"Feelings in the Gutter: Opportunities for Emotional Engagement in Comics"
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ImageText: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies
vol 10, no. 1
September 2018
In this article, the author investigates ways in which comics can offer unique opportunities for emotional engagement, specifically in relation to their form. The author argues that understanding certain formal aspects of comics, in light of a philosophically robust understanding of emotions as processes, allows us to understand how this narrative medium offers readers opportunities for emotional responses that are distinct from the opportunities provided by other narrative media.
Review: American comics, literary theory, and religion: the superhero afterlife
by A. david lewis
Review: On the origin of superheroes: from the big bang to action comics no. 1
by chris gavaler
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"souls, the final frontier: human intuitions of mind in star trek"
Journal of Religion
and Popular Culture
vol 18, no. 2-3
fall 2016
In this article, the author investigates the religiously resonant nature of aspects of certain narratives within the mythology of Star Trek. Drawing on literature from social and evolutionary psychology, the author claims that various Star Trek series both explicitly and implicitly utilize the religiously resonant concept of the soul. The author argues that by narratively affirming the idea of souls, Star Trek narratives occasionally constitute religiously resonant fantasy, as opposed to depicting a fully rationalist and non-religious human future, as some anti-religionists argue.
"the mystical stance: the experience of self-loss and daniel dennett's 'center of narrative gravity'"
Zygon: Journal of
Religion and Science
vol 49, no. 2
may 2014
The occurrence of mystical “self‐loss” experiences can be understood as the feeling of losing the subject/object distinction. Here, the author attempts to incorporate self-loss into modern understandings of the mind from philosophy and psychology. Specifically, self‐loss is examined through the lens of philosopher Dan Dennett's theory of “self as the center of narrative gravity.” The author argue that Dennett's understanding of the self allows for the relegitimation of self‐loss experiences rooted in current views from the psychological literature, rather than rooted in metaphysical religious claims.
"souls, the final frontier: human intuitions of mind in star trek"
Journal of Religion
and Popular Culture
vol 18, no. 2-3
fall 2016
In this article, the author investigates the religiously resonant nature of aspects of certain narratives within the mythology of Star Trek. Drawing on literature from social and evolutionary psychology, the author claims that various Star Trek series both explicitly and implicitly utilize the religiously resonant concept of the soul. The author argues that by narratively affirming the idea of souls, Star Trek narratives occasionally constitute religiously resonant fantasy, as opposed to depicting a fully rationalist and non-religious human future, as some anti-religionists argue.
"the mystical stance: the experience of self-loss and daniel dennett's 'center of narrative gravity'"
Zygon: Journal of
Religion and Science
vol 49, no. 2
may 2014
The occurrence of mystical “self‐loss” experiences can be understood as the feeling of losing the subject/object distinction. Here, the author attempts to incorporate self-loss into modern understandings of the mind from philosophy and psychology. Specifically, self‐loss is examined through the lens of philosopher Dan Dennett's theory of “self as the center of narrative gravity.” The author argue that Dennett's understanding of the self allows for the relegitimation of self‐loss experiences rooted in current views from the psychological literature, rather than rooted in metaphysical religious claims.
"revisiting sacred metaphors: a religious studies pedagogical response to the rise of the nones"
Journal of
Religion & Society
vol 16 (2014)
The emergence of the religious nones can create pedagogical challenges due to the multifarious and institutionally disaffiliated nature of this classification. Thus, this article supplies a potential pedagogical technique by revisiting Peter Berger's sacred canopy metaphor. We submit that the religious nones can be understood functionally and structurally by employing similar "sacred metaphors." Three metaphors are provided to address the central categories of the nones: unaffiliated believers, agnostics, and atheists. We introduce these metaphors, detail their relevance, and suggest that they present a new way of explaining the complexities of classifying the religious nones.
"Similar Differences: A compatibilist view of the common core debate in the study of mystical experience"
Axis Mundi
2012-2013
The study of mystical experiences is an endeavor that has been approached in many ways. One unresolved issue in this area of study is whether or not there is a particular type of experience underlying the traditionally religious interpretations, which can be termed “mystical.” In this paper, the author posits that some of the foundational claims of the common core view and the social constructivist view of the nature of such experiences, respectively, are not completely incompatible. Rather, the two approaches may converge with regard to the cognitive foundations of cross-culturally accessible anomalous experiences.
conference presentations
The Louisville Conference: Panel Chair - Presenter
“Picturing Yourself: Graphic Narratives and Selfhood”
February 22, 2018
The Louisville Conference: Presenter
“Feelings in the Gutter: Opportunities for Emotional Engagement in Comics”
February 23, 2017
Midwest Popular and American Culture Association Annual Conference: Panel Chair - Presenter
“American Kryptonite: Superman and the Disenchantment from Civil Religion in the U.S.”
October 6, 2016
Kentucky Philosophical Association Annual Conference: Responder
April 16, 2016
conference presentations
Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion: Presenter
“Rethinking Sacred Metaphors in Response to the Rise of the Nones”
March 7-9, 2014
Columbus State University Graduate Research Conference: Presenter
“Similar Differences: A Compatibilist View of the Common Core Debate in the Study of Mystical Experiences”
October 25, 2012
WKU Undergraduate Research Conference: Presenter
“Particularism and
Defining Morality”
February 27, 2010