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A Guidebook to Monsters: Philosophy, Religion, and the Paranormal
Ryan J. Stark surveys the classic monsters in great literature and film, television, the Bible, and, perhaps unexpectedly, the world in which we live. Monsterdom is real, Stark observes, but often hidden beneath the concealment spell of modern secular thought. This guidebook aims to break that spell, and, if so, to confirm once more a world that brims with high strangeness, or what Christian philosophers have always called “reality.” The book appeals to those who study the paranormal dimensions of religion and horror, broadly imagined. The clergy will also find it helpful, as will players of monster-riddled video games.
112 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 4, 2024
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September 14, 2024
Ryan J. Stark is a professor (of Humanities) at Corban Univ., an evangelical institution in Oregon. He recently generously donated a copy of this book (one of four that he's written or co-edited) to the BU library where I work. (I'd previously never heard of the author or the book.) Having a definite interest in both religion and the paranormal, and wanting to return a favor for a favor, I determined to read and review the book, figuring that its very short length would make it easy to work into my reading schedule. Of course, my hope (and expectation) was to write a favorable review! It's deeply distressing to me that I can't do that, particularly since it turns out that mine will be the first text review this book has here (and that, as one of just four, my rating will pull the average down considerably). But I normally make a policy of reviewing everything I read, and I have an obligation to be honest. :-(
Although the ultra-short length here (just 71 pages of actual text!) makes the book a really quick read, it actually works against it in terms of depth. Here, Stark has taken on a very broad subject, or rather array of subjects (the eight chapters cover "Vampires," "Werewolves," "Zombies," "Ghosts," "Robots," "Leviathans," "Devils," and "Aliens"). To offer any helpful treatment of such a wide range of phenomena, a writer would need to concentrate on one approach. He/she might present a meditation on what psychological truths these images represent as metaphors; might explore what (if any) real-world reality or factual basis might underlie the archetypes; might trace the manifestations of these themes in literature, or film/TV, or other pop-cultural venues, might explore the spiritual significance of these "monster" figures with regard to Christian faith, and/or their biblical connections. Even doing one of those well would be a challenge in this scope. Stark attempts to do every one of them, and then some; and to be blunt, it doesn't work. The treatment comes across as a superficial, ADHD-afflicted, kaleidoscope of undeveloped thoughts and insights.
There are other problems here which are perhaps related to the short length, but distinct. The author at times attempts to liven up the presentation with some humor. He probably does this very successfully in his oral lectures; and some academics turned writers can translate it from the spoken to the written medium well. Here it too often just falls flat, and there's not enough serious content to need humorous lightening, instead, the latter just presents as a forced-in distraction that highlights the scantiness of real food for thought to start with. A lot of reference is made to TV shows and movies, as well as books, but there's not a lot of context presented. It's clearly assumed that all readers will be familiar with these sources, but not all of us are. Stark is immensely erudite; a 10-page bibliography, mostly of books but with a few articles, movies/TV shows and Internet sources, lists the many references documented in the footnotes (except for the Bible, which is also cited frequently). These include ancient writers like Plato and Virgil, 21st-century academics, and much between. But he doesn't really interact in detail with any of these; the citations are more ornamental than substantial. (Six pages of index makes up the rest of the 88 pages.)
To the extent that there's a general thesis here, it's that the universe is an odd place with realities which aren't reducible to the arbitrarily limited scope of phenomena admitted to be "real" by naive materialism. But the treatment isn't clearly presented or well organized enough, nor developed and focused enough, to actually convince a skeptic. It's also difficult in many places to understand exactly what point is being made, even though Stark uses normal language rather than scholarly jargon. (To be honest, in the last couple of sentences in the "Robots" chapter, I literally have no idea what he means!) He frequently hints or implies that at least some of these "monsters" may be real, but he never asserts that clearly and doesn't really provide supporting evidence; and his handling of Bible passages is often highly dubious. There are some legitimate literary, psychological or theological insights here and there in the book, and enough interesting factoids to keep me reading for the three days it took me to finish (and my daily stints of reading are short); but as a whole the book is far less rewarding than it could have been, and than I wanted it to be.
Although the ultra-short length here (just 71 pages of actual text!) makes the book a really quick read, it actually works against it in terms of depth. Here, Stark has taken on a very broad subject, or rather array of subjects (the eight chapters cover "Vampires," "Werewolves," "Zombies," "Ghosts," "Robots," "Leviathans," "Devils," and "Aliens"). To offer any helpful treatment of such a wide range of phenomena, a writer would need to concentrate on one approach. He/she might present a meditation on what psychological truths these images represent as metaphors; might explore what (if any) real-world reality or factual basis might underlie the archetypes; might trace the manifestations of these themes in literature, or film/TV, or other pop-cultural venues, might explore the spiritual significance of these "monster" figures with regard to Christian faith, and/or their biblical connections. Even doing one of those well would be a challenge in this scope. Stark attempts to do every one of them, and then some; and to be blunt, it doesn't work. The treatment comes across as a superficial, ADHD-afflicted, kaleidoscope of undeveloped thoughts and insights.
There are other problems here which are perhaps related to the short length, but distinct. The author at times attempts to liven up the presentation with some humor. He probably does this very successfully in his oral lectures; and some academics turned writers can translate it from the spoken to the written medium well. Here it too often just falls flat, and there's not enough serious content to need humorous lightening, instead, the latter just presents as a forced-in distraction that highlights the scantiness of real food for thought to start with. A lot of reference is made to TV shows and movies, as well as books, but there's not a lot of context presented. It's clearly assumed that all readers will be familiar with these sources, but not all of us are. Stark is immensely erudite; a 10-page bibliography, mostly of books but with a few articles, movies/TV shows and Internet sources, lists the many references documented in the footnotes (except for the Bible, which is also cited frequently). These include ancient writers like Plato and Virgil, 21st-century academics, and much between. But he doesn't really interact in detail with any of these; the citations are more ornamental than substantial. (Six pages of index makes up the rest of the 88 pages.)
To the extent that there's a general thesis here, it's that the universe is an odd place with realities which aren't reducible to the arbitrarily limited scope of phenomena admitted to be "real" by naive materialism. But the treatment isn't clearly presented or well organized enough, nor developed and focused enough, to actually convince a skeptic. It's also difficult in many places to understand exactly what point is being made, even though Stark uses normal language rather than scholarly jargon. (To be honest, in the last couple of sentences in the "Robots" chapter, I literally have no idea what he means!) He frequently hints or implies that at least some of these "monsters" may be real, but he never asserts that clearly and doesn't really provide supporting evidence; and his handling of Bible passages is often highly dubious. There are some legitimate literary, psychological or theological insights here and there in the book, and enough interesting factoids to keep me reading for the three days it took me to finish (and my daily stints of reading are short); but as a whole the book is far less rewarding than it could have been, and than I wanted it to be.
Displaying 1 of 1 review