Young Adult Movie Ministry

is a podcast about Christian culture and the movies, and how they interact with each other. The hosts are Sam Thielman, a reporter and occasional commentator, and Alissa Wilkinson, Vox’s film critic at Vox. It’s funny and we try to tell you about why Christians are obsessed with this movie (Braveheart), hate that movie (Citizen Ruth), or hate and are obsessed with other movies (Monty Python’s Life of Brian, The Last Temptation of Christ).

How much is it?

$5 a month.

Who are you?

Sam Thielman is a reporter and critic based in New York. His work has been featured in The Columbia Journalism Review, The Guardian, Talking Points Memo, and Variety. In 2017 he was political consultant for Comedy Central's The President Show and a reporter at TPM, where he broke the news that President Trump had been negotiating a real-estate deal with Russian authorities during his 2016 election campaign. His reporting has been cited by the House Oversight Committee and in testimony before the House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and the Senate Judiciary Committee, and his essay about Disney World, No Matter How Your Heart Is Grieving, was selected by Slate as one of the best pieces published by online literary magazine The Toast. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.

Alissa Wilkinson is a senior culture reporter and movie critic at Vox.com and teaches criticism, cultural theory, and cinema studies at a small Christian college in downtown Manhattan. Alissa grew up in the Albany, New York area and was “very homeschooled” for most of her education — calico jumpers, the whole bit. Before joining Vox, Alissa wrote for publications including Rolling Stone, Vulture, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Pacific Standard, The LA Review of Books, Christianity Today, World, Books & Culture, and many more. She co-wrote a book on the apocalypse and pop culture (and Charles Taylor), How to Survive the Apocalypse, which was an unfortunately prescient name for a book published in May 2016, and her book Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women is due out in May 2022 Broadleaf Books. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband.

Subscribe to Young Adult Movie Ministry

A podcast about Christianity and movies by Sam Thielman and Alissa Wilkinson.

People

Sam is a reporter, critic, and editor whose work can be read at Forever Wars and The Guardian, among others. He hosts a film podcast with critic Alissa Wilkinson called Young Adult Movie Ministry.