RELS 365 - Religion and Comics

Struggles with anti-Semitism, immigrants finding their place in the world while holding on to their traditions, the weight of responsibility for impossible actions, the outcry for justice in horrific situations – all of these find rich expression in comics grappling with religion. This popular medium also offers new opportunities and challenges for religious traditions. How can comics be used to explore important religious ideas and to educate a new generation? How best should the divine be depicted in this form, if at all? How does religion factor in the imagination of people today? How does religion shape the complex decisions that people face? Is there a place for religion in a redrawn and reimagined world such as that reflected in comics?

"Religion and Comics" will provide an opportunity for students to explore central topics of concern within diverse religious traditions and to think critically about how we make sense of the world around us. The course will also explore the possibilities of the Comics medium to express religion. Capturing religious thought in comic form presents comic creators with new challenges and possibilities. For religious traditions, comics provide a new opportunity to struggle with fascinating and important questions while engaging diverse audiences.

Course Materials

Syllabus

About the Course Designer

Brad Kirkegaard earned his B.A in Comparative Religion from Harvard University and his PhD in Study of Religion from the University of Pennsylvania.  He has been lecturing in the Study of Religion Department at SDSU since 2008.  Prior to coming to SDSU, Dr. Kirkegaard was the Coordinator of UPenn’s Program in Universities, Communities of Faith, Schools and Neighborhood Organizations and before that he worked as the Research Assistant of the Millennium Collection held at the Annenberg Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Pennsylvania.  

Kirkegaard’s research interests include: early Christianity and other Hellenistic religions; Biblical and para-Biblical literature; and the archaeology of religion, specifically the Christianization of formerly “pagan” sacred space.  He has published several articles in the Journal of Lutheran Ethics on various social issues in early Christianity (see links below) and encyclopedia entries on topics such as temples, the Testament of Job, and Male-Female Sexuality in the Roman World.  He regularly teaches Exploring the Bible, Death Dying and the Afterlife, and Evil. 

Read Brad's blog post about the course.