Overview

Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip franchise, the most successful of all time, forever changed the industry. For more than half a century, the endearing, witty insights brought to life by Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and Lucy have caused newspaper readers and television viewers across the globe to laugh, sigh, gasp, and ponder. A Charlie Brown Religion explores one of the most provocative topics Schulz broached in his heartwarming work—religion.Based on new archival research and original interviews with Schulz’s family, friends, and colleagues, author Stephen J. Lind offers a new spiritual biography of the life and work of the great comic strip artist. In his lifetime, aficionados and detractors both labeled Schulz as a fundamentalist Christian or as an atheist. Yet his deeply personal views on faith have eluded journalists and biographers for decades. Previously unpublished writings from Schulz will move fans as they begin to see the nuances of the humorist’s own complex, intense journey toward understanding God and faith. “There are three things that I’ve learned never to discuss with people,” Linus says, “Religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.” Yet with the support of religious communities, Schulz bravely defied convention and dared to express spiritual thought in the “funny pages,” a secular, mainstream entertainment medium. This insightful, thorough study of the 17,897 Peanuts newspaper strips, seventy-five animated titles, and global merchandising empire will delight and intrigue as Schulz considers what it means to believe, what it means to doubt, and what it means to share faith with the world.

Full Product Details

9781496814678

Table of Contents

Reviews

Schulz's views on religion, the manner in which religion functions within the strip itself, and Schulz's widely publicized crisis of faith are important and widely discussed topics that deserve exactly the sort of serious and well-informed treatment found in this book. Schulz is one of the most important American comics creators, but surprisingly little has been written on him. This is an impressive and welcome contribution to comics studies and in particular to the study of Charles M. Schulz and his beloved Peanuts. The book is very well researched, and it clears up numerous confusions with respect to Schulz's religious views and how they interacted with his important artistic work. --Roy T. Cook, professor of philosophy at University of Minnesota

Author Information

Stephen J. Lind, Lexington, Virginia, is an assistant professor of business communication at Washington and Lee University. His work has appeared in scholarly journals such as ImageTexT, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, and Journal of Communication and Religion.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available