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Thy Geekdom Come: 42 Fandom-Inspired Devotionals
Do you dream of dragons, understand Klingon, or consider Pocky your favourite snack? Do you wish there was a book that mashed your faith and fandom together? Delving into the worlds of superheroes, science fiction, anime, fantasy, and video games, Thy Geekdom Come—written by a group of authors and pastors from a variety of Christian backgrounds—relates these tales to an almighty, loving God who is ever present in our beloved franchises. From Doctor Who to The Lord of the Rings, stories impact our lives and can point the way to what is holy if we dare to look.
- GenresNonfiction
276 pages, Paperback
Published May 25, 2019
9 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Casey L. Covel
5 books6 followersAn award-winning pop culture writer, Casey has publication credits in KHInsider, TheLifestream.net, Florida Geek Scene, Think Christian, Geeks Under Grace, Geekdom House, Area of Effect Magazine, Beneath the Tangles, iCosplay Magazine, and more. She served as a lead contributor and editor for Thy Geekdom Come: 42 Fandom-Inspired Devotionals and is published in two Area of Effect pop culture anthologies. When she's not embracing her dreams and expanding her horizontals, she spends her time wielding chopsticks, cosplaying, growing her 700+ figurine collection, philosophizing about the intersection of psychology and religion, and squinting at strange words.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 16, 2019
This devotional is perfect for geeks!
While nothing replaces reading the Bible daily, a good devotional puts God’s words right in the midst of real life. This devotional goes even further to show those words in our daily world.
Each devotion focuses on one aspect, one Truth. It begins by showing it manifesting itself in geek culture via movie, show, book, etc. We know these stories and can relate. Then it shows how we can apply that Truth to our own lives, dealing with our own struggles and weaknesses.
Wrapped around each devotion is a geek quote, scripture, and refection questions.
Christians who love science fiction, fantasy, and all things speculative fiction need to pick up this awesome devotional.”
While nothing replaces reading the Bible daily, a good devotional puts God’s words right in the midst of real life. This devotional goes even further to show those words in our daily world.
Each devotion focuses on one aspect, one Truth. It begins by showing it manifesting itself in geek culture via movie, show, book, etc. We know these stories and can relate. Then it shows how we can apply that Truth to our own lives, dealing with our own struggles and weaknesses.
Wrapped around each devotion is a geek quote, scripture, and refection questions.
Christians who love science fiction, fantasy, and all things speculative fiction need to pick up this awesome devotional.”
January 11, 2023
Content:
These devotionals focus on movies/TV/Video games and sometimes the content is violent or may be triggering (like grief, death, abusive, alcoholism, prostitution etc) but it is always clinically described and not graphic, it's only for the purposes of comparing and contrasting it to the chosen Christian message.
I found this little devotional to be quite fun, and while I was familiar with more than half of the fandoms described, there was a good few I'd never watched or heard of (I'm not a video gamer so those were all new). The correlations were interesting to see, and in a few cases I thought, 'wow, the human mind is really creative on making connections'. Haha.
There were a few that stood out to me, and I highlighted quite and bit. A few messages here were especially poignant for me in my current life situation and felt like they were meant to reach me when they did. And I admit, when I got to the devotional where they used Deadpool, I was incredibly skeptical about that choice. I've never seen it, because I've looked at content descriptions and that movie is basically morbid violent humor and profanity. I was wondering how they were going to get that one to fly. And they did. They made a fair point, but I still don't care for it's inclusion. Me being judgey? Probably.
Basically, this whole book is about finding meaning through the stories we geeky nerdy people love. Stories were often Christ's way of teaching, because stories are capable of reaching your heart not just your head. And change only happens when you can speak to both.
All in all, this was a fun nightly read for me for the last few weeks. (I read two a night because I couldn't wait to see what fandom popped up next!) I'll be looking back at a few of these, with their thought-provoking questions at the end of each devotional from time to time.
These devotionals focus on movies/TV/Video games and sometimes the content is violent or may be triggering (like grief, death, abusive, alcoholism, prostitution etc) but it is always clinically described and not graphic, it's only for the purposes of comparing and contrasting it to the chosen Christian message.
I found this little devotional to be quite fun, and while I was familiar with more than half of the fandoms described, there was a good few I'd never watched or heard of (I'm not a video gamer so those were all new). The correlations were interesting to see, and in a few cases I thought, 'wow, the human mind is really creative on making connections'. Haha.
There were a few that stood out to me, and I highlighted quite and bit. A few messages here were especially poignant for me in my current life situation and felt like they were meant to reach me when they did. And I admit, when I got to the devotional where they used Deadpool, I was incredibly skeptical about that choice. I've never seen it, because I've looked at content descriptions and that movie is basically morbid violent humor and profanity. I was wondering how they were going to get that one to fly. And they did. They made a fair point, but I still don't care for it's inclusion. Me being judgey? Probably.
Basically, this whole book is about finding meaning through the stories we geeky nerdy people love. Stories were often Christ's way of teaching, because stories are capable of reaching your heart not just your head. And change only happens when you can speak to both.
All in all, this was a fun nightly read for me for the last few weeks. (I read two a night because I couldn't wait to see what fandom popped up next!) I'll be looking back at a few of these, with their thought-provoking questions at the end of each devotional from time to time.
June 3, 2019
The intersection of geek culture and Christianity has been a road less traveled. I found this out when, in the introduction to my book, "Chasing the Wind" (a devotional look at Ecclesiastes) I included an scene from the classic Star Trek: the Original Series episode "Amok Time." I felt Spock's advice to his rival perfectly summed up one of the main themes of Ecclesiastes. Yet, both beta readers and editors questioned whether most of my readers would understand the reference.
Imagine my pleasure on reading "Thy Geekdom Come," a book destined to be a signpost at the intersection of geek culture and Christianity. This collection of 42 devotionals not only honours geek culture, it celebrates it - as well as demonstrating how interests in superheroes, science fiction, anime, video games and fantasy can, and do, have spiritual lessons that can be learned.
Well-written and easy to read, "Thy Geekdom Come" takes the reader on a journey through fantastical worlds, yet grounds them in down-to-earth Christian theology and spirituality. The best thing about the book, is that you don't need to have a deep knowledge of every aspect of geek culture. I'm not much of an anime aficionado nor do I play video games, but there's enough information in each of the devotionals based on these genres that I could get the gist of the story and how it applied to Christianity.
"Thy Geekdom Come" is a welcome addition to geek culture - especially since it demonstrates that those of us who have watched "Star Trek" or "Doctor Who" since the '60s, have worn out multiple copies of "The Lord of the Rings" or "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and know who Zaphod Beeblebrox or Charles Xavier are, have discovered lessons from all of them that resonate with our Christian beliefs.
Perhaps, with "Thy Geekdom Come" taking up space on many a geek's bookshelf, that intersection between geek culture and Christianity will become a little more crowded.
Imagine my pleasure on reading "Thy Geekdom Come," a book destined to be a signpost at the intersection of geek culture and Christianity. This collection of 42 devotionals not only honours geek culture, it celebrates it - as well as demonstrating how interests in superheroes, science fiction, anime, video games and fantasy can, and do, have spiritual lessons that can be learned.
Well-written and easy to read, "Thy Geekdom Come" takes the reader on a journey through fantastical worlds, yet grounds them in down-to-earth Christian theology and spirituality. The best thing about the book, is that you don't need to have a deep knowledge of every aspect of geek culture. I'm not much of an anime aficionado nor do I play video games, but there's enough information in each of the devotionals based on these genres that I could get the gist of the story and how it applied to Christianity.
"Thy Geekdom Come" is a welcome addition to geek culture - especially since it demonstrates that those of us who have watched "Star Trek" or "Doctor Who" since the '60s, have worn out multiple copies of "The Lord of the Rings" or "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and know who Zaphod Beeblebrox or Charles Xavier are, have discovered lessons from all of them that resonate with our Christian beliefs.
Perhaps, with "Thy Geekdom Come" taking up space on many a geek's bookshelf, that intersection between geek culture and Christianity will become a little more crowded.
December 7, 2020
As a lifelong geek and Christian, I cherish any opportunity for these two worlds to collide. Pop culture is so filled to the brim with echoes of creation, the fall, redemption, and salvation that the modern-day parables practically write themselves. Christian devotionals, however, tend to skew one of two ways: (1) using a superficial pop culture reference as a hook and then discarding the remainder of it or (2) using scripture to “Christianize” pop culture narratives without appreciating them in their own merit.
In the midst of an oversaturated devotional market determined to preach to the geeks, Thy Geekdom Come is like lembas bread for the soul. It avoids contrived and shoehorned applications in favor of sincere studies that leave the reader not only with a powerful illustration with which to better comprehend their faith, but also a deeper appreciation for their favorite pop culture narratives as well. I can’t remember the last time a geek devotional took the time to translate the meaning behind a Japanese name in a video game, or reference obscure side-material-exclusive content so shamelessly. Nor have I ever read a devotional that meaningfully included minor biblical figures like Ebed-melech or Gomer.
Whether you love Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, My Hero Academia or Attack on Titan, Final Fantasy or The Legend of Zelda, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or RWBY (or ALL of the above!), there’s a fantastic devotional just waiting for you to discover in Thy Geekdom Come.
While I reread my copy of Thy Geekdom Come for the 12th time, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a sequel! Kudos, Mythos & Ink, to you and your incredible team of passionate, gifted writers!
In the midst of an oversaturated devotional market determined to preach to the geeks, Thy Geekdom Come is like lembas bread for the soul. It avoids contrived and shoehorned applications in favor of sincere studies that leave the reader not only with a powerful illustration with which to better comprehend their faith, but also a deeper appreciation for their favorite pop culture narratives as well. I can’t remember the last time a geek devotional took the time to translate the meaning behind a Japanese name in a video game, or reference obscure side-material-exclusive content so shamelessly. Nor have I ever read a devotional that meaningfully included minor biblical figures like Ebed-melech or Gomer.
Whether you love Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, My Hero Academia or Attack on Titan, Final Fantasy or The Legend of Zelda, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or RWBY (or ALL of the above!), there’s a fantastic devotional just waiting for you to discover in Thy Geekdom Come.
While I reread my copy of Thy Geekdom Come for the 12th time, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a sequel! Kudos, Mythos & Ink, to you and your incredible team of passionate, gifted writers!
December 29, 2019
Contextualised thoughts for each day - just what I needed.
In a series of short daily musings by a variety of authors this book gives hope and encouragement, wisdom and insight for the modern Geek. Calling on cultural references and shining biblical light on concepts they raise we end up with an entertaining and satisfying daily read.
Some cultural references were outside of my experience which revealed my BadgeOfGeekdom was more tarnished than I imagined. This meant it was hard to relate to the concept from culture and became a basic bible reading.
But when my Geeky self knew the references well I found myself nodding and smiling and seeing new things.
Overall a good book. I just wished it had gone to 52 readings because then it would fit OCD requirements for one a week in a whole year. As it stands it’s running length is over a month for a daily read or under a year for a weekly one. But then again 42 is a satisfying Geek reference on its own.
In the end 4 stars out of 5 - losing half a star for referencing outside my cultural experience and another half for frustrating any OCD I might have.
In a series of short daily musings by a variety of authors this book gives hope and encouragement, wisdom and insight for the modern Geek. Calling on cultural references and shining biblical light on concepts they raise we end up with an entertaining and satisfying daily read.
Some cultural references were outside of my experience which revealed my BadgeOfGeekdom was more tarnished than I imagined. This meant it was hard to relate to the concept from culture and became a basic bible reading.
But when my Geeky self knew the references well I found myself nodding and smiling and seeing new things.
Overall a good book. I just wished it had gone to 52 readings because then it would fit OCD requirements for one a week in a whole year. As it stands it’s running length is over a month for a daily read or under a year for a weekly one. But then again 42 is a satisfying Geek reference on its own.
In the end 4 stars out of 5 - losing half a star for referencing outside my cultural experience and another half for frustrating any OCD I might have.
May 18, 2019
The editors assembled a team of faithful geeks to make sense of the Bible through the stories of pop culture and they got the job done!
I especially appreciated the diverse backgrounds of the contributors. Men, women, Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, single and married--all of them fans of geeky stories and even bigger fans of Jesus. If your heart has ever been moved by an imaginary story you wished was true, let these fans of Fantasy lead to gospel magic that is good, true, and beautiful.
I especially appreciated the diverse backgrounds of the contributors. Men, women, Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, single and married--all of them fans of geeky stories and even bigger fans of Jesus. If your heart has ever been moved by an imaginary story you wished was true, let these fans of Fantasy lead to gospel magic that is good, true, and beautiful.
October 25, 2019
Worth the read
I used this as my devotional reading for the past 42 (or so) days, and it has always managed to open my eyes to new insights. I appreciate both the reading of a full chapter of scripture to provide good context as well as the reflection questions at the end. My only criticism is that it send to be skewed more towards video games and anime, while are not in my fandom.
I used this as my devotional reading for the past 42 (or so) days, and it has always managed to open my eyes to new insights. I appreciate both the reading of a full chapter of scripture to provide good context as well as the reflection questions at the end. My only criticism is that it send to be skewed more towards video games and anime, while are not in my fandom.
October 1, 2021
Morning devos with my son
My son and I are major nerds who struggle to love God in an authentic way, like many Christians do. This devotional we did together everyday before I went to work and he went to school. It was a great way to start the day, getting inspirational words influenced by the “geekdom” of worlds we so enjoy. A big thanks to all the contributing authors who gave me quality time with my son and with the Lord!
My son and I are major nerds who struggle to love God in an authentic way, like many Christians do. This devotional we did together everyday before I went to work and he went to school. It was a great way to start the day, getting inspirational words influenced by the “geekdom” of worlds we so enjoy. A big thanks to all the contributing authors who gave me quality time with my son and with the Lord!
May 10, 2021
4.5 ⭐
I loved this book! It really only gets 4.5 because I didn't know a good chunk of the nerdy references. I definitely know more than half though and even the ones I didn't know, I still enjoyed for the most part. I think there were only a handful I didn't care for. But if you're a nerdy Christian who likes devotionals...this is for you!
I loved this book! It really only gets 4.5 because I didn't know a good chunk of the nerdy references. I definitely know more than half though and even the ones I didn't know, I still enjoyed for the most part. I think there were only a handful I didn't care for. But if you're a nerdy Christian who likes devotionals...this is for you!
March 18, 2021
A devotional that spoke my language.
November 4, 2020
A surprisingly deep book, based on a variety of pop-culture books, movies, and games. The authors' insights were thoughtful and made me stop and think. I read the book slowly so I could ponder each one before moving on. I wasn't familiar with all of the geeky references, but the articles gave enough background that I could still get the point. I hope they put out another one of these. I would buy it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews