Theology and Black Mirror

Amber Bowen; John Anthony Dunne

doi:10.5771/9781978711174

Summary

Black Mirror, Netflix’s dystopian anthology, probes what it means to be human in a technological world. While the show raises interesting, if not disturbing, questions, it refrains from giving answers, putting the onus on viewers to continue the conversation. Accordingly, Theology and Black Mirror engages questions and prominent themes in the show with resources from the Christian tradition, including the academic disciplines of biblical studies, theology, philosophy, and ethics.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-9787-1116-7
ISBN-Online: 978-1-9787-1117-4
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 346
Product type: Edited Book

1. Contents No access
More Than Meets the Eye No access Pages 1 - 18
1. 1. 1. The Cardinal Virtues of the Technological Morality No access
    2. Gaining a Technological Society but Losing Our Soul No access
  2. 1. Immanent Freedom through Christological Transcendence No access
    2. Genuine Hope to Live in Reality No access
  3. Conclusion No access
  4. Notes No access
  5. Bibliography No access
2. 1. Barbarism and the Primacy of Life No access
  2. The Techno-Scientific World of Fifteen Million Merits No access
  3. Boredom and Entertainment No access
  4. The Pornographic Gaze No access
  5. Signs of Life No access
  6. The Diabolical Spirit of Barbarism No access
  7. Notes No access
  8. Bibliography No access
3. 1. Determinism’s Apparent Threat to Free Will No access
  2. Indeterministic (Libertarian) Free Will No access
  3. The Rollback Argument No access
  4. The Value of Undetermined Choice in Hang the DJ No access
  5. Notes No access
  6. Bibliography No access
4. 1. “Such a Huge Fan”: Ashley as Mediator No access
  2. “Status: Controlled”: Ashley Mediated No access
  3. “I Am All of Me”: Ashley in Search of Authenticity No access
  4. Notes No access
  5. Bibliography No access
5. 1. “I Was the Whole Cliché” No access
  2. “I Heard That You Make These Things That Way—Addictive” No access
  3. “It Wasn’t Supposed to Be Like This” No access
  4. “You Gotta Keep Optimizing” No access
  5. “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” No access
  6. Notes No access
  7. Bibliography No access
1. 1. Nietzsche’s Critique of Religion No access
  2. European Rationalism, Human Nature, and Slave Morality No access
  3. Nietzsche’s Christ No access
  4. Technology and the “Metaphysical Need” No access
  5. The Pathologies of Arkangel No access
  6. The Death of the Mother No access
  7. Arkangel for Lent No access
  8. Bibliography No access
2. 1. Sartre and the Dim View of the Other No access
  2. Marion and the Gaze of Christ No access
  3. Conclusion No access
  4. Notes No access
  5. Bibliography No access
3. 1. Is the Biblical God a Moral Monster? No access
  2. What Kind of God Is Captain Robert Daly? No access
  3. Human and Divine Murders in Exodus and Beyond No access
  4. The Final Frontier of a Murderous Trinity No access
  5. Notes No access
  6. Bibliography No access
1. 1. A Culture on Trial: “Could You Move the Microphone a Little Closer?” No access
  2. Crossing the Line: Disembodied Comments and a Body on the Floor No access
  3. Freedom of Speech and the Question of Culpability (Hateful Words Are Okay As Long as They Are Trending) No access
  4. The Story within the Story: Consequences No access
  5. 1. Words and the Word on Trial: Johannine Testimony and Online Hate Speech No access
    2. The Co-Opted Hivemind: When Our Hate and Indignation Are Instrumentalized No access
    3. “Whose Justice?” The Logos in the (Online) Echo Chamber of Broken Humanity No access
  6. Notes No access
  7. Bibliography No access
2. 1. 1. The Lady’s Tower No access
    2. The Shepherd’s Tower No access
    3. Reading the Two Towers Together No access
  2. Using a Modern Genre to Explore an Ancient Text No access
  3. 1. Memory and Its Uses No access
  4. Dark Scanners and Dim Divinations: The Agonies of Knowledge and Its Absence No access
  5. Notes No access
  6. Bibliography No access
3. 1. 1. Retribution Reconsidered No access
    2. Judging God? No access
    3. Retribution as “Payback” No access
  2. The External Gaze No access
  3. Conclusion: Guilt and Power No access
  4. Notes No access
  5. Bibliography No access
4. 1. 1. White Bear No access
    2. Perspective Shifting in Shut Up and Dance No access
    3. Perspective Shifting in Men Against Fire No access
  2. Shifting Perspectives on the Samson Narrative No access
  3. Perspective Shifting in the Samson Narrative No access
  4. Conclusion: Shifting the Perspective on Justice No access
  5. Notes No access
  6. Bibliography No access
5. 1. Resurrection: Be Right Back No access
  2. Eternal Disembodied Existence: San Junipero No access
  3. Judgment, Atonement, and Scapegoats: White Bear No access
  4. Eternal Conscious Torment: Black Museum No access
  5. Conclusion No access
  6. Notes No access
  7. Bibliography No access
1. 1. Dystopic Science Fiction and Questions of Meaning No access
  2. Be Right Back Revisited No access
  3. Locke, Authenticity, and the Performance of Identity No access
  4. “The Work of Mourning” and Algorethics in the Digital Age No access
  5. Echoes of Resurrection and the Ethics of Mourning No access
  6. Conclusion: Mourning in “The Uncanny Valley” No access
  7. Notes No access
  8. Bibliography No access
2. 1. 1. Desiring Entertainment No access
    2. Desiring Self-Expression No access
    3. Desiring the Transient as Ultimate No access
  2. Reflecting Light No access
  3. Note No access
  4. Bibliography No access
3. 1. The Entire History of You: Summary No access
  2. 1. Memory as a Virtue No access
    2. Anamnesis and the Memory of the Future No access
  3. Technology, Festival, and the Arts No access
  4. Conclusion No access
  5. Notes No access
  6. Bibliography No access
4. 1. Defining Presence No access
  2. 1. Branching Narratives No access
    2. Choose Your Own Adventure No access
  3. Notes No access
  4. Bibliography No access
5. 1. Space, Place, and the Bible No access
  2. Space, the Medium of Technology, and the Holy Spirit No access
  3. Heaven Is a Person on Earth No access
  4. COVID-19 and the Virtue of Virtual Presence No access
  5. Conclusion No access
  6. Notes No access
  7. Bibliography No access
6. 1. An Overview of Transhumanism in Black Mirror No access
  2. Clarity on Cookies No access
  3. The Metaphysics of Digital Hope No access
  4. “Perfect Body” Eschatology No access
  5. The Desirability of Uploading No access
  6. Conclusion No access
  7. Notes No access
  8. Bibliography No access
Subject Index No access Pages 323 - 326
People Index No access Pages 327 - 334
Ancient Sources Index No access Pages 335 - 342
About the Contributors No access Pages 343 - 346