Description: Analyzing the spirituality in a hit television series, this scholarly volume explores topics ranging from spiritualism to secularism, Mormonism to mythology, rock & roll to Dungeons & Dragons. The book demonstrates that popular culture can serve as an effective lens through which to reflect on the soul of humanity.
Brief description: 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).
Review Quotes:
"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