Faith and the Zombie
Critical Essays on the End of the World and Beyond
Published on 5. April 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
290 pages
978-1-4766-8053-8 (ISBN)
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.
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.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Jefferson, NC
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
notes, bibliographies, index
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
478 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4766-8053-8 (9781476680538)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Simon Bacon is an independent scholar based in Poznan, Poland. He has authored and edited many volumes on vampires, monstrosity, science fiction and media studies.
Content
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Peter Dendle
Introduction
Simon Bacon
Part I: Survival and Loss at the End of the World
"She is saved now; I have washed her of all her sins": Coping with Death, Grief and Cults in The Returned
Stella Marie Gaynor
What Waits Beyond: Nihilistic Approaches to Religion and Life After Death in Lucio Fulci's Gates of Hell Trilogy
Mark Richard Adams
From Brainwashing to Brain Eating: Conversion as Zombification
George J. Sieg
Zombie Optimism: Hope in a World Beyond the Apocalypse
Scout Tafoya
Part II: Undead Capitalism, Undead Planet
"I hear echoes of the voice of God": Capitalist Theology as Driver of and Response to iZombie's Zombie Outbreak
Erin Giannini
The American Spectacular: Hollywood Economics and the Intersection of 3D, the Religious Epic and Zombies
Ron Riekki
A Psalm of Ice and Fire: How Religion Saved and Doomed the World on Game of Thrones
Jacopo della Quercia
Theological and Ecological Apocalypse in Jorge Grau's No Profanar el Sueno de los Muertos
Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns
Part III: The Christian/Judaic Apocalypse and the Zombie
"I thought God had something a little different in mind": Hershel Greene as Man of Faith and Doubt in the Face of the Apocalypse
John W. Morehead
The First Earth Passed Away, the Word Was Made Flesh: The Zombie Apocalypse as Christian Faith Made Manifest
James T. McCrea
"Repent, the end is extremely fucking nigh": Religion and Its Absence in the Zombie Apocalypse
Sarah Cleary
Part IV: The Biblical Undead
Blessed Are the -Brain-Eaters: "World Inheritance" in The Girl with All the Gifts and the Beatitudes
Charlotte Thomas
Representations of the Eschaton and Dispensational Apologetics of the Undead: World War Z Through the Lens of the Apotelesmatic Prism
Phil Fitzsimmons
Let My (Dead) People Go: Land of the Dead as Exodus and Remnant Narrative
Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr.
Part V: Faith of the Zombie
"Able Zombies": Subverting Biblical Tradition in The Girl with All the Gifts and Raising Stony Mayhall
Ildiko Limpar
If We Could Just Talk to the Creature: The Cognizant Zombie in TV Fiction
Sharon Coleclough
What Would Zombie Jesus Do? In the Flesh and Undead Saviors
Nikki Foster-Kruczek and Catherine Pugh
About the Contributors
Index
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Peter Dendle
Introduction
Simon Bacon
Part I: Survival and Loss at the End of the World
"She is saved now; I have washed her of all her sins": Coping with Death, Grief and Cults in The Returned
Stella Marie Gaynor
What Waits Beyond: Nihilistic Approaches to Religion and Life After Death in Lucio Fulci's Gates of Hell Trilogy
Mark Richard Adams
From Brainwashing to Brain Eating: Conversion as Zombification
George J. Sieg
Zombie Optimism: Hope in a World Beyond the Apocalypse
Scout Tafoya
Part II: Undead Capitalism, Undead Planet
"I hear echoes of the voice of God": Capitalist Theology as Driver of and Response to iZombie's Zombie Outbreak
Erin Giannini
The American Spectacular: Hollywood Economics and the Intersection of 3D, the Religious Epic and Zombies
Ron Riekki
A Psalm of Ice and Fire: How Religion Saved and Doomed the World on Game of Thrones
Jacopo della Quercia
Theological and Ecological Apocalypse in Jorge Grau's No Profanar el Sueno de los Muertos
Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns
Part III: The Christian/Judaic Apocalypse and the Zombie
"I thought God had something a little different in mind": Hershel Greene as Man of Faith and Doubt in the Face of the Apocalypse
John W. Morehead
The First Earth Passed Away, the Word Was Made Flesh: The Zombie Apocalypse as Christian Faith Made Manifest
James T. McCrea
"Repent, the end is extremely fucking nigh": Religion and Its Absence in the Zombie Apocalypse
Sarah Cleary
Part IV: The Biblical Undead
Blessed Are the -Brain-Eaters: "World Inheritance" in The Girl with All the Gifts and the Beatitudes
Charlotte Thomas
Representations of the Eschaton and Dispensational Apologetics of the Undead: World War Z Through the Lens of the Apotelesmatic Prism
Phil Fitzsimmons
Let My (Dead) People Go: Land of the Dead as Exodus and Remnant Narrative
Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr.
Part V: Faith of the Zombie
"Able Zombies": Subverting Biblical Tradition in The Girl with All the Gifts and Raising Stony Mayhall
Ildiko Limpar
If We Could Just Talk to the Creature: The Cognizant Zombie in TV Fiction
Sharon Coleclough
What Would Zombie Jesus Do? In the Flesh and Undead Saviors
Nikki Foster-Kruczek and Catherine Pugh
About the Contributors
Index