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What can vampires teach us about God? How can they reshape the way we think about religion, and our relationship with the divine? Through a thorough analysis of the relationship between theology and vampires,
Theology and Vampires provides a glimpse into the versatility of the vampire as a tool for theological enquiry. Contributions to the volume assess vampires and their role in articulating theological thought, bringing together some of the classical vampire tales of the 19th century, with contemporary iterations of the figure. Considering how vampires are used to ask theological questions across media, from literature through to video games, this volume paints a complex and comprehensive picture of the often overlooked manner in which vampires not only reflect but also actively shape theological modes of enquiry.
List of contents
Introduction,
Madeline PotterChapter 1: Contesting Materialism in Nineteenth-Century Vampire Fiction,
Alison MilbankChapter 2: 'Bless Me Lord, For I am Going to Sin:' Vampire Priests, the Role of Blood, Religion and Gothic Heresy,
Jonathan GreenawayChapter 3: Indian Vampires: Religion, Esotericism, Responses in English and Bengali Literature,
Shaona BarikChapter 4: What We [Actually] Do in the Shadows: Vampires in Orthodox Christianity through the Lens of Kostova's
The Historian,
David K. GoodinChapter 5: Japanese Vampires for Christ: Vampire Media as Religious Invasion Narrative in Japan,
Justin MullisChapter 6: In the Beginning, God Created Lilith: Vampiric Ontology, Gender and Lilith in
True Blood and
She Never Died,
Mary GoingChapter 7: The Inoperative Bite:
Aoi Tori, Vampire Narratives, and the Absence of Evil,
Leo ChuChapter 8: "We are on a Mission from God." - Alucard, Theology, Monsters, and Monstrosity in
Hellsing Ultimate (2006-2012),
Marthe-Siobhán HeckeChapter 9: Vampire Priests and "Cult Messiahs" in Stephen King's
'Salem's Lot, Curtis RunstedlerChapter 10: Bloody Scriptures: The Vampire's Place within the Bible of the Folk Tradition,
Kari SawdenChapter 11: Horizontal Vampirism, Vertical Theology: Juxtaposing Jean Rollin's
Lips of Blood with Abel Ferrara's
The Addiction,
Gavin F. HurleyChapter 12: Blade and the Spiritual Problem of Evil,
Peter Morgan and Terance Espinoza
About the author
Madeline Potter is Early Career Teaching and Research Fellow in the Long 19th Century (Romanticism to Victorianism) at University of Edinburgh.Mary Going is British Academy postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sheffield.David K. Goodin is a lecturer for the McGill School of Religious Studies in Montreal and Professeur Associé at the Université Laval, Institut de Théologie Orthodoxe de Montréal.Gavin F. Hurley is associate professor of communication at Ave Maria University.Madeline Potter is Early Career Teaching and Research Fellow in the Long 19th Century (Romanticism to Victorianism) at University of Edinburgh.
