Religion, Culture, and the Monstrous

Natasha L. Mikles is lecturer at Texas State University Joseph P. Laycock is associate professor of religious studies at Texas State University

• Table of ContentsPART I: Thinking with MonstersChapter 1: Five Further Theses on Monster Theory and Religious StudiesNatasha L. Mikles and Joseph P. LaycockChapter 2: Re-Iterations: On Tellings, Variants, and Why Monsters Always Come BackDoug CowanChapter 3: Horror and Bible (Six Theses)Brandon R. GrafiusChapter 4: A Biological Model of Monster FlapsBlake SmithPART II: Monsters Guarding the GatesChapter 5: The Idea of Evil and Messianic Deliverance in the Satpanth Ismaili Tradition of South AsiaWafi MominChapter 6: Ghost stories from Tales of Retribution: Understanding elements of Seventeenth-century Japanese Ghost StoriesFrank ChuChapter 7: Of Monsters and Invisible Villages: Nags myi rgod Tales of the Tibetans of Gyalthang Eric D. MortensenChapter 8: Godly Aromas and Monstrous Stenches: An Analysis of Buddhist New Year Fumigation Rituals in an Indo-Himalayan Borderland Rohit SinghChapter 9: Man, Yeti, And Mi-go: The Transgressive History of A Monstrous WordLee W

This is a collection I’ve been waiting on for years. The sacred and the profane have frequently created a unnatural union in our monsters. Scholars of a variety of disciplines have tried to make sense of where these lines meet. This volume, and the incredible collection of scholars found in it, moves beyond some of the iconic studies in the field, changing much of that we think we know about monsters, religion, the sense of the holy, and how all of these intersect in our personal and collective experience. New insights pop on every page and prepare to have older theories autopsied and buried. This book combined academic rigor with a profound sense of the dangerous cultural moment in which it appears, this book will make scholars and monster fans alike rethink what those bumps in the night really mean.