Television, Religion, and Supernatural

Television, Religion, and Supernatural
Author: Erika Engstrom
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2014-02-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0739184768

This book examines the text of the CW network television series Supernatural, a program based in the horror genre that offers viewers myriad religious-based antagonists, through the portrayals of monsters which its two main characters “hunt” and destroy, as well as storylines based in the Bible. Even as the series’ producers claim a non-religious perspective, we contend that story arcs and outcomes of episodes actually forward a hegemonic portrayal of Christianity that portrays a good-versus-evil motif regarding the superiority of Christianity. The depiction of its protagonist brothers, Dean and Sam Winchester of Lawrence, Kansas, forwards a pro-American perspective to a more generalized fight against evil in contemporary times.

TV Goes to Hell

TV Goes to Hell
Author: Stacey Abbott
Publisher: ECW Press
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2011-10
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1770900349

As a natural heir to the hit television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural has risen to prominence with a strong cult following, and this series of essays from contributors around the globe investigates the genre-bending series cultural footprint both in the United States and abroad. The writings explore topics such as folklore, religion, gender and sexuality, comedy, music, and much more, and a brief guide to all the episodes is also included. Supernatural follows brothers Dean and Sam Winchester as they encounter and battle evil beings such as vampires, shapeshifters, ghouls, and ghosts from a multitude of genres including folklore, urban legends, and religious history.

The Mythology of Supernatural

The Mythology of Supernatural
Author: Nathan Robert Brown
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2011-08-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1101517522

A look into the paranormal legends, lore, mythology, and monsters featured on the hit television show Supernatural. From angels to demons, The Mythology of Supernatural explores the religious roots and the ancient folklore of the otherworldly entities that brothers Sam and Dean Winchester face on the hit television show Supernatural—and that have inhabited the shadows of human imagination across countless cultures and centuries.

Supernatural Entertainments

Supernatural Entertainments
Author: Simone Natale
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2016-03-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 0271077379

In Supernatural Entertainments, Simone Natale vividly depicts spiritualism’s rise as a religious and cultural phenomenon and explores its strong connection to the growth of the media entertainment industry in the nineteenth century. He frames the spiritualist movement as part of a new commodity culture that changed how public entertainments were produced and consumed. Starting with the story of the Fox sisters, considered the first spiritualist mediums in history, Natale follows the trajectory of spiritualism in Great Britain and the United States from its foundation in 1848 to the beginning of the twentieth century. He demonstrates that spiritualist mediums and leaders adopted many of the promotional strategies and spectacular techniques that were being developed for the broader entertainment industry. Spiritualist mediums were indistinguishable from other professional performers, as they had managers and agents, advertised in the press, and used spectacularism to draw audiences. Addressing the overlap between spiritualism’s explosion and nineteenth-century show business, Natale provides an archaeology of how the supernatural became a powerful force in the media and popular culture of today.

Making Sense of God

Making Sense of God
Author: Timothy Keller
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2016-09-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0525954155

We live in an age of skepticism. Our society places such faith in empirical reason, historical progress, and heartfelt emotion that it’s easy to wonder: Why should anyone believe in Christianity? What role can faith and religion play in our modern lives? In this thoughtful and inspiring new book, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller invites skeptics to consider that Christianity is more relevant now than ever. As human beings, we cannot live without meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, justice, and hope. Christianity provides us with unsurpassed resources to meet these needs. Written for both the ardent believer and the skeptic, Making Sense of God shines a light on the profound value and importance of Christianity in our lives.

Hitler's Monsters

Hitler's Monsters
Author: Eric Kurlander
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2017-06-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0300190379

“A dense and scholarly book about . . . the relationship between the Nazi party and the occult . . . reveals stranger-than-fiction truths on every page.”—Daily Telegraph The Nazi fascination with the occult is legendary, yet today it is often dismissed as Himmler’s personal obsession or wildly overstated for its novelty. Preposterous though it was, however, supernatural thinking was inextricable from the Nazi project. The regime enlisted astrology and the paranormal, paganism, Indo-Aryan mythology, witchcraft, miracle weapons, and the lost kingdom of Atlantis in reimagining German politics and society and recasting German science and religion. In this eye-opening history, Eric Kurlander reveals how the Third Reich’s relationship to the supernatural was far from straightforward. Even as popular occultism and superstition were intermittently rooted out, suppressed, and outlawed, the Nazis drew upon a wide variety of occult practices and esoteric sciences to gain power, shape propaganda and policy, and pursue their dreams of racial utopia and empire. “[Kurlander] shows how swiftly irrational ideas can take hold, even in an age before social media.”—The Washington Post “Deeply researched, convincingly authenticated, this extraordinary study of the magical and supernatural at the highest levels of Nazi Germany will astonish.”—The Spectator “A trustworthy [book] on an extraordinary subject.”—The Times “A fascinating look at a little-understood aspect of fascism.”—Kirkus Reviews “Kurlander provides a careful, clear-headed, and exhaustive examination of a subject so lurid that it has probably scared away some of the serious research it merits.”—National Review

A Trip Into the Supernatural

A Trip Into the Supernatural
Author: Roger J. Morneau
Publisher: Review and Herald Pub Assoc
Total Pages: 146
Release: 1982
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780828001380

Supernatural

Supernatural
Author: Erin Giannini
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2021-11-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781538134498

Supernatural: A History of Television's Unearthly Road Trip is a captivating examination of the cultural phenomenon that is Supernatural, the longest running genre series in US television history. It examines the show's predecessors, characters, major storylines, devoted fanbase, and how it has influenced other series that followed.

Watching TV Religiously (Engaging Culture)

Watching TV Religiously (Engaging Culture)
Author: Kutter Callaway
Publisher: Baker Academic
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2016-11-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1493405853

Helping Christians Understand the Power and Meaning of TV Since its inception, television has captured the cultural imagination. Outside of work and sleep, it is now the primary preoccupation of most Americans. Individuals consume upward of five hours of TV daily, even more when taking into account viewing done online and on mobile devices. TV is so ingrained in the fabric of everyday life that it can't help but function as one of the primary means through which we make sense of our lives and the world. This book shows that television--as a technology, a narrative art form, a commodity, and a portal for our ritual lives--confronts viewers theologically. Whether its content is explicitly spiritual or not, TV routinely invites (and sometimes demands) theological reflection. This book articulates something of the presence and activity of God in the golden age of TV and forges an appropriate response to an ever-changing cultural form. It constructs a theology of television that allows for both celebration and critique, helping Christians more fully understand and appreciate the power and meaning of TV. A supplemental website provides additional resources, conversations, and close readings of TV programs.

Divine Programming

Divine Programming
Author: Charlotte E. Howell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2020-03-02
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0190054395

From the mid-90s to the present, television drama with religious content has come to reflect the growing cultural divide between white middle-America and concentrated urban elites. As author Charlotte E. Howell argues in this book, by 2016, television narratives of white Christianity had become entirely disconnected from the religion they were meant to represent. Programming labeled 'family-friendly' became a euphemism for white, middlebrow America, and developing audience niches became increasingly significant to serial dramatic television. Utilizing original case studies and interviews, Divine Programming investigates the development, writing, producing, marketing, and positioning of key series including 7th Heaven, Friday Night Lights, Rectify, Supernatural, Jane the Virgin, Daredevil, and Preacher. As this book shows, there has historically been a deep ambivalence among television production cultures regarding religion and Christianity more specifically. It illustrates how middle-American television audiences lost significance within the Hollywood television industry and how this in turn has informed and continues to inform television programming on a larger scale. In recent years, upscale audience niches have aligned with the perceived tastes of affluent, educated, multicultural, and-importantly-secular elites. As a result, the televised representation of white Christianity had to be othered, and shifted into the unreality of fantastic genres to appeal to niche audiences. To examine this effect, Howell looks at religious representation through four approaches - establishment, distancing, displacement, and use - and looks at series across a variety of genres and outlets in order to provied varied analyses of each theme.