Comics, Culture, and Religion: Faith Imagined

Comics, Culture, and Religion: Faith Imagined, edited by Kees De Groot, Bloomsbury, 2024

Research on religion and popular culture has long been a growing field that has interested many theologians and scholars in the study of religion. However, not all forms of popular culture have been studied to the same extent. Comic books and graphic novels are among the lesser-studied forms of popular culture. Thus, the book Comics, Culture, and Religion: Faith Imagined fills an important space.

The book is divided into four parts. The first part of the book focuses on comic books in religion and looks at for example comics in Christian magazines and how comics has been received in Zoroastrianism. The second part of the book focuses on religion in comic books with studies of for example Krishna and Islam in different comics. The third part of the book reflects on the possibility of viewing comics as religion through a focus on implicit religion, lived religion and pilgrimage. The fourth part of the book discusses what can be learned from comic books.

Naturally, a single book cannot cover the entire breadth of both religions and comic books, but Comics, Culture, and Religion still offer an impressive scope. For both readers and scholars of comic books, the volume can undoubtedly offer many interesting perspectives, while also inviting more research. Comics, Culture, and Religion is available open access online.