Theology and Batman

Theology and Batman examines theological themes such as theodicy and evil, ethics and morality, justice and vengeance, and the Divine in various stories featuring The Dark Knight from across different mediums, including comics, movies, and video games.

Batman is one of the most recognized and popular pop culture icons. Appearing on the page of Detective Comics #27 in 1939, the character has inspired numerous characters, franchises, and spin-offs over his 80+ year history. The character has displayed versatility, appearing in stories from multiple genres, including science fiction, noir, and fantasy and mediums far beyond his comic book origins. While there are volumes analyzing Batman through literary, philosophical, and psychological lenses, this volume is one of the first academic monographs to examine Batman through a theological and religious lens. Theology and Batman analyzes Batman and his world, specifically exploring the themes of theodicy and evil, ethics and morality, justice and vengeance, and the Divine Nature. Scholars will appreciate the breadth of material covered while Batman fans will appreciate the love for the character expressed through each chapter.

Introduction: Batman as a Focus of Theological Inquiry

C.K. Robertson, Ph.D., and Matthew Brake

Section One: Theodicy and Evil

1. The Karmic Tragedy of Bruce Wayne: Batman as Anti-Buddha

Wesley D. Cray

2. Suffering and Evil in the Book of Job and Batman: The Killing Joke

Francesco Del Bianco

3. Evil After Christianity: Joker (2019) as Post-Christian Theodicy

Katherine Kelaidis

4. Beginning with Wickedness, or the Long Dark Knight of the Polis’ Soul

John C. McDowell

5. Batman Encounters Judaism and the Holocaust

Rafael Medoff

Section Two: Ethics and Morality

6. “Fear of Faith” and Faith over Fear: Scarecrow as Emblem of a Purgatorial Gotham

Christina M. Knopf

7. Pride Goeth Before the Knightfall: Sabbath as Heroic Practice

Drew McIntyre

8. Batman Forever: Morality and Narrative in Grant Morrison’s Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne

Andrew Kuzma

9. The Bat-Bodhisattva: A Buddhist reading of our favorite (Anti)Hero

John Thompson

10. Batman’s Cardinal Virtues in Dark Knight Returns

Joseph Turner

Section Three: Justice and Vengeance

11. Reflections on Revolutionary Gotham: Sovereignty, Sacrifice, and Theological Fantasy in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy

Ryan Haecker

12. No Saviors in Gotham: Black Liberation and Whiteness in Batman: The Cult

Peter Herman

13. Vengeance, Justice, and Batman’s War on Crime

Randall M. Jensen

14. False Messiah and Real Devils: Batman and Girard on the Fate of Gotham Mimesis and the Messianic

Clint Jones

15. Fighting for Righteousness: Batman’s Atonement

Joshua Wise

Section Four: Deities and the Divine

16. Morality, Epistemology, and How Batman Can Know That God Exists

Batman: Atheist?

Armond Boudreaux

17. How One Becomes What One Is: The Nietzschean Polytheology of Joker (2019)

Vernon W. Cisney

18. Dark Knight of the Soul: Reading Batman with Apophatic Theology

Stephen Garner

19. The Dark Knight and the Dark Side of God

Michael D. Nichols

20. God-Confusion in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Michael Anthony Novak