# "Christian Horror" -- an oxymoron?



## raekwon (Oct 8, 2010)

Interesting thought, no? Should a novelist who's a Christian write books that could be classified as "horror" (even "horror" with Christian themes)? Normally not a question most of us would ever consider, but one of my best friends (a Christian, and a presbyterian minister, in fact) just had his first novel -- about a pastor trying to solve the mystery of his ex-fiancées murder -- published. Now, it's not "horror" in the "senseless and gratuitous violence for its own sake" sense, but it _is_ unsettling. It's spooky. It messes with your head -- so much so, that it has indeed been classified as "Christian horror" by some reviewers. (I think he'd prefer the term "religious thriller" or something like that, but what can ya do?)

Take a look at the author's thoughts on the "three uses of horror" for his own rationale.

I'd like your thoughts here. I, for one, am excited to really dig into this novel -- not just because the author's my friend, but because it's a GOOD read so far.


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## Philip (Oct 8, 2010)

Sure, horror in the classic sense of _Dracula_, _Frankenstein_, or _The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ is perfectly within the realm of what Christians can write about.


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## LawrenceU (Oct 8, 2010)

Sorry, I just don't get it. ". . .whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.' I don't understand how horror of any sub genre helps the Christian to further his walk in Christlikeness.


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## Philip (Oct 9, 2010)

LawrenceU said:


> Sorry, I just don't get it. ". . .whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good repot; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.' I don't understand how horror of any sub genre helps the Christian to further his walk in Christlikeness.


 
I can speak for myself that at least one classic horror story has helped me in my Christian walk: _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ by Robert Louis Stevenson is possibly one of the greatest novels on depravity ever written (my thoughts on it are here if you're interested). This is like asking why we should read Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, both of whose works can be incredibly dark (they're Russian, after all) but who hold up a mirror, showing us ourselves. Classic horror novels do this too: they show us what we fear and in doing so show us ourselves. They show us that we need grace and a savior.


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## Pergamum (Oct 9, 2010)

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was a real influence on me as I considered the state of my own soul. I think this novel, as well as Lord of the Flies and Heart of Darkness and others can be useful in illustrating basic truths about man (some of the existentialist novels like Camus and Kafka, e.g., the Stranger and the Plague, etc,) can also really impact the reader into a contemplation of who he is.


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## Jerusalem Blade (Oct 10, 2010)

Rae,

If you really think about it, it’s not oxymoronic at all. And Lawrence, horror is at the heart of the human condition, the _unregenerate_ human condition, and we, those possessed of eternal life, rub shoulders with horror every day yet have blinders on so as not to see it too closely.

Although not a fan of his, I think C.S. Lewis’ remark has the ring of truth to it:
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that even the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. . . There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. (C.S. Lewis, _The Weight of Glory_)​I have said this often before here, that those without the life of God in them are the walking dead – however beautiful their skin coverings – and shall be the undying damned except they drink from the fountain of living water, which is open to whomever thirsts for it. The walking dead are the zombies, which world myth and literature have projected out into the horror genres – out there, in the realm of fiction – lest we dwell on the reality of it in ourselves, the mass of humankind, and be unable to function for the horror if it.

I do not think it true horror, the spiritual adventures of those fighting demonic evil. What is real horror is what is in us (speaking in solidarity with lost humankind), and that we are in union with – you could say impregnated by – an alien predator far more terrible than the aliens in the Sigourney Weaver films, whose very nature we embody in our persons, and shall be increasingly conformed to in eternal torment. The realization of such truths in one’s consciousness is horror.

This, ultimately, is why the Gospel of Christ is so hated – it lays bare what is in the heart, what the heart is made of – and who can tolerate such self knowledge? Of course, the unsaved elect, seeing their lost estate, fly to Christ for His mercy and renewing life, but the rest, they will rage against such knowledge.

This planet is overrun by the walking dead, under the power of the prince of demons, and at the end of the age they will seek to ravage the kingdom of God on earth (the church) much as the _darkseekers_ in Will Smith’s _I Am Legend_ overran his safehouse in their violent frenzy to destroy the living.

But the real horror – I say it again – is not that we are persecuted (that we can endure with our Lord’s presence!), but the ontologic reality of the living dead, among whom we live and love.


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## Peairtach (Oct 10, 2010)

I have read "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and "1984", which while not exactly horror, do deal with places where you wouldn't want to go.

Sometimes the quality of the literature or its reputation ("good report") may persuade the Christian that a book is worth reading.

On the other hand there will be other "horror" novels which are just sadistic pulp.

Life's too short even to read the "great" classics, without exploring all the junk.


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## kvanlaan (Oct 10, 2010)

Yes, 'whatever is good, etc.' - why do we chase after the dog's vomit of this world with a fervor that is rarely meets its match in our desire for reading God's word? I know this does not really address the exact topic of the OP, but it seems that horror films/novels are as much a part of the Christian's entertainment diet as they are of the world's - many don't even attempt to make the shift away from the world's horror offerings to those of a 'Christian' sort. I remember hearing young Christians discuss a film called "Hostel" and another called "Saw", looked them up, and was shocked. These people don't need a finer taste in their cinematographic choices, they need to shun the World's offerings in this regards. Sorry, a little , but I just think that it is the desire for this rush of being scared that is a little off-kilter for the believer.

As for "Christian" horror, does it not seem to follow the same sort of path that a lot of CCM does? It sounds like the world, just not quite as good.

WRT the classics mentioned above, I must confess that I have read many of them and enjoyed them greatly (Heart of Darkness is a personal favorite). But they seem to be different than today's horror, and seem to write in a context of plumbing the depths of the soul (ie, the Heart of Darkness). Stephen King does not seem to delve into the morass of the human condition, he merely wants to put a good scare into you.


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## LawrenceU (Oct 10, 2010)

With regard to Steve's comment to me: Kevin's post well sums it up. The works classic works cited above are of a very different nature than the stuff being generated today. I have read them, and benefitted from some of them. However, they should not be handed out willy nilly, and they are not written just appeal to the baser nature of man by an adrenaline rush, as is almost all of the modern stuff. That is primarily what I meant in my post above.


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## Andres (Oct 10, 2010)

For what it's worth, I've never seen Hostel or Saw (nor do I have any desire to) and I've never read the novel by Rae's friend (nor do I desire to) but I think it's a stretch to compare the book and the movies. Based on the description Rae gave it sounds more like a thriller than a horror to me. Perhaps a more comparable modern movie would be the recent Scorcese film Shutter Island. Not sure who saw that film but it was basically a murder mysterty-type thriller that had you thinking, not a gore-fest for cheap thrills sake. I enjoyed Shutter Island, but I think the Saw-esque movies are garbage.


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## kvanlaan (Oct 10, 2010)

Andrew, I'm sure you're right - I am certain that no pastor in his right mind would write the sort of garbage that's in those movies, it is more a question of why we seek after that thrill that I don't follow. (Just to clarify, I was in no way saying that Rae's pastor would write that sort of thing, just that so many teenage believers don't see any issue with it and chase it with a disturbing devotion.)


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## Andres (Oct 10, 2010)

kvanlaan said:


> Andrew, I'm sure you're right - I am certain that no pastor in his right mind would write the sort of garbage that's in those movies, it is more a question of why we seek after that thrill that I don't follow.


 
I agree. My wife and I had a similar discussion the other day. We were trying to figure out the appeal of that genre (horror/gore/torture). Our only conclusion was that sinful man enjoys these disgusting scenes due to their depravity.


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## Philip (Oct 10, 2010)

> it is more a question of why we seek after that thrill that I don't follow.



The same reason why we enjoy a well-written murder mystery.


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## LawrenceU (Oct 11, 2010)

P. F. Pugh said:


> > it is more a question of why we seek after that thrill that I don't follow.
> 
> 
> 
> The same reason why we enjoy a well-written murder mystery.


 
Is there not a difference between a mystery driven by intellectual quest and that either adds on or has as primary gore, gratuitous violence, etc.? I believe there a huge distance between the two. One appeals to the mind. The other uses the mind to dump endorphins into the body. That is addictive biologically. This is especially true when violence / horror is mixed with sexual imagery. This is very common among books and movies produced today. It is twisting this culture's view of man, good, and sexuality.


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## Montanablue (Oct 11, 2010)

I think we're talking about two very different things here. There's "Horror," the literary genre and "Horror" the catchphrase used to describe any books and film that are gratuitously violent or creepy. I'm not even sure the two are related.


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## raekwon (Oct 11, 2010)

LawrenceU said:


> Is there not a difference between a mystery driven by intellectual quest and that either adds on or has as primary gore, gratuitous violence, etc.? I believe there a huge distance between the two.


 
That's exactly where I was going with this.


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## Peairtach (Oct 11, 2010)

The "gore-fest" books and films are for sadists who would be at the Colosseum every week, if they were living in Ancient Rome.


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## Montanablue (Oct 11, 2010)

Richard Tallach said:


> The "gore-fest" books and films are for sadists who would be at the Colosseum every week, if they were living in Ancient Rome.


 
You know, I've never heard anyone draw that parallel before, but I think it fits. Interesting.


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## Edward (Oct 11, 2010)

Richard Tallach said:


> The "gore-fest" books and films are for sadists



Shouldn't discussions of "An Inconvenient Truth" be in Politics and Government rather than Literary, even if it is a work of fiction?


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## puritanpilgrim (Oct 11, 2010)

> You know, I've never heard anyone draw that parallel before, but I think it fits. Interesting.



One of my professors in college made this argument. He would debate with a professor from Harvard. I think she wrote a book called mayhem. Anyway, he argued that excessive violence was good for society because it allowed people to act out the desires in ways similar to the Roman Colosseum., and no one died. He made some good points with the connection between the two, but I would not categorize reveling in gore as something that is good. I'm coming at this from a Christian perspective. Obviously he's was coming at it from more of a utilitarian/naturalistic/pragmatic perspective.

Amazon.com: The Case for Television Violence (9780761907909): Dr. Jib Fowles: Books


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## Andres (Oct 11, 2010)

puritanpilgrim said:


> > You know, I've never heard anyone draw that parallel before, but I think it fits. Interesting.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
I was under the impression that studies contradicted the above viewpoint. For example, I remember reading somewhere that the vast majority of teens that committed actual acts of violence were significantly influenced by video game, comic book, and movie violence. What would your prof say to that?


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## Leslie Koster (Oct 11, 2010)

I found this discussion to be very interesting. As I read it a series of so called Christian books came to mind that I consider to be horror of the worst kind, The Left Behind series.


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## Montanablue (Oct 11, 2010)

Leslie Koster said:


> I found this discussion to be very interesting. As I read it a series of so called Christian books came to mind that I consider to be horror of the worst kind, The Left Behind series.


 
Hah. A different type of horror, perhaps, but true nonetheless...


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## puritanpilgrim (Oct 12, 2010)

> I was under the impression that studies contradicted the above viewpoint. For example, I remember reading somewhere that the vast majority of teens that committed actual acts of violence were significantly influenced by video game, comic book, and movie violence. What would your prof say to that?




He would say that the vast majority of people who play video games do not do violent acts. Also, he argues that violence has actually decreased in the last thirty years. He would argue societies where these movies are watched are less violent and societies where they are not watched. It' been about 12 years since I took the class. I remember I wrote a rebuttal to argue that saying music and video doesn't encourage people to do certain actions is inconsistent with the marketing styles of most game and music publishers. They use the very means get people to buy their products that they claim don't cause to people to respond. But, either argument is short sighted in and of itself. There are just too many variables in society to throw the blame at video games and movies. There is greater violence in many areas of the world where there are no video games or movies. As a Christian I still recognize that much of this crosses the line, such as grand theft auto. I was really shocked by one of my students who brought that game to school. The whole game is stealing cars, fighting the police and selling drugs. And you can get a hooker and beat her to death. There is something really morbid about even playing a game like that. However, I don't think the average person who plays that game, although they shouldn't, will do anything like that. It may encourage someone to act that way who has bend in that direction. Somewhat the way advertising works. It doesn’t matter how great the makeup commercial is, I never going to be interested in their product because I have no interest in makeup. I however, a really well done commercial may incline someone to buy the makeup who has an inclination toward buying makeup. Basically, I'm saying that media may be a catalyst to drive someone toward something they were already driven toward. It didn't necessarily create something; it just encouraged a preexisting drive. But, still it's about as easy as jello to nail down because there are just so many variables and circumstances in which violent acts occur.


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## Andres (Oct 12, 2010)

puritanpilgrim said:


> > I was under the impression that studies contradicted the above viewpoint. For example, I remember reading somewhere that the vast majority of teens that committed actual acts of violence were significantly influenced by video game, comic book, and movie violence. What would your prof say to that?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
very interesting. thanks for your response!


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## Gforce9 (Oct 12, 2010)

Edward said:


> Richard Tallach said:
> 
> 
> > The "gore-fest" books and films are for sadists
> ...


 
Ha ha ha ha ha ha........priceless! Now go to your room........


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