The romance genre may be the most popular genre in the world. But is it harmful for us? Does it create unrealistic and harmful expectations? Nathan Clarkson and Joseph Holmes bring on author, actress and podcast host Keelia Clarkson to get some answers. Links to sources

Popularity of the romance genre: https://www.snhu.edu/about-us/newsroom/liberal-arts/misconceptions-about-the-romance-genre

Popularity of Hallmark movies/problems with romance movies: https://olemiss.edu/news/2024/07/romantic-movies-perception/index.html

Popularity of Bridgerton: https://deadline.com/2024/07/bridgerton-season-3-netflix-most-popular-list-shonda-rhimes-1235999509/

People claim they don’t negatively compare their partners unlesss relationship “already rocky”:

https://www.latimes.com/health/la-xpm-2011-jul-07-la-heb-romance-novels-women-health-20110707-story.html

https://www.npr.org/2011/07/07/137675779/romance-fiction-and-womens-health-a-dose-of-skepticism

People who watch romance movies report greater relationship satisfaction: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/nurturing-resilience/202302/does-watching-romantic-movies-help-your-love-life-flourish

Defending romance novels: https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/why-you-should-be-reading-romance-novels.html

Why people love romances: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/love-them-or-leave-them/202406/this-is-your-brain-on-bridgerton

How the sexual revolution killed the hollywood rom com/how sleeping around to find true love doesn’t work: https://religionunplugged.com/news/2023/11/5/how-the-sexual-revolution-killed-the-hollywood-rom-com

Blesses

The Vow Meet Cute

Five Feet Apart Curses

Anyone But You

All Fours

An Affair to Remember

In honor of co-host Nathan Clarkson's new Western movie "Bright Sky", Nathan and Joseph discuss whether anyone is beyond redemption, and what that means.

Links to sources cited:

Summary of Thomas Aquinas’s Compilation of Answers to What is Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit (including St. Augustine): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf8pin8x71Y

Psychologists emphasize the capacity to grow and change: https://psychcentral.com/blog/can-people-really-change#can-you-change-habits

Views of personality and neuroplasticity: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/behavior/can-people-change-or-do-they-just-lie/

The “Beyond Redemption” narrative trope: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeyondRedemption

The “Moral Event Horizon” which establishes a character as beyond moral redemption: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoralEventHorizon

People who never change: https://medium.com/@justsomewriter/im-starting-to-truly-think-some-people-are-truly-beyond-saving-5379208baa06

US Office of Justice Programs - Some people are beyond modern science’s ability to rehabilitate: https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/can-everyone-be-rehabilitated#:~:text=There%20are%20persons%20beyond%20the,and%20deranged%20habits%20of%20gratification.

Criticism of abandoning rehabilitation efforts: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3762476/#:~:text=However%2C%20to%20the%20shock%20of,why%20this%20shift%20took%20place.

Blesses:

Red Dead Redemption 1 + 2 (Video Games)

Redeeming Love (Book)

Unforgiven (Movie) Curses: Yellowstone (TV Show)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Movie) Websites The Overthinkers theoverthinkersjournal.world Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.me Joseph Holmes josepholmesstudios.com

How do we know our calling in life? Nathan Clarkson and Joseph Holmes talk to Biblical scholar Dr. William Klein on the history of the word "calling" and how we might be all--religious and non-religious alike--using the word wrong. Links to resources mentioned:

Calling Definition: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calling

More definitions of “calling”: https://www.christianitytoday.com/partners/nav-press/what-is-calling/

Forbes 20 Ways to Find Your Calling: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessicahagy/2012/06/26/20-ways-to-find-your-calling/

Desire for calling: https://www.letu.edu/alumni/identify-your-calling.html

Oprah “Are You Listening to Your Life?”: https://www.oprah.com/omagazine/what-are-you-meant-to-be-doing-find-your-calling

“It’s Never Too Late to Find Your Calling”: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-at-any-age/202401/its-never-too-late-to-find-your-calling

Desiring God - How to Discern God’s Call: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-do-i-know-gods-calling-for-my-life

Relevant Magazine - “Is This My Calling or Just Something I Enjoy?”: https://relevantmagazine.com/life5/how-to-know-if-your-calling-is-really-from-god/

Academic perspectives on calling: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00187267221095759#bibr24-00187267221095759

Blesses

Hero of a Thousand Faces (Book)

Hero on a Mission (Book)

Sound of Hope (Movie)

Deadpool & Wolverine (Movie)

The Shock of Faith (Article)

Curses

Don’t Waste Your Life (Book)

The Hill (Movie)

Wish (Movie)

The Call (Book) Websites Overthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.world Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.me Joseph Holmes: josepholmesstudios.com Will Klein: https://denverseminary.edu/directory/klein-phd-william/