Manicured Heavens: Anthropocentric Topographies in Evangelical Media

This work of this paper is to examine how Evangelical media visualizes the landscape of heaven and what these depictions reveal about theological and cultural aspirations. In doing so, it argues that Evangelical depictions of the heavenly topographies consistently present deeply anthropocentric theologies in which heavenly land remains ordered under human-oriented dominion. The paper turns to three primary examples, a Trinity Broadcast Network “Praise the Lord!” soundstage, the film Heaven Is for Real, and the film The Shack. The study analyzes how lawns, parks, and wilderness are imagined in each of these digital "heavenscapes." These landscapes encode distinct ideals: prosperity and privatized wealth, child-centered safety and family values, and controlled pastoral freedom. Together, they reveal an anthropocentric Evangelical dominionist theology, one which impacts more than the beyond, but touches the here, now, and immediate future.