN SHORT FILMMAKING directed by Theodore Witcher (shared) BIRDHOUSE, directed by Richard C. Zimmerman; and SYPHON-GUN, directed by KC Amos FILMMAKERS TROPHY Documentary—LICENSED TO KILL, directed by Arthur Dong Dramatic—IN THE COMPANY OF MEN, directed by Neil LaBute DIRECTING AWARD Documentary—ARTHUR DONG, director of Licensed To Kill Dramatic—MORGAN J.
    [Show full text]
  • INTRODUCTION Fatal Attraction and Scarface
    1 introduction Fatal Attraction and Scarface How We Think about Movies People respond to movies in different ways, and there are many reasons for this. We have all stood in the lobby of a theater and heard conflicting opin- ions from people who have just seen the same film. Some loved it, some were annoyed by it, some found it just OK. Perhaps we’ve thought, “Well, what do they know? Maybe they just didn’t get it.” So we go to the reviewers whose business it is to “get it.” But often they do not agree. One reviewer will love it, the next will tell us to save our money. What thrills one person may bore or even offend another. Disagreements and controversies, however, can reveal a great deal about the assumptions underlying these varying responses. If we explore these assumptions, we can ask questions about how sound they are. Questioning our assumptions and those of others is a good way to start think- ing about movies. We will soon see that there are many productive ways of thinking about movies and many approaches that we can use to analyze them. In Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1992), the actor playing Bruce Lee sits in an American movie theater (figure 1.1) and watches a scene from Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) in which Audrey Hepburn’s glamorous character awakens her upstairs neighbor, Mr Yunioshi. Half awake, he jumps up, bangs his head on a low-hanging, “Oriental”-style lamp, and stumbles around his apart- ment crashing into things.
    [Show full text]
  • Pofc TBI Main Octnov20.Indd
    Insight on screen TBIvision.com | October/November 2020 Distributor's Survey The inside track Bible reading on the global sales The future of business formats Page 14 Page 34 pOFC TBI Main OctNov20.indd 1 02/10/2020 15:28 pIFC-01 Global Agency TBI OctNov20.indd 2 01/10/2020 10:35 pIFC-01 Global Agency TBI OctNov20.indd 3 01/10/2020 10:35 ABANDONED ENGINEERING S5 12 x 60’ Like a Shot Entertainment EDGES UNKNOWN RACE TO VICTORY 7 x 60’ 4East Media 6 x 60’ CIC Media SEX UNLIMITED 5 x 60’ Barcroft Studios For sales enquiries please contact: [email protected] www.beyondrights.tv pXX Beyond TBI OctNov20.indd 1 28/09/2020 09:44 Welcome | This issue Contents TBI October/November 2020 34. Future-proofi ng formats With the pandemic upending the TV industry across the world, Mark Layton fi nds out what the impact has been on the global format sales business and how it has adapted to the new normal. 38. Keeping the music playing through Covid Karen Smith, MD of Tuesday’s Child and Tuesday’s Child Scotland, on The Hit List. 10 40. Formats Hot Picks The formats that caught our eye this month including 9 Windows, Pooch Perfect and Tough As Nails. 10. Press record TikTok has exploded into the public consciousness like few – if 42. e colourful world of co-productions any other – video-led service before it. UK & Europe chief Rich Sharing production costs on unscripted projects was on the increase Waterworth tells Richard Middleton how he sees the future prior to Covid-19, but is the pandemic accelerating this further? Tim panning out.
    [Show full text]
  • The Providence Phoenix | February 22, 2013 3
    february 22–28, 2013 | rhode island’s largest weekly | free VOTE NOW! support your favorites at thephoenix. com/best THE NEW ABOLITIONISTS Why the climate-justice movement must embrace its radical side _by Wen Stephenson | p 6 tHis drum circles and porn beer on a budget Just in A weekend at the RI Men’s Gathering | p6 !Warming up to ‘craft lite’ | p10 North Bowl has been nominated by The Phoenix readers for: BEST PLACE TO BOWL Please vote for us! SCAN HERE Or vote online: thephoenix.com/BEST 71 E Washington St North Attleboro, MA 02760 508.695.BOWL providence.thephoenix.com | the providence phoenix | February 22, 2013 3 february 22, 2013 Contents on the cover F PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION By jANET SMITH TAyLOR IN THIS ISSUE p 6 p 10 p 24 6 the new abolitionists _wen stephenson For the second time in American history, a generation has to choose between an entrenched system of industrial profit — and saving millions of human lives. 14 homegrown product _by chris conti All killer, no filler: theo martins offers a guided tour of Wonderland. 15 art _by chris conti Serious comics: “story/line: narrative form in six graphic novelists” at RIC. 16 theater _by bill rodriguez Mind games: Epic Theatre Company’s six degrees of separation. 24 film _by peter keough If Argo doesn’t win the Oscar for Best Picture, it means the terrorists have won. Plus, a “Short Take” on identity thief. IN EVERY ISSUE 46 phillipe & Jorge’s cool, cool world Ronzo gets the boot | Public enemy #1 | Who’s right, who’s wrong? | 6 Seekonk rocks 4 the city _by derf 7 5 this Just in In the woods with the Rhode Island 10 Men’s Gathering | WPRO cans Ron St.
    [Show full text]
  • Veganism Is Environmentalism
    Every minute, 7 million pounds of excrement are produced by animals raised for food in the US. This doesn’t include the animals raised outside Veganism is of USDA jurisdiction or in backyards, or the billions of fish raised in aquaculture settings in the US. Environmentalism • “What’s the Problem?” United States Environmental Protection Agency. Veganism: A way of living and philosophy that rejects the commodity • http://www.epa.gov/region9/animalwaste/problem.html status of animals, and seeks to exclude their use for any and all purposes. • “How To Manage Manure.” Healthy Landscapes. • http://www.uri.edu/ce/healthylandscapes/livestock/how_manure_overall.htm • 335 million tons of “dry matter” is produced annually by livestock in the US. • “FY-2005 Annual Report Manure and Byproduct Utilization National Program 206.”USDA Agricultural Research Service. 2008. • http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/programs/programshtm?npcode=206&docid=13337 A farm with 2,500 dairy cows produces the same amount of waste as a city of 411,000 people. • “Risk Assessment Evaluation for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Office of Research and Development. 2004. • http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPURL.cgi?Dockey=901V0100.txt 3/4 of the world’s fisheries are exploited. • “Overfishing: A Threat to Marine Biodiversity.” UN News Center. • http://www.un.org/events/tenstories/06/story.asp?storyid=800 • “General Situation of World Fish Stocks.” United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). • http://www.fao.org/newsroom/common/ecg/1000505/en/stocks.pdf For every 1 pound of fish caught, an average of 5 pounds of unintended marine species are caught and discarded as by-kill.
    [Show full text]
  • Film, Philosophy Andreligion
    FILM, PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION Edited by William H. U. Anderson Concordia University of Edmonton Alberta, Canada Series in Philosophy of Religion Copyright © 2022 by the authors. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Vernon Art and Science Inc. www.vernonpress.com In the Americas: In the rest of the world: Vernon Press Vernon Press 1000 N West Street, Suite 1200, C/Sancti Espiritu 17, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 Malaga, 29006 United States Spain Series in Philosophy of Religion Library of Congress Control Number: 2021942573 ISBN: 978-1-64889-292-9 Product and company names mentioned in this work are the trademarks of their respective owners. While every care has been taken in preparing this work, neither the authors nor Vernon Art and Science Inc. may be held responsible for any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in it. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. Cover design by Vernon Press. Cover image: "Rendered cinema fimstrip", iStock.com/gl0ck To all the students who have educated me throughout the years and are a constant source of inspiration. It’s like a splinter in your mind. ~ The Matrix Table of contents List of Contributors xi Acknowledgements xv Introduction xvii William H.
    [Show full text]