Christian Horror

[Ransom v. Unman]

So... a recent post came up at Speculative Faith regarding whether there can possiblybe a "Christian" work of horror.

I have much to say on the matter, but after several not-so-nice-yet-all-the-same-valid observations I made in some earlier posts over there have gotten me in trouble, I won't be going there to discuss it.

So, for the sake of discussion, I pose a few a few questions:

1) What would qualify a piece of horror literature as "Christian" to begin with?

2) Is there a way for a Christian writer to make horror stories without compromising his/her faith?

3) Does horror – as a genre – show anything about God's grace or nature?

4) What does it say about Christians and the arts that so few believers are involved in this genre?

[rljfl]

Good question. Let me answer, as much as I can, by each of your numbered questions.

1)Numerous things could qualify a horror piece as Christian...ie the "hero/heroine" is a Christian...somehow God saves the day, or if you go the dark route, the story really shows the horror of the absence of God

2)Yes, I think that a Christiand can easily write horror just as much as they could any other genre, what is horror but a genre to scare. Really, I don't see how this relegates a Christian incapable of writing a good story.

3)Horror can. This gets into what constitutes horror...do you want an actual horror story, or do you see it only as the hacker/slasher slush that many have come to define the genre by?

4)It says that many Christians are conflicted with this genre, or they just don't like it themselves. Again, I think the main problem is that so many associate horror with gore/sex/etc. Horror doesn't have to be that in order to be downright frightening.

[Pastor Kevin]

I can see both sides of the coin. I am in the process of writing a short story, in which a young person stuggles with fear. I would like to make a point... "God has not given us a spirit of fear" 2 Tim.1:7

[Cymrugirl]

I can't get past question one - because I have been confused since working at a library, how horror in general is classified. There are books I think are horrific - but are considered science fiction or fantasy. To my mother, Tolkien's orcs are the stuff of horror novels.

For me, Ray Bradbury's "The Crowd," and the short story, "The Lottery," are the epitomy of good horror stories - but I don't think either one of them are classified that way.

Slapping an extra adjective "Christian" onto "horror" only confuses me more.

In the classic sense - is Jurassic Park or Congo by Michael Crichton horror fiction? What about Beowulf? What of M. Night Shamalyan's The Village, in which there really aren't any monsters at the end of the story? Does horror refer to any story with frightening, possibly inexplicable elements? If so, the book of Revelation is the greatest horror story of all time, if you ask me.

I will certainly be curious to read everyone's answers because, admittedly, I feel like Horror is an emotional label of fiction - and emotional responses to literature vary from person to person. Is there any other genre with a more emotional label? Only Romance comes close. But what if we had Greed fiction - or Hate fiction - or Angry fiction - or a host of others. Love fiction sounds pretty nice - but it could be pretty bad. Greed fiction sounds pretty bad, but it could be about the vice of greed. I guess, overall, Horror has just always been a confusing label to me.

[Tarin]

I will certainly be curious to read everyone's answers because, admittedly, I feel like Horror is an emotional label of fiction - and emotional responses to literature vary from person to person. Is there any other genre with a more emotional label? Only Romance comes close. But what if we had Greed fiction - or Hate fiction - or Angry fiction - or a host of others. Love fiction sounds pretty nice - but it could be pretty bad. Greed fiction sounds pretty bad, but it could be about the vice of greed. I guess, overall, Horror has just always been a confusing label to me.

Excellent thinking here.