Let us discuss a DANGEROUS TV SHOW. And of course, we’re talking about a very family friendly Jesus TV show—The Chosen. What is the state of the evangelical search for validation, for legitimacy, in the American religious landscape today? Has Christian TV arrived? Can we tell who is an “evangelical” by what they purchase, what they consume?

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988 film): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095497/

Artifact: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/the-chosen-dallas-jenkins-interview-season-4-1235909988/

Dallas Jenkins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Jenkins

Ronald Numbers, The Creationists: https://books.google.com/books?id=GQ3TI5njXfIC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

“Name it and Frame It” Phony Doctorates in the Church: https://www.apologeticsindex.org/2794-name-it-and-frame-it-phony-doctorates-in-the-church

The National Association of Evangelicals: https://www.nae.org/

The “Bebbington Quadrilateral”: https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481314435/the-evangelical-quadrilateral/

Leah Payne, “‘Sound of Freedom’ and the Media Fueling Belief in America’s ‘Special Role’ in Human History”: https://www.prri.org/spotlight/sound-of-freedom-and-the-media-fueling-belief-in-americas-special-role-in-human-history/

The “Holiness Movement”: https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/history/timelines/entry?etype=3&eid=13

Randall J. Stephens, The Fire Spreads: Holiness and Pentecostalism in the American South: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674046856

We celebrate the religious aesthetic—and mourn the loss—of Precious Moments creator Sam Butcher. A pastel-colored, Christian-infused aesthetic embodied by Precious Moments may of course prompt a reaction: like the “Precious Mutation” of Keith Busher. Did evangelical art (and theology) ever grow up?

How can this couple have been married 25 years when they are children: https://www.preciousmoments.com/twenty-five-happy-years-together-figurine

Jesus said: “wise as a serpent, gentle as a dove”: https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Matthew%2010%3A16

Daniel Silliman obituary of Sam Butcher: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/05/sam-butcher-precious-moments-art-artist-chapel-obit/

The Sam Butcher story on the Precious Moments website: https://www.preciousmoments.com/butcher-story/

Keith Busher, the “Precious Mutator” (Instagram): https://www.instagram.com/preciousmutator/?hl=en; (Etsy): https://www.etsy.com/shop/PreciousMutations

Precious Mutations story: https://www.today.com/home/precious-mutants-are-terrifying-version-precious-moments-figurines-t161577

Thomas Kincaid, “The Painter of Light”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kinkade

The “Precious Moments Chapel” mural: https://www.preciousmoments.com/blog/history-of-precious-moments-chapel-hallelujah-square

Later Sam Butcher paintings of nude bodies: https://x.com/danielsilliman/status/1795890318853767351

Garbage Pail Kids example: https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/120329100954-garbage-pail-kids-leaky-lindsay.jpg?q=w_1248,h_1732,x_0,y_0,c_fill

Today we’re discussing a book by religion and philosophy professor Jeffrey Kripal (Rice University), called How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else (University of Chicago Press, 2024). He seems to be suggesting…that we should believe…in impossible things. Miracles. Levitation. UFOs. Archetypes. And many other things Leah and Brian were told not to believe in during their time in secular graduate programs, of the type that Kripal himself would seem to teach in. What is happening here? We explore. Join us.

“Authentic” was the 2023 Merriam-Webster word of year: https://www.georgefamilyfoundation.org/news/blog-post-title-three-x9s6e-h4jbh#:~:text=Merriam-Webster

Leah Payne, award winner, for God Gave Rock and Roll to You: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/12/christianity-today-book-awards-2024/?

Here is the book on the publisher’s website, Jeffrey Kripal’s, How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo216049049.html

“dual aspect monism” // double-aspect theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-aspect_theory

Jeffrey J. Kripal: https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/jeffrey-j-kripal

Jonathan Z. Smith: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Z._Smith

Jonathan Z. Smith, “Religion, Religions, Religious”: https://womrel.sitehost.iu.edu/Rel433%20Readings/SearchableTextFiles/Smith_ReligionReligionsReligious.pdf

Jonathan Z. Smith, “In Comparison a Magic Dwells”: https://classics.osu.edu/sites/classics.osu.edu/files/Magic_Dwells.pdf

Russel McCutcheon, Critics Not Caretakers: https://www.routledge.com/Critics-Not-Caretakers-Redescribing-the-Public-Study-of-Religion/McCutcheon/p/book/9781032467924

Mircea Eliade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mircea_Eliade

The Nietzsche book Brian was trying to remember: The Birth of Tragedy: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51356/51356-h/51356-h.htm

Book Leah mentioned, that she taught this past semester: Charles Freeman, Holy Bones, Holy Dust: How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe: https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Bones-Dust-History-Medieval/dp/0300184301

Carlos Eire, They Flew: A History of the Impossible: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300280074/they-flew/

The mystery of where socks go in the washer: https://youtube.com/shorts/lh64cnjDsWg?si=P15MsWcO3Op2eC3t

The Coach bag Brian is describing, note outer side pocket, and there is an identical one on the other side: https://photos-us.bazaarvoice.com/photo/2/cGhvdG86bWFjeXM/0f759b29-68af-5b3c-85e7-cc3983a4cd24