The Undead and Theology

The Undead and Theology PDF Author: Kim Paffenroth
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1610978757
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
The academy and pop culture alike recognize the great symbolic and teaching value of the undead, whether vampires, zombies, or other undead or living-dead creatures. This has been explored variously from critiques of consumerism and racism, through explorations of gender and sexuality, to consideration of the breakdown of the nuclear family. Most academic examinations of the undead have been undertaken from the perspectives of philosophy and political theory, but another important avenue of exploration comes through theology. Through the vampire, the zombie, the Golem, and Cenobites, contributors address a variety of theological issues by way of critical reflection on the divine and the sacred in popular culture through film, television, graphic novels, and literature.

The Undead and Theology

The Undead and Theology PDF Author: Kim Paffenroth
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1610978757
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Get Book Here

Book Description
The academy and pop culture alike recognize the great symbolic and teaching value of the undead, whether vampires, zombies, or other undead or living-dead creatures. This has been explored variously from critiques of consumerism and racism, through explorations of gender and sexuality, to consideration of the breakdown of the nuclear family. Most academic examinations of the undead have been undertaken from the perspectives of philosophy and political theory, but another important avenue of exploration comes through theology. Through the vampire, the zombie, the Golem, and Cenobites, contributors address a variety of theological issues by way of critical reflection on the divine and the sacred in popular culture through film, television, graphic novels, and literature.

The Penguin Book of the Undead

The Penguin Book of the Undead PDF Author: Scott G. Bruce
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143107682
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
The walking dead from 15 centuries haunt this compendium of ghostly visitations through the ages, exploring the history of our fascination with zombies and other restless souls. Since ancient times, accounts of supernatural activity have mystified us. Ghost stories as we know them did not develop until the late nineteenth century, but the restless dead haunted the premodern imagination in many forms, as recorded in historical narratives, theological texts, and personal letters. The Penguin Book of the Undead teems with roving hordes of dead warriors, corpses trailed by packs of barking dogs, moaning phantoms haunting deserted ruins, evil spirits emerging from burning carcasses in the form of crows, and zombies with pestilential breath. Spanning from the Hebrew scriptures to the Roman Empire, the Scandinavian sagas to medieval Europe, the Protestant Reformation to the Renaissance, this beguiling array of accounts charts our relationship with spirits and apparitions, wraiths and demons over fifteen hundred years, showing the evolution in our thinking about the ability of dead souls to return to the realm of the living—and to warn us about what awaits us in the afterlife. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Theology and Horror

Theology and Horror PDF Author: Brandon R. Grafius
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1978707991
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Scholars of religion have begun to explore horror and the monstrous, not only 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. Theology and Horror: Explorations of the Dark Religious Imagination 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.

Vampire God

Vampire God PDF Author: Mary Y. Hallab
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438428588
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 181

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Book Description
Examines the enormous popular appeal of vampires from early Greek and Slavic folklore to present-day popular culture.

Such a Dark Thing

Such a Dark Thing PDF Author: M. Jess Peacock
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1630878189
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
Evil, death, demons, reanimation, and resurrection. While such topics are often reserved for the darker mindscapes of the vampire subgenre within popular culture, they are equally integral elements of religious history and belief. Despite the cultural shift of presenting vampires in a secular light, the traditional figure of the vampire within cinema and literature has a rich legacy of serving as a theological marker. Whether as a symbol of the allure of sin, as an apologetic for assorted religious icons, or as a gateway into a discussion of liberationist theology, the vampire has served as a spiritual touchstone from Bram Stoker's Dracula, to Stephen King's Salem's Lot, to the HBO television series True Blood. In Such a Dark Thing, Jess Peacock examines how the figure of the vampire is able to traverse and interconnect theology and academia within the larger popular culture in a compelling and engaging manner. The vampire straddles the ineffable chasm between life and death and speaks to the transcendent in all of us, tapping into our fundamental curiosity of what, if anything, exists beyond the mortal coil, giving us a glimpse into the interminable while maintaining a cultural currency that is never dead and buried.

Handling the Undead

Handling the Undead PDF Author: John Ajvide Lindqvist
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429940697
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 449

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Book Description
In his new novel, John Ajvide Lindqvist does for zombies what his previous novel, Let the Right One In, did for vampires. Across Stockholm the power grid has gone crazy. In the morgue and in cemeteries, the recently deceased are waking up. One grandfather is alight with hope that his grandson will be returned, but one husband is aghast at what his adored wife has become. A horror novel that transcends its genre by showing what the return of the dead might really mean to those who loved them.

Faith and the Zombie

Faith and the Zombie PDF Author: Simon Bacon
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 147664764X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
Themes of faith and religion have been threaded through popular representations of the zombie so often that they now seem inextricably linked. Whether as mindless servants to a Vodou Bokor or as evidence of the impending apocalypse, the ravenous undead have long captured something of society's relationships with spirituality, religion and belief. By the start of the 21st century, religious beliefs are as varied as the many manifestations of the zombie itself, and both themes intersect with various ideological, environmental and even post-human concerns. This book surveys the various modern religious associations in zombie media. Some characters believe that the undead are part of God's plan, others theorize that the environment might be saving itself or that zombies might be predicting life and hybridity beyond human existence. Timely and important, this work is a meditation on how faith might not just be a forerunner to the apocalypse, but the catalyst to new kinds of life beyond it.

Zombie Church

Zombie Church PDF Author: Tyler Edwards
Publisher: Kregel Publications
ISBN: 0825489261
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
There is something missing in the church today. Stuck in a rut of routines and rituals, the church is caught up in doing what it is “supposed to do” but is lacking the true essence of what it is supposed to provide: life. Real faith--and a real relationship with Jesus--is not about playing by the rules, attending services, and praying before meals. Real faith is more than religion. Believing there is a way to breathe life back into the church, Tyler Edwards adopts a contemporary and entertaining metaphor--zombies--to highlight and challenge the problematic attitude of today’s believers.

Undead

Undead PDF Author: Clay Morgan
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1426759479
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
The New Testament records seven separate incidents of dead people returning to life through the power of God. In the midst of the current cultural fascination with undead creatures, many believers in the church are more familiar with zombies in entertainment than with the amazing stories of new life recorded in the Bible. Undead: Revived, Resuscitated, and Reborn retells these stories in a unique style that will reach a new generation of readers and challenge them to come back from the spiritual dead. Few believers realize that many people - including six specific individuals - are raised from the dead between the Gospels and book of Acts. Undead applies those stories to revitalize the faith of believers while leading seekers to discover the spiritual resuscitation that only comes from God through His Son. By examining each story of resuscitation, readers discover gospel truths that they can apply to their own lies in ways that will elevate hope and challenge faith. Relating to the characters in these accounts helps bring to light areas in our lives that may need revitalization and challenge us to decide whether we will allow God to transform us. Click here to download the FREE Study Guide.

Field of Blood

Field of Blood PDF Author: Eric Wilson
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 1418571083
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
Judas hung himself in a place known as the Akeldama or Field of Blood. But what if his death didn't end his betrayal? What if his tainted blood seeped deep into the earth, into burial caves, causing a counterfeit resurrection of the dead? Gina Lazarescu, a Romanian girl with a scarred past, has no idea she is being sought by the undead. The Collectors, those released from the Akeldama, feed on souls and human blood. But there are also the Nistarim, those who rose from their graves in the shadow of the Nazarene's crucifixion--and they still walk among us, immortal, left to protect mankind. Gina realizes her future will depend on her understanding of the past, yet how can she protect herself from Collectors who have already died once but still live? The Jerusalem's Undead Trilogy takes readers on a riveting journey, as imaginative fiction melds with biblical and archaeological history.