Theology and Breaking Bad explores the brutal and seemingly nihilistic moral landscape of the AMC neo-Western crime drama Breaking Bad (2008-2013) with insights into the characters, their struggles, and the moral consequences resulting from their actions. Throughout the book, the contributors find telltale traces of theological themes that have been woven into the storylines by the writers and directors and bring them out for the reader in ten essays that span topics from Greek mythology to the Hebrew Bible, and extend into Eastern and Western Christendom. Readers will find provocative reflections that will add to their appreciation of this show, as well as its spinoff series, Better Call Saul (2015-2022). This volume also advances academic inquiries in such fields as popular culture and theology, hermeneutics, biblical studies, Patristics, film studies, diasporic and colonial studies, and explores such themes as antihero redemption, penance, salvation, and forgiveness. This book will be of interest to both academics and fans alike.

Theologies, no matter their designations, are public measures - they disclose as well as gauge the publics (near and far) on which they stand, sit, lie, or fall. Because publics shift and mingle, theologies require reimagining and relocating, and embracing fresh insights and energies. The insights and energies embraced in this work are in three clusters: spaces, bodies, technologies. The spotlighted spaces are in Africa, Asia, Black America, Caribbean, and Pasifika - beyond the eyes of mainline theologies; the privileged bodies have survived, with scars from, empire and missionary positionings; and the welcomed technologies include Dalit, indigenous, art, poetry, cyborg, and the novel. This collection is troubling in several ways: first, reimagining and relocating are troubling acts upon their subject matter - here, public theologies. On that note, what theology is not public? Second, this work takes theologies in general, and not just the theologies that carry the "public" designation, to be public theologies. Third, this work takes theologies (in general) to be inherently troubling. In other words, theologies that are not troubling are not public enough.