Category Archives: Protestantism

The Founder – a dark capitalist fairy-tale

The Founder tells the story of Ray Kroc, who turned a modest fast-food restaurant into McDonald’s by betraying the integrity, hard work, and perseverance. It espouses the American virtues of visionary entrepreneurship and self-made success while showing how success is … Continue reading

Posted in America, American dream, authenticity, capitalism, finance/economics, food, Max Weber, morality, nation, Protestantism, The Founder | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Breaking Bad – The Puritan American Dream & the Family

Breaking Bad is one of those rare series that understands character development. The series is about Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a chemistry teacher, who discovers he has cancer and starts making top-notch meth. This is initially to cover his health … Continue reading

Posted in America, American dream, authenticity, Breaking Bad, capitalism, Christianity, entertainment, family, good & evil, individualism, morality, Protestantism, Uncategorized, western | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

West Wing’s Religion – Modern Rationalism and Fundamentalism

In movies, religion is often assumed to be a person’s belief in a supernatural God and that the Bible is the word of God to be taken literally. Religion thus gets neatly divided into ‘good’ (progressive/liberal) and ‘bad’ (conservative) President … Continue reading

Posted in belief, Christianity, Enlightenment, evangelical, faith, knowledge/epistemology, magic, politics, Protestantism, reason/rationality, religion, science, West Wing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Chef – Food, Class, and Salvation in America

Chef is an insipid comedy stuffed with movie stars but no bite. Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) is the head chef at a posh restaurant in California. He’s frustrated by the restaurant owner’s imposition of classical dishes, which stifles his creativity. … Continue reading

Posted in America, authenticity, autonomy, capitalism, Chef, class, consumerism, family, food, freedom, individualism, morality, nation, personhood, Protestantism, religion, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment