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Religion, Theology, and Stranger Things

Studies from the Upside Down on Evil, Ethics, Horror, and Hope

Edited by Adam J. Powell and Andrew J. Byers - Contributions by Nathaniel A. Warne Adishian; Vivian Asimos; Andrew J. Byers; Melissa Conroy; John Anthony Dunne; Brandon R. Grafius; Siobhán Jolley; Joseph P. Laycock; Heather Macumber; Adam J. Powell; Josh Reeves; Jana Riess and Andrew Root

Religion, Theology and Stranger Things: Studies from the Upside Down on Evil, Ethics, Horror, and Hope brings interdisciplinary analysis to the teeming spiritual side of the hit television series. With chapters from social scientists, historians, theologians, and Biblical scholars, the volume addresses the many different theological, religious, and supernatural themes present in the fictional world of Hawkins, Indiana. From spiritualism to secularism, Mormon gender norms to monsters of abnormality, rock & roll to Dungeons & Dragons, an international list of scholars come together to argue that imaginative realms like the one created by the Duffer brothers can serve to showcase and to scrutinize the common impulses and needs of our culture and ourselves. To venture into the darkness of the Upside Down is to venture into the depths of human experience. This volume explores the shadows and suggests a few paths back into the light.

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  • Details
  • Author
  • Author
  • TOC
  • TOC
  • Reviews
  • Reviews
Lexington Books / Fortress Academic
Pages: 254 • Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-9787-1572-1 • Hardback • February 2025 • $115.00 • (£88.00)
978-1-9787-1573-8 • eBook • November 2024 • $50.00 • (£38.00)
Series: Theology, Religion, and Pop Culture
Subjects: Religion / Theology, Social Science / Popular Culture, Social Science / Media Studies

Andrew J. Byers serves as lecturer in New Testament at Ridley Hall in the Cambridge Theological Federation and as an affiliated lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge.

Adam Powell is a lecturer in medical humanities in the Department of Theology & Religion at Durham University (UK).

Introduction, Andrew J. Byers, Adam Powell

Part I: Spirits, Monsters, and Supernatural Science

Chapter 1: Comfort, Control, and Christmas Lights: The Types and Techniques of Spirit Communication in Stranger Things, Season One, Adam Powell

Chapter 2: The Myth of Stranger Things: A Structural Analysis of Monsters and Fears in Season One, Vivian Asimos

Chapter 3: Defining the Normal: Monstrosity in Stranger Things, Brandon Grafius

Chapter 4: Enchanted Science? The Supernatural Imagination of Stranger Things, Josh Reeves

Part II: History, (Pop) Culture, and Nostalgic Contexts

Chapter 5: Who Is Suzie Bingham? Gender and the 1980s Mormon Family in Stranger Things, Jana Reiss

Chapter 6: “Do Not Be Overcome by Evil”: Dungeons, Dragons, and the Satanic Panic in Stranger Things , Joseph P. Laycock

Chapter 7: Fighting Satan with the Devil’s Music? Subverting Suspicions of Demonic Influence on Rock ‘n’ Roll in Stranger Things Season 4, John Anthony Dunne

Chapter 8: Home, Nostalgia, and Stranger Things, Andrew Root

Chapter 9: Utopia, Intertextuality, and Liturgy: Nostalgia and Religion in Stranger Things, Melissa Conroy

Part III: Theology, Ethics and Biblical Themes

Chapter 10: “Peeking Behind Bauman’s Curtain”: A Theology and Ethics of Institutions in Stranger Things, Nathaniel A. Warne Adishian

Chapter 11: Max and the Magdalene: On Violence, Grief, and Trauma Under Patriarchy, Siobhán Jolley

Chapter 12: From Patmos to Hawkins: Slipping through Time and Space in Revelation and Stranger Things, Heather Macumber

Chapter 13: Can Anything Good Come out of Hawkins? Self, Place, Evil, and Salvation in John’s Gospel, Stranger Things, and the Secular Age, Andrew J. Byers

Afterword: What Would Suzy, Erica, and Steve Say? Concluding Reflections, Andrew J. Byers, Adam Powell

Modern cultures and society frequently consider theology and religion as if they belong to a long-gone nostalgia of another world, yet—as the essays which Byers and Powell have compiled show—the universe of Stranger Things draws freely from the wells found in that other world. Stranger Things provides a rich and fertile ground to explore these themes. Through a wide-ranging series of essays and reflections, Religion, Theology and Stranger Things does a wonderful job of translating and working through both the “Upside Down” of Stranger Things in Hawkins, Indiana into the “Right Side Up” of our own world. It is an excellent volume thinking through the religion and theology of such a popular series which has sparked widespread cultural nostalgia for the 1980s. May this volume do the same for reflections on our theology and religion.


— Christopher A. Porter, Trinity College, Melbourne


Andrew Byers and Adam Powell have curated an engaging and entertaining volume that opens a portal into the religious dimension of the hit series Stranger Things. The international ensemble of contributors offers profound, multi-disciplinary insights into the show’s exploration of identity, monsters, nostalgia, and the human condition in the Upside Down. Each essay expertly weaves together pop-culture analysis with sociological, religious, or theological reflection, making it both a go-to resource and a must-read for fans and scholars alike.


— Brandon M. Hurlbert, Durham University


Religion, Theology, and Stranger Things

Studies from the Upside Down on Evil, Ethics, Horror, and Hope

Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • Religion, Theology and Stranger Things: Studies from the Upside Down on Evil, Ethics, Horror, and Hope brings interdisciplinary analysis to the teeming spiritual side of the hit television series. With chapters from social scientists, historians, theologians, and Biblical scholars, the volume addresses the many different theological, religious, and supernatural themes present in the fictional world of Hawkins, Indiana. From spiritualism to secularism, Mormon gender norms to monsters of abnormality, rock & roll to Dungeons & Dragons, an international list of scholars come together to argue that imaginative realms like the one created by the Duffer brothers can serve to showcase and to scrutinize the common impulses and needs of our culture and ourselves. To venture into the darkness of the Upside Down is to venture into the depths of human experience. This volume explores the shadows and suggests a few paths back into the light.

Details
Details
  • Lexington Books / Fortress Academic
    Pages: 254 • Trim: 6 x 9
    978-1-9787-1572-1 • Hardback • February 2025 • $115.00 • (£88.00)
    978-1-9787-1573-8 • eBook • November 2024 • $50.00 • (£38.00)
    Series: Theology, Religion, and Pop Culture
    Subjects: Religion / Theology, Social Science / Popular Culture, Social Science / Media Studies
Author
Author
  • Andrew J. Byers serves as lecturer in New Testament at Ridley Hall in the Cambridge Theological Federation and as an affiliated lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge.

    Adam Powell is a lecturer in medical humanities in the Department of Theology & Religion at Durham University (UK).

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Introduction, Andrew J. Byers, Adam Powell

    Part I: Spirits, Monsters, and Supernatural Science

    Chapter 1: Comfort, Control, and Christmas Lights: The Types and Techniques of Spirit Communication in Stranger Things, Season One, Adam Powell

    Chapter 2: The Myth of Stranger Things: A Structural Analysis of Monsters and Fears in Season One, Vivian Asimos

    Chapter 3: Defining the Normal: Monstrosity in Stranger Things, Brandon Grafius

    Chapter 4: Enchanted Science? The Supernatural Imagination of Stranger Things, Josh Reeves

    Part II: History, (Pop) Culture, and Nostalgic Contexts

    Chapter 5: Who Is Suzie Bingham? Gender and the 1980s Mormon Family in Stranger Things, Jana Reiss

    Chapter 6: “Do Not Be Overcome by Evil”: Dungeons, Dragons, and the Satanic Panic in Stranger Things , Joseph P. Laycock

    Chapter 7: Fighting Satan with the Devil’s Music? Subverting Suspicions of Demonic Influence on Rock ‘n’ Roll in Stranger Things Season 4, John Anthony Dunne

    Chapter 8: Home, Nostalgia, and Stranger Things, Andrew Root

    Chapter 9: Utopia, Intertextuality, and Liturgy: Nostalgia and Religion in Stranger Things, Melissa Conroy

    Part III: Theology, Ethics and Biblical Themes

    Chapter 10: “Peeking Behind Bauman’s Curtain”: A Theology and Ethics of Institutions in Stranger Things, Nathaniel A. Warne Adishian

    Chapter 11: Max and the Magdalene: On Violence, Grief, and Trauma Under Patriarchy, Siobhán Jolley

    Chapter 12: From Patmos to Hawkins: Slipping through Time and Space in Revelation and Stranger Things, Heather Macumber

    Chapter 13: Can Anything Good Come out of Hawkins? Self, Place, Evil, and Salvation in John’s Gospel, Stranger Things, and the Secular Age, Andrew J. Byers

    Afterword: What Would Suzy, Erica, and Steve Say? Concluding Reflections, Andrew J. Byers, Adam Powell

Reviews
Reviews
  • Modern cultures and society frequently consider theology and religion as if they belong to a long-gone nostalgia of another world, yet—as the essays which Byers and Powell have compiled show—the universe of Stranger Things draws freely from the wells found in that other world. Stranger Things provides a rich and fertile ground to explore these themes. Through a wide-ranging series of essays and reflections, Religion, Theology and Stranger Things does a wonderful job of translating and working through both the “Upside Down” of Stranger Things in Hawkins, Indiana into the “Right Side Up” of our own world. It is an excellent volume thinking through the religion and theology of such a popular series which has sparked widespread cultural nostalgia for the 1980s. May this volume do the same for reflections on our theology and religion.


    — Christopher A. Porter, Trinity College, Melbourne


    Andrew Byers and Adam Powell have curated an engaging and entertaining volume that opens a portal into the religious dimension of the hit series Stranger Things. The international ensemble of contributors offers profound, multi-disciplinary insights into the show’s exploration of identity, monsters, nostalgia, and the human condition in the Upside Down. Each essay expertly weaves together pop-culture analysis with sociological, religious, or theological reflection, making it both a go-to resource and a must-read for fans and scholars alike.


    — Brandon M. Hurlbert, Durham University


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