Artificial Intelligence. An intriguing idea, isn’t it? To imagine a machine which can replicate a human’s ability to think stirs the mind in so many ways. Indeed, AI has been a darling of science fiction for decades. With it we’ve created terrifying villains like HAL from 2001 Space Odyssey. With it we’ve met some endearing characters such as Data from Star Trek and Disney’s Wall-E. It is a concept that simultaneously intrigues and terrifies us, and the repulsion-attraction has only grown as the potential of achieving human-level AI draws steadily closer. Now AI presents many moral and ethical issues in …
Between the Lines: Let the Devil Out, Part III
“When I heard all those prayers, all those… suffering people, I thought it was God’s voice. But I was wrong. All I ever heard was people in pain. And all he ever gave any of us was… silence.” Matt Murdock, “Daredevil, Season 3×2– “Please” Warning: Spoilers abound! If you haven’t watched The Defenders or Season 3 of Daredevil, don’t read any further. The quote above is what Matt Murdock, the superhero Daredevil, bemoans at the onset of Season 3. Wrong as he is, it’s still a bracing reminder that this how many people—even Christians—feel about God at times. It takes …
Between the Lines: Let the Devil Out, Part II
“Guilt can be a good thing. It’s the soul’s call to action. The indication that something is wrong. The only way to rid your heart of it is to correct your mistakes and keep going until amends are made. I don’t know what you didn’t do or what you should have done, but the guilt… the guilt means your work is not yet finished.” Father Paul Lantom, “Daredevil,” Season 2×4 – “Penny and Dime” The second season of Daredevil opens not with a guilt-stricken Matt Murdock wrestling with what he’s about to do wrong but reveling in the very thing …
Gift Giving Guide for the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reader in Your Life
Books make the best Christmas gifts. Unwrapping a book is like having a magical journey dropped in your lap. Once you crack open the pages, you know you will meet people you will never forget, experience heart-pounding adventures, and visit places that are wilder than your wildest dreams. Giving just the right book to just the right reader makes the experience truly magical. So, we decided to help you out with this Gift Giving Guide! For the Jedis, Starfleet Cadets, and Brown Coats in the Crowd Whether you’re a fan of the original Star Wars trilogy or have become …
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Between the Lines: Let the Devil Out, Part I
“I’m not seeking penance for what I’ve done, Father. I’m asking forgiveness… for what I’m about to do.”—Matt Murdock, “Daredevil,” Season 1×1 – “Into the Ring” With that line, coming at the end of a heartfelt confession, Marvel launched Daredevil in 2015. It was the first of the true superhero shows made for Netflix television by the powerhouse studio, not counting Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which has always been about the heroes behind the supers. This was a bold move in many ways, in part because the last outing for the character was a disastrous Ben Affleck version that hit screens …
Allegories: Dated and Dusty or Relevant and Rich
Jesus’ parables were allegorical. An allegory is a story where symbolic figures, actions or representations express deeper truths. In the parable of the prodigal son, for instance, the father represents our heavenly Father, while the son represents every person who has ever wandered off the right path before returning to the Father’s welcoming arms. Early Christian Allegories The Christian tradition has a long history of allegorical writing, the best known probably being John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), which tells the story of “Christian” on his way to The Celestial City. Hannah Hurnard’s Hind’s Feet on High Places (1955), is …
Chosen For a Quest – Will You Go?
You have been chosen for a Quest. Adventure is sure to await but the path will also be perilous and filled with obstacles and enemies. Are you willing to go? Fragment of Truth in Fantasy Fiction explored how fantasy writing often reflects fragments of biblical truth. Quests are such a fragment. The fantasy genre’s most common plotline is the quest. Like Bilbo leaving his comfortable hobbit hole to join the company of Dwarves as they set off to defeat the dragon Smaug and reclaim their homeland (The Hobbit, Tolkien). Or the Pevensies stepping through the wardrobe, to be …
Fragments of Truth in Fantasy Fiction
We are all myth-weavers and lore-tellers. Perhaps we tell our children fantastical stories. Perhaps we spend long months and years crafting them into a manuscript. If we aren’t telling or writing them, perhaps we are the listeners or the readers, allowing the stories to come alive through our imaginations. Tolkien argued that fantasy stories in particular evoke a deep wonder and longing in us because these stories bear truth to an underlying reality. He said, “We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true …
Villains: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Villains: without them, there would be no heroes. But where do villains come from? What causes a person or a being to go down that dark path? And do they realize what they’ve become? I once read that a villain is the hero of his or her own story. I’m not sure if that is true for every villain. After all, some villains know they’re bad and they don’t care. But there are others who think they’re the good guys. I then realized that in the broad scope of things, you could break villains down into three categories: the good, …