Is there anything holy in Springfield, the home to irascible Bart Simpson and his naive dad Homer, their enthusiastic evangelical neighbor Ned Flanders, the sourpuss minister Rev. Lovejoy, and the dozens of other unique characters who inhabit the phenomenally popular TV show? In this revision of the 2001 bestseller, author Mark Pinsky says Yes!
In this entertaining and enlightening book, Pinsky shows how The Simpsons engages issues of religion and morality in a thoughtful, provocative, and genuinely respectful way. With three new chapters and updates to reflect the 2001-2006 seasons, Pinsky has given a thorough facelift to the book that Publishers Weekly called "thoughtful and genuinely entertaining."
The new material includes chapters on Buddhism and gay marriage and an extensive afterword that explores how religion is treated on the animated shows that have followed in the footsteps of The Simpsons: South Park, Family Guy, Futurama, American Dad, and King of the Hill.
Mark I. Pinsky is religion reporter for the Orlando Sentinel and author of A Jew among the Evangelicals: A Guide for the Perplexed and The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust. His writing has appeared in USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and the Columbia Journalism Review, and he appears frequently in national media discussing religion and culture.
Mark Pinksy writes like the wise, witty friend who you'd like to chat with for hours about stuff that you both enjoy. That's the best way to describe his style and to explain why either of his books in this series ("Simpsons" or "Disney") are great for groups.
This new edition of his "Simpsons" book is expanded with 70 new pages that examine many of the other animated series that have followed the "Simpsons" success. So, even if you have an earlier edition of the book, you'll want to ante up for this new one that covers "Futurama," "Kng of the Hill," "Family Guy," "American Dad" and "South Park."
Beyond its usefulness with groups, the book should be on every pastor's, teacher's and parent's shelf these days.
Pinsky enjoys a lot of these shows, but he's not a fan of everything he sees and he draws critical lines between those with redeeming value and those that he thinks take some exceedingly low blows at the expense of religion.
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