So, has anyone else read this book? I've gone through it multiple times, and it's easily one of the best books I've read on Christians and the arts. Dark's writing is remarkable, and his insights are well thought-out, profound, and, as far as I can tell, very theologically sound.

He deals with The Matrix with much more intelligence than all these "Gospel According to the Matrix" books seem to.

The chapter about Radiohead is wonderful, as well; Dark's interpretation of their work is the closest I've found to an interpretation that matches my own. Anyone who thinks Radiohead is depressing MUST read this book.

Anyone else familiar with it?

I think Radiohead is depressing. I have put the book on hold at the library.

If anyone can shoot down the "Radiohead is depressing" theory, it's David Dark.

Wow! Why have I not heard of this guy before? For anyone else out there who's in the dark about him (sorry!), here's a great introduction.

http://www.everydayapocalyptic.org/

I see that this book comes highly recommended by Steve Stockman, whose book on U2 was terrific - I'm planning to buy Dark's book for my church library.

David is married to Sarah Masen, correct?

That's all I know about him. And that he wrote a cool article on "The Simpsons" for the RELEVANT Web site.

He is great compared to the "Reel Spirituality" type stuff currently on the market. He is going to be here at Trinity talking to the college kids for a week and we hope to do some Q and A film stuff with him. Very exciting. It would be nice to have him kick around on this board.

[quote]And that he wrote a cool article on "The Simpsons" for the RELEVANT Web site.[/quote]

There's an entire section about The Simpsons in the book. Great stuff.

[quote]He is great compared to the "Reel Spirituality" type stuff currently on the market. ....[/quote]
You don't like Johnston's book?

Ron

David's in the middle of writing his new book, The Sacredness of Questioning Everything, and he spoke to a group I'm part of a couple weeks ago about it. I just blogged some of the details here. I don't think a release date is set yet, but I did hear it will be put out by Zondervan.

Yay!

I just finished The Gospel According to America and loved it. This is exciting news.

I recently bought both of his books, but haven't read them yet, other than flipping through The Gospel According to America a couple of times. It is at the top of my stack, as soon as I finish N.T. Wright's new book.

I read Everyday Apocalypse some time ago, and still dip into it now and again. I think it is not too far-fetched to say that it singlehandedly changed the way I looked at--and what I looked for in--literature, music, and movies; I had already begun to accept ambiguity and complexity (thanks, I might add, to the different perspectives I encountered on this board in my deep-lurking years)--Dark showed me how to revel in them as instances where the Apocalyptic breaks into our previously-held assumptions. He's got a good grasp of the ways in which different artforms can hold complex truths up for us to see.

He's also got some great insights into the Coens.

I've got his Gospel According to America waiting to be read, but what I've seen as I've glanced through it (multiple times) looks almost as good. Looking forward to his new book.

I just interviewed David for a story I'm working on. I actually hadn't heard of him (though I recognized the book title) until this morning. After hearing some of his insights over the phone, I'm definitely going to be picking up a copy of his book.