The natural world depends on the . . .
Horrific stories remind us we are not alone.
Watch our two minute video (full text follows).
There is a good reason to be frightened: on Halloween and every day.
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people in public university (1 minute video), hosts a weekly radio program with diverse groups of guests (1 minute video), and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video).
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FULL TEXT HERE:
Freddie Kruger in The Nightmare on Elm Street, Michael in Halloween, and The Clown in Stephen King’s It all have something in common with the Christian view of life and things. You see I believe the horror genre of film is closest to the Christian view of life for two reasons. Horror movies believe in a supernatural world and that evil must be overcome by good.
At the Comenius Institute, we believe the natural world depends on a supernatural world. Horror stories are evidence that people believe in a world outside themselves. One of the great horror writers of all time was my first, favorite author in high school. Edgar Allen Poe enlivened my mind with strange tales and riveting poetry. Poe’s most famous poem “Raven” encapsulates the eternal question all ask, “Is there, a Balm in Gilead?”
Alfred Hitchcock’s psychological horror showed me that so many others felt as I did. I watched his half hour television series each week, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. I still have his collections of horrific short stories I read in bed with a flashlight when I was a boy. Hitch’s on-screen teaching came from a belief that there is another world to which we must give an account.
Rod Serling joined my pantheon of prophetic promoters. Serling’s Twilight Zone episodes made me cringe every week. The stories connected to my basest fears: from the man who broke his glasses sitting in the library after a nuclear holocaust to William Shatner’s unforgettable portrayal of a psychotic who saw what no one else did – a supernatural gremlin – in “Terror at 20,000 Feet.”
You see, supernatural storylines remind us that the natural world is not our only world. In fact, the natural world depends on the Supernatural God of the Bible. The Psalmist said it best: “the eyes of all look to You.”
For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, President of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking Truth wherever it’s found.
Dr. Eckel,
You know well that you are one after my own heart! Poe was my favorite in middle and high school. Love his work, and have read much of it. I read Frankenstein in middle school as well. My wife and I watch horror movies. I love reading spooky short stories and have recently acquired a book of some of the best ghost stories (according to Dahl).
Recently, we watched The Witch. Have you seen it? It explores a Puritan family’s isolation and descent into division and paranoia, sin, and the supernatural. I highly recommend it.
Next time we get together, let’s talk about some horror movies and horror stories!
Until then, Shalom.
-Joshua W.