R&L Logo R&L Logo
  • GENERAL
    • Browse by Subjects
    • New Releases
    • Coming Soon
    • Chases's Calendar
  • ACADEMIC
    • Textbooks
    • Browse by Course
    • Instructor's Copies
    • Monographs & Research
    • Reference
  • PROFESSIONAL
    • Education
    • Intelligence & Security
    • Library Services
    • Business & Leadership
    • Museum Studies
    • Music
    • Pastoral Resources
    • Psychotherapy
  • FREUD SET
Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
share of facebook share on twitter
Add to GoodReads

Theology and Vampires

Edited by Madeline Potter - Contributions by Shaona Barik; Leo Chu; Terance Espinoza; Mary Going; David K. Goodin; Jon Greenaway; Marthe-Siobhán Hecke; Gavin F. Hurley; Alison Milbank; Peter Morgan; Justin Mullis; Madeline Potter; Curtis Runstedler and Kari Sawden

What can vampires teach us about God? How can they reshape the way we think about religion, and our relationship with the divine? Through a thorough analysis of the relationship between theology and vampires, Theology and Vampires provides a glimpse into the versatility of the vampire as a tool for theological enquiry. Contributions to the volume assess vampires and their role in articulating theological thought, bringing together some of the classical vampire tales of the 19th century, with contemporary iterations of the figure. Considering how vampires are used to ask theological questions across media, from literature through to video games, this volume paints a complex and comprehensive picture of the often overlooked manner in which vampires not only reflect but also actively shape theological modes of enquiry.

  • Details
  • Details
  • Author
  • Author
  • TOC
  • TOC
  • Reviews
  • Reviews
Lexington Books / Fortress Academic
Pages: 242 • Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-9787-1689-6 • Hardback • March 2025 • $115.00 • (£88.00)
978-1-9787-1690-2 • eBook • April 2025 • $50.00 • (£38.00)
Series: Theology, Religion, and Pop Culture
Subjects: Religion / Theology, Social Science / Media Studies, Literary Criticism / Horror & Supernatural

Madeline Potter is early career teaching and research fellow in the Long 19th Century (Romanticism to Victorianism) at the University of Edinburgh.

Introduction, Madeline Potter

Chapter 1: Contesting Materialism in Nineteenth-Century Vampire Fiction, Alison Milbank

Chapter 2: ‘Bless Me Lord, For I am Going to Sin:’ Vampire Priests, the Role of Blood, Religion and Gothic Heresy, Jonathan Greenaway

Chapter 3: Indian Vampires: Religion, Esotericism, Responses in English and Bengali Literature, Shaona Barik

Chapter 4: What We [Actually] Do in the Shadows: Vampires in Orthodox Christianity through the Lens of Kostova’s The Historian, David K. Goodin

Chapter 5: Japanese Vampires for Christ: Vampire Media as Religious Invasion Narrative in Japan, Justin Mullis

Chapter 6: In the Beginning, God Created Lilith: Vampiric Ontology, Gender and Lilith in True Blood and She Never Died, Mary Going

Chapter 7: The Inoperative Bite: Aoi Tori, Vampire Narratives, and the Absence of Evil, Leo Chu

Chapter 8: “We are on a Mission from God.” – Alucard, Theology, Monsters, and Monstrosity in Hellsing Ultimate (2006-2012), Marthe-Siobhán Hecke

Chapter 9: Vampire Priests and “Cult Messiahs” in Stephen King’s ’Salem’s Lot, Curtis Runstedler

Chapter 10: Bloody Scriptures: The Vampire’s Place within the Bible of the Folk Tradition, Kari Sawden

Chapter 11: Horizontal Vampirism, Vertical Theology: Juxtaposing Jean Rollin’s Lips of Blood with Abel Ferrara’s The Addiction, Gavin F. Hurley

Chapter 12: Blade and the Spiritual Problem of Evil, Peter Morgan and Terance Espinoza

Theology and Vampires provides an historically and geographically comprehensive account of the theological journey undertaken by the vampire from the nineteenth century to the present day. From Britain to India and Japan, these essays bear witness to the complex manifestation of vampirism in a variety of national and theological contexts. This volume charts the rich theological development of the undead vampire in novels, films, and manga. This is an important book for any scholar working on the history of the vampire across media forms.


— Andrew Smith, University of Sheffield, UK


This welcome new volume, edited expertly by Madeline Potter, applies the recent “religious turn” in Gothic studies to one of horror’s most enduring archetypes: the vampire. It does so within a rich global context, examining literary vampirism’s engagement with different theologies around the world and beyond the West. Collectively, the impressive contributions reveal how the vampire has retained an intimate relationship with shifting concepts and practices of belief from the nineteenth century to the present day.


— Christine Ferguson, University of Stirling


Contrary to popular images of the vampire as a demonic prince of darkness that fears the sign of the cross, this fine collection of essays reveals a complex figure that continues to be re-invented in changing religious, national and theological contexts. If the vampires that emerge here can still be the enemies of the sacred and a lens through which to examine the nature of human and metaphysical evil, they can also confront a secular culture with profound theological questions. Recent scholarship has recognized the Gothic’s engagement with religion; this collection adds to the field by demonstrating the range of theological ideas embodied by one of the genre’s most famous monsters.


— Simon Marsden, University of Liverpool


Theology and Vampires

Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • What can vampires teach us about God? How can they reshape the way we think about religion, and our relationship with the divine? Through a thorough analysis of the relationship between theology and vampires, Theology and Vampires provides a glimpse into the versatility of the vampire as a tool for theological enquiry. Contributions to the volume assess vampires and their role in articulating theological thought, bringing together some of the classical vampire tales of the 19th century, with contemporary iterations of the figure. Considering how vampires are used to ask theological questions across media, from literature through to video games, this volume paints a complex and comprehensive picture of the often overlooked manner in which vampires not only reflect but also actively shape theological modes of enquiry.

Details
Details
  • Lexington Books / Fortress Academic
    Pages: 242 • Trim: 6 x 9
    978-1-9787-1689-6 • Hardback • March 2025 • $115.00 • (£88.00)
    978-1-9787-1690-2 • eBook • April 2025 • $50.00 • (£38.00)
    Series: Theology, Religion, and Pop Culture
    Subjects: Religion / Theology, Social Science / Media Studies, Literary Criticism / Horror & Supernatural
Author
Author
  • Madeline Potter is early career teaching and research fellow in the Long 19th Century (Romanticism to Victorianism) at the University of Edinburgh.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Introduction, Madeline Potter

    Chapter 1: Contesting Materialism in Nineteenth-Century Vampire Fiction, Alison Milbank

    Chapter 2: ‘Bless Me Lord, For I am Going to Sin:’ Vampire Priests, the Role of Blood, Religion and Gothic Heresy, Jonathan Greenaway

    Chapter 3: Indian Vampires: Religion, Esotericism, Responses in English and Bengali Literature, Shaona Barik

    Chapter 4: What We [Actually] Do in the Shadows: Vampires in Orthodox Christianity through the Lens of Kostova’s The Historian, David K. Goodin

    Chapter 5: Japanese Vampires for Christ: Vampire Media as Religious Invasion Narrative in Japan, Justin Mullis

    Chapter 6: In the Beginning, God Created Lilith: Vampiric Ontology, Gender and Lilith in True Blood and She Never Died, Mary Going

    Chapter 7: The Inoperative Bite: Aoi Tori, Vampire Narratives, and the Absence of Evil, Leo Chu

    Chapter 8: “We are on a Mission from God.” – Alucard, Theology, Monsters, and Monstrosity in Hellsing Ultimate (2006-2012), Marthe-Siobhán Hecke

    Chapter 9: Vampire Priests and “Cult Messiahs” in Stephen King’s ’Salem’s Lot, Curtis Runstedler

    Chapter 10: Bloody Scriptures: The Vampire’s Place within the Bible of the Folk Tradition, Kari Sawden

    Chapter 11: Horizontal Vampirism, Vertical Theology: Juxtaposing Jean Rollin’s Lips of Blood with Abel Ferrara’s The Addiction, Gavin F. Hurley

    Chapter 12: Blade and the Spiritual Problem of Evil, Peter Morgan and Terance Espinoza

Reviews
Reviews
  • Theology and Vampires provides an historically and geographically comprehensive account of the theological journey undertaken by the vampire from the nineteenth century to the present day. From Britain to India and Japan, these essays bear witness to the complex manifestation of vampirism in a variety of national and theological contexts. This volume charts the rich theological development of the undead vampire in novels, films, and manga. This is an important book for any scholar working on the history of the vampire across media forms.


    — Andrew Smith, University of Sheffield, UK


    This welcome new volume, edited expertly by Madeline Potter, applies the recent “religious turn” in Gothic studies to one of horror’s most enduring archetypes: the vampire. It does so within a rich global context, examining literary vampirism’s engagement with different theologies around the world and beyond the West. Collectively, the impressive contributions reveal how the vampire has retained an intimate relationship with shifting concepts and practices of belief from the nineteenth century to the present day.


    — Christine Ferguson, University of Stirling


    Contrary to popular images of the vampire as a demonic prince of darkness that fears the sign of the cross, this fine collection of essays reveals a complex figure that continues to be re-invented in changing religious, national and theological contexts. If the vampires that emerge here can still be the enemies of the sacred and a lens through which to examine the nature of human and metaphysical evil, they can also confront a secular culture with profound theological questions. Recent scholarship has recognized the Gothic’s engagement with religion; this collection adds to the field by demonstrating the range of theological ideas embodied by one of the genre’s most famous monsters.


    — Simon Marsden, University of Liverpool


ALSO AVAILABLE

  • Cover image for the book Theology and Tolkien: Constructive Theology
  • Cover image for the book The Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram: Co-Creator of the Integral Yoga
  • Cover image for the book A Theology of Power and Privilege: An Evangelical Perspective on Race
  • Cover image for the book Triune Well-Being: The Kenotic-Enrichment of the Eternal Trinity
  • Cover image for the book Holy Body: Gender and Sexual Difference in Theological Anthropology and Ecclesiology
  • Cover image for the book Progressive Rock, Religion, and Theology
  • Cover image for the book Theology of the Soul: A Pauline Perspective on Cultural, Philosophical, and Traditional Concepts
  • Cover image for the book An Advaitic Modernity?: Raimon Panikkar and Philosophical Theology
  • Cover image for the book The Last of Us and Theology: Violence, Ethics, Redemption?
  • Cover image for the book Re-embodying Pastoral Theology: Ritual Care for Moral Injury in Veterans
  • Cover image for the book The Spirit and the Song: Pneumatological Reflections on Popular Music
  • Cover image for the book Children, Theology, and Bioethics: Beyond Autonomy
  • Cover image for the book Theology and Tolkien: Practical Theology
  • Cover image for the book The Architecture of Blame: The End of Victimage and the Beginning of Justice
  • Cover image for the book Theology, Religion, and Dungeons & Dragons: Explorations of the Sacred through Fantasy Worlds
  • Cover image for the book Questing through the Riordanverse: Studying Religion with the Works of Rick Riordan
  • Cover image for the book Originalism in Theology and Law: Comparing Perspectives on the Bible and the Constitution
  • Cover image for the book The Freedom of Christian Theology: New Studies in Dialogue with Eberhard Jüngel
  • Cover image for the book Geoliturgy and Ecological Crisis: The Spiritual Practice of Caring for Creation
  • Cover image for the book A Theology of Traumatic Affect: A Political and Religious Engagement
  • Cover image for the book The Goldilocks God: Searching for the via media
  • Cover image for the book Centering Hope as a Sustainable Decolonial Practice: Esperanza en Práctica
  • Cover image for the book The Unfractured Faith of Erik Routley: From Brighton to Princeton
  • Cover image for the book Unconscious Christianity in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Late Theology: Encounters with the Unknown Christ
  • Cover image for the book Bonhoeffer’s Religionless Christianity in Its Christological Context
  • Cover image for the book Posthumous Editing of a Great Master's Work: Special Focus on the Writings of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
  • Cover image for the book Theology and the Blues
  • Cover image for the book Theology, Fantasy, and the Imagination
  • Cover image for the book Theology and H.P. Lovecraft
  • Cover image for the book Theology and the DC Universe
  • Cover image for the book Credit and Faith
  • Cover image for the book Theology and Horror: Explorations of the Dark Religious Imagination
  • Cover image for the book Augustine’s Apocalyptic Political Theology in the Evil Saeculum
  • Cover image for the book Theology and Ethics for the Public Church: Mission in the 21st Century World
  • Cover image for the book Theology and Tolkien: Constructive Theology
  • Cover image for the book The Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram: Co-Creator of the Integral Yoga
  • Cover image for the book A Theology of Power and Privilege: An Evangelical Perspective on Race
  • Cover image for the book Triune Well-Being: The Kenotic-Enrichment of the Eternal Trinity
  • Cover image for the book Holy Body: Gender and Sexual Difference in Theological Anthropology and Ecclesiology
  • Cover image for the book Progressive Rock, Religion, and Theology
  • Cover image for the book Theology of the Soul: A Pauline Perspective on Cultural, Philosophical, and Traditional Concepts
  • Cover image for the book An Advaitic Modernity?: Raimon Panikkar and Philosophical Theology
  • Cover image for the book The Last of Us and Theology: Violence, Ethics, Redemption?
  • Cover image for the book Re-embodying Pastoral Theology: Ritual Care for Moral Injury in Veterans
  • Cover image for the book The Spirit and the Song: Pneumatological Reflections on Popular Music
  • Cover image for the book Children, Theology, and Bioethics: Beyond Autonomy
  • Cover image for the book Theology and Tolkien: Practical Theology
  • Cover image for the book The Architecture of Blame: The End of Victimage and the Beginning of Justice
  • Cover image for the book Theology, Religion, and Dungeons & Dragons: Explorations of the Sacred through Fantasy Worlds
  • Cover image for the book Questing through the Riordanverse: Studying Religion with the Works of Rick Riordan
  • Cover image for the book Originalism in Theology and Law: Comparing Perspectives on the Bible and the Constitution
  • Cover image for the book The Freedom of Christian Theology: New Studies in Dialogue with Eberhard Jüngel
  • Cover image for the book Geoliturgy and Ecological Crisis: The Spiritual Practice of Caring for Creation
  • Cover image for the book A Theology of Traumatic Affect: A Political and Religious Engagement
  • Cover image for the book The Goldilocks God: Searching for the via media
  • Cover image for the book Centering Hope as a Sustainable Decolonial Practice: Esperanza en Práctica
  • Cover image for the book The Unfractured Faith of Erik Routley: From Brighton to Princeton
  • Cover image for the book Unconscious Christianity in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Late Theology: Encounters with the Unknown Christ
  • Cover image for the book Bonhoeffer’s Religionless Christianity in Its Christological Context
  • Cover image for the book Posthumous Editing of a Great Master's Work: Special Focus on the Writings of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
  • Cover image for the book Theology and the Blues
  • Cover image for the book Theology, Fantasy, and the Imagination
  • Cover image for the book Theology and H.P. Lovecraft
  • Cover image for the book Theology and the DC Universe
  • Cover image for the book Credit and Faith
  • Cover image for the book Theology and Horror: Explorations of the Dark Religious Imagination
  • Cover image for the book Augustine’s Apocalyptic Political Theology in the Evil Saeculum
  • Cover image for the book Theology and Ethics for the Public Church: Mission in the 21st Century World
facebook icon twitter icon instagram icon linked in icon NEWSLETTERS
ABOUT US
  • Mission Statement
  • Employment
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility Statement
CONTACT
  • Company Directory
  • Publicity and Media Queries
  • Rights and Permissions
  • Textbook Resource Center
AUTHOR RESOURCES
  • Royalty Contact
  • Production Guidelines
  • Manuscript Submissions
ORDERING INFORMATION
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • National Book Network
  • Ingram Publisher Services UK
  • Special Sales
  • International Sales
  • eBook Partners
  • Digital Catalogs
IMPRINTS
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • Lexington Books
  • Hamilton Books
  • Applause Books
  • Amadeus Press
  • Backbeat Books
  • Bernan
  • Hal Leonard Books
  • Limelight Editions
  • Co-Publishing Partners
  • Globe Pequot
  • Down East Books
  • Falcon Guides
  • Gooseberry Patch
  • Lyons Press
  • Muddy Boots
  • Pineapple Press
  • TwoDot Books
  • Stackpole Books
PARTNERS
  • American Alliance of Museums
  • American Association for State and Local History
  • Brookings Institution Press
  • Center for Strategic & International Studies
  • Council on Foreign Relations
  • Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
  • Fortress Press
  • The Foundation for Critical Thinking
  • Lehigh University Press
  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  • Other Partners...