A Charlie Brown Religion: Exploring the Spiritual Life and Work of Charles M. Schulz (Tom Inge Series on Comics Artists)

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 Previously unpublished writings from Schulz will move fans as they begin to see the nuances of the humorist’s own complex, intense journey toward understanding God and faith.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.