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The Soul of Spider-Man: Unexpected Spiritual, Insights Found the Legendary Super-Hero Series
What can you learn from Spider-man? What do you have in common with the most famous comic book super hero in history? You might just be surprised!
From his transformation into a new creation to his struggles with forgiving those who have hurt him, Spider-Man’s story offers a startling parallel to the miraculous and everyday experiences of those who follow Jesus. Inspired by the stories and characters in three of the biggest box-office smashes of all time, The Soul of Spider-Man zooms in beyond the special-effects and big stars to examine the unexpected spiritual lessons spun into the background of the Spider-Man films. Readers will heed the warning against greed when they rewind the tragedy of the Green Goblin in the first Spider-Man, and will understand the importance of humility as they take a second look at the damage caused by Peter Parker’s inflated ego in Spider-Man 3. This fast-moving, entertaining take on the spirituality of Spider-Man includes a group discussion guide for film clubs, youth groups, or young adult small groups.
From his transformation into a new creation to his struggles with forgiving those who have hurt him, Spider-Man’s story offers a startling parallel to the miraculous and everyday experiences of those who follow Jesus. Inspired by the stories and characters in three of the biggest box-office smashes of all time, The Soul of Spider-Man zooms in beyond the special-effects and big stars to examine the unexpected spiritual lessons spun into the background of the Spider-Man films. Readers will heed the warning against greed when they rewind the tragedy of the Green Goblin in the first Spider-Man, and will understand the importance of humility as they take a second look at the damage caused by Peter Parker’s inflated ego in Spider-Man 3. This fast-moving, entertaining take on the spirituality of Spider-Man includes a group discussion guide for film clubs, youth groups, or young adult small groups.
140 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
6 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Dunn
26 books1 followerJeff Dunn has been writing stories since he was ten and wrote his first full-length novel while he was still at school. His non-fiction articles have appeared in a variety of magazines. He studied astronomy and planetary science at university and has worked for the RSPB and RSNC. Ten percent of the royalties from Hecate’s Child will be donated to UNICEF.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 20, 2024
An underrated genre of books in my opinion is authors who love two seemingly-unrelated subjects so much that they want to draw comparisons between the two. This was a fun read in that it was fun to see how the authors could read into the Spider-Man films and extract theological connections. While some of them were a bit of a stretch, some of them were rather well-crafted, and overall it did serve as a good introduction for a younger (or lesser-versed in Christian lore) audience.
January 14, 2013
Basically reads like a 30-day YA Devotional around the topic of Spider-man. The authors decide to ignore everything other than the three Spider-man movies. This allowed them to focus on things people all ready knew. As Sam Rami Spider-man films were a gold mine of spiritual knowledge, it worked okay for the most part.
There were some solid thoughts on how Doctor Octopus' arms are similar to sin and several on revenge. Ironically, there were chapters on Spider-man 3 than the two better-received movies because it lent itself so much analysis with a look at the darker side of the human condition.
On the downside, I actually think including the more obscure comic book material is probably a good idea. Readers of a book like this are interested in Spider-man and so lessons drawn from a comic or a TV show with new information would be pretty engaging and draw out lessons. Because of the focus on the movies, the authors had to stretch their points a couple times including one where they compared to the appearance of the Sandman to the resurrection. There was also a chapter that suggested that God didn't want to hear about your anger or negativity and that lament and expressions of your true feelings were an old testament. Overall, worthwhile for Spider-man fans for some interesting points. Not sure there's much meat in these insights.
There were some solid thoughts on how Doctor Octopus' arms are similar to sin and several on revenge. Ironically, there were chapters on Spider-man 3 than the two better-received movies because it lent itself so much analysis with a look at the darker side of the human condition.
On the downside, I actually think including the more obscure comic book material is probably a good idea. Readers of a book like this are interested in Spider-man and so lessons drawn from a comic or a TV show with new information would be pretty engaging and draw out lessons. Because of the focus on the movies, the authors had to stretch their points a couple times including one where they compared to the appearance of the Sandman to the resurrection. There was also a chapter that suggested that God didn't want to hear about your anger or negativity and that lament and expressions of your true feelings were an old testament. Overall, worthwhile for Spider-man fans for some interesting points. Not sure there's much meat in these insights.
May 11, 2011
Written for kids trying to sound cool using Jr high language. Not very good grammatically - it did talk about Jesus which is important...but it isn't a book for adults.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews