Great topic. I believe gothic literature began (not wholly, but largely) as a protestant genre. Protestant authors etched out this new surreal, fantasy/supernatural, horror genre just as they were caught between their Catholic past and it's superstitions and the Enlightenment future and it's modern skepticisms. It's a worthy struggle, even now; how to maintain a supernatural understanding of the world amidst the onslaught of secularization without falling back into unhealthy superstitions.
So it's no surprise that Christianity and Horror/Ghost stories go hand in hand. You already mentioned Stoker, but there are many gothic/horror/supernatural writers foundational to the genres who were Christian: Charles Maturin, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, M.R. James, Arthur Machen (If you're looking for a place to start I would highly recommend beginning with the ghost stories of M.R. James), and even if there are indications that a particular author from the gothic days was not a Christian, virtually all of them wrote from that context and Christianity was the background of reality in all of them.
Wow, I didn't know any of that! That's fascinating. Thank you for the suggestions, I'll definitely check them out. It isn't surprising to me that Protestants came up with some of those ideas to work through their own place in history. Even today, I think many have a hard time completely removing Catholicism from the genre, which makes sense since the Catholic Church has traditionally dealt with spiritual warfare (ala exorcism) differently than most Protestants do.
What you said is spot on too. How do we maintain a supernatural worldview without falling into superstition? I think that's exactly why the Church needs to step it up and engage with this genre. As I said before, Nefarious and Chapel Street are good modern examples that stay true to the faith while still telling compelling horror narratives; so if more Christians continued to tell theologically/philosophically rich ghost stories, I think we could get past any unhealthy superstitions. Thanks for reading, Rich!
Of course, there'd be some pushback from some corners against what I put forward. While some may tip their hat to a general idea of a protestant contribution, the criticism of gothic literature is rife with horrible takes. Almost everything is viewed through a modern lens, rendering almost every gothic work as some kind of latent homosexual, radical feminist, ant-Christian commentary.
Great topic. I believe gothic literature began (not wholly, but largely) as a protestant genre. Protestant authors etched out this new surreal, fantasy/supernatural, horror genre just as they were caught between their Catholic past and it's superstitions and the Enlightenment future and it's modern skepticisms. It's a worthy struggle, even now; how to maintain a supernatural understanding of the world amidst the onslaught of secularization without falling back into unhealthy superstitions.
So it's no surprise that Christianity and Horror/Ghost stories go hand in hand. You already mentioned Stoker, but there are many gothic/horror/supernatural writers foundational to the genres who were Christian: Charles Maturin, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, M.R. James, Arthur Machen (If you're looking for a place to start I would highly recommend beginning with the ghost stories of M.R. James), and even if there are indications that a particular author from the gothic days was not a Christian, virtually all of them wrote from that context and Christianity was the background of reality in all of them.
Wow, I didn't know any of that! That's fascinating. Thank you for the suggestions, I'll definitely check them out. It isn't surprising to me that Protestants came up with some of those ideas to work through their own place in history. Even today, I think many have a hard time completely removing Catholicism from the genre, which makes sense since the Catholic Church has traditionally dealt with spiritual warfare (ala exorcism) differently than most Protestants do.
What you said is spot on too. How do we maintain a supernatural worldview without falling into superstition? I think that's exactly why the Church needs to step it up and engage with this genre. As I said before, Nefarious and Chapel Street are good modern examples that stay true to the faith while still telling compelling horror narratives; so if more Christians continued to tell theologically/philosophically rich ghost stories, I think we could get past any unhealthy superstitions. Thanks for reading, Rich!
Of course, there'd be some pushback from some corners against what I put forward. While some may tip their hat to a general idea of a protestant contribution, the criticism of gothic literature is rife with horrible takes. Almost everything is viewed through a modern lens, rendering almost every gothic work as some kind of latent homosexual, radical feminist, ant-Christian commentary.