Scholars of religion have begun to explore horror and the monstrous, not simply within the confines of the biblical text or the traditions of religion, but also as they proliferate into popular culture. This exploration emerges from what has long been present in horror: an engagement with the same questions that animate religious thought questions about the nature of the divine, humanity's place in the universe, the distribution of justice, and what it means to live a good life, among many others. Such exploration often involves a theological conversation. This volume pursues questions regarding non-physical realities, spaces where both divinity and horror dwell. Through an exploration of theology and horror, the contributors explore how questions of spirituality, divinity, and religious structures are raised, complicated, and even sometimes answered (at least partially) by works of horror.
Introduction: Theology and Horror
Brandon R. Grafius and John W. Morehead
Section One: Horrifying Foundations
Chapter 1 Consider the Yattering: The Infernal Order and the Religious
Imagination in Real Time Douglas E. Cowan
Chapter 2 The Theological Origins of Horror Steve A. Wiggins
Chapter 3 Mysterium Horrendum: Exploring Otto's Concept of the Numinous in
Stoker, Machen, and Lovecraft Jack Hunter
Section Two: Christianizing the Monster
Chapter 4 Priests, Secrets, and Holy Water: All I Ever Learned About
Catholicism I Learned from Horror Films Karr Shimabukuro
Chapter 5 We Have to Stop the Apocalypse!: Pre- Millennial
(Mis)Representations of Revelation and Eschaton in Horror Cinema Kevin J.
Wetmore, Jr.
Chapter 6 Gnostic Terror: Subverting the Narrative of Horror Alyssa J. Beall
Section Three: Paranormal World, Monstrous History
Chapter 7 A Longing for Reconciliation: The Ghost Story as Demand for
Corporeal and Terrestrial Justice Joshua Wise
Chapter 8 Whos afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?: Two Models of Christian
Theological Engagement with Lycanthropy Michael A. Hammett
Chapter 9 Endings that Never Happen: Otherness, Indecent Theology,
Apocalypse, & Zombies Jessi Knippel
Section Four: Readings in Theology and the Horror Film
Chapter 10 Do I Look Like Someone Who Cares What God Thinks?: Narrative
Ambiguity, Religion, and the Afterlife in the Hellraiser Franchise Mark
Richard Adams
Chapter 11 Ferocious Marys and Dark Alessas: The Portrayal of Religious
Matriarchies in Silent Hill Amy Beddows
Chapter 12 They Say with Jason Death Comes First/ Hell Make Hell a Place on
Earth: The Functions of Hell in New Lines Jason Sequels Wickham Clayton
Brandon R. Grafius is associate professor of biblical studies at Ecumenical Theological Seminary.
John W. Morehead is an independent scholar who specializes in new religious movements, religion and popular culture, and interreligious conflict.
