Pat Robertson is known for theological gaffes over the course of his televangelist career. In this video he warns about the possibility of demonic possession by watching horror films. I must admit I’ve had some conservative Christians accuse me of suffering from this malady given my interests in the fantastic and the macabre, but I’m reasonably sure I’ve falsified Robertson’s claims over the years.
See my past blog post on knee-jerk reactions by conservative Christians in relation to horror here.
I was fascinated by this item and your earlier blog post on this topic, which I just read for the first time. I’m also enjoying the comments (which I haven’t yet finished reading).
I think the fundamentalist aversion to horror, fantasy, science fiction, and related genres may be due not only to religious reasons, but also a more general conservative, small-town aversion to works of the imagination. Ray Bradbury wrote two good stories on this topic: “The Exiles” (in his collection The Illustrated Man) and “Usher II” (in The Martian Chronicles).
Regarding your hopes for a new C.S. Lewis or Tolkein: for starters there are are several anthologies along these lines: Other Worlds, Other Gods: Adventures in Religious Science Fiction, ed. Mayo Morris; Strange Gods, ed. Roger Elwood; An Exaltation of Stars: Earthmen Venture to the Edge of the Infinite, ed. Terry Carr; and Visions of Wonder: An Anthology of Christian Fantasy, ed. Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahorski.
Most of these are probably out of print, but worth looking for in libraries or used bookstores. There is also a more recent anthology, A Cross of Centuries: Twenty-Five Imaginative Tales About the Christ, ed. Michael Bishop, with stories by Bradbury, Borges, Michael Moorcock, etc.
If you’re not too tired of all my bibliographic recommendations, I thought I’d mention Stephen King’s Danse Macabre, written in 1980 or so. I think it’s one of the best popular studies of fantasy/horror, with excellent discussions of Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and also of Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison. I thought of it because King, like you, mentions the suprisingly cautionary, indeed moralistic warnings underlying this kind of writing.
Carl, thank you for your continued interest in my perspective on such things. I am familiar with King’s book which I read years ago. I’ll have to seek out the other bibliographical suggestions you provided. I always enjoy your comments.