Christian Books...and Zombies

Note: Special thanks to James K.A. Smith and his twitter feed (@james_ka_smith) for inspiration and some awesome zombie book names.

by Ben Howard

In an attempt to increase Christian book sales, the following titles will be re-released this fall with one small addition.  Zombies.  Hordes of 'em.

Chicken Soup for the Zombie Soul – A delightful book of quips and stories to warm your undead heart. Includes all your zombie favorites from Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) to Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) to the guy who directed Thriller. Foreward by George Romero.

Purpose Driven Zombies – What on earth am I here for other than to eat brains, delicious brains. (@bobby_griffith)

Irresistible Zombie Revolution – Learning to live the simple life is a lot simpler when you have a single-minded thought process.

The Five Zombies You'll Meet in Heaven – Jesus is probably one of them, right? (co-blogger Jonathan Harrison)

Zombie Love Wins – It doesn't matter if there's a hell if we can love each other as the undead. (@likemindead)

Left Behind...With Zombies – I haven't read this series. It's totally possible that there are zombies in these books. I doubt Tim LaHaye reads this blog. (@MattCapps)

Blue Like Zombies – A man comes to terms with his faith, his faults, all amidst the backdrop of the zombie apocalypse. Since, it's based in the Pacific Northwest, I feel like this is vampire territory. The Cullen family needs to show these zombies what's up. (@tall_mp)

Mere Zombies – The most influential book for the thoughtful modern zombie. Also, pick up Zombie Letters, a fictional account of the letters between a zombie and his apprentice. (@MichaelRWear)

Sinners in the Hand of an Angry Zombie – This sermons sounds so much cooler with an Angry Zombie instead of an Angry God. Jonathan Edwards would have written some great horror movies. (@zhoag)

Zombie Discipleship – To be a good zombie comes at a price, a painful price, one's very life...because of the whole undead thing. (my friend Hannah Sigmon)

How (Not) to Speak of Zombies – When we reject the zombies, the zombies surround us and become us, but when we learn to accept the zombies as the other, then they no longer know where to find us.

Gospel of the Living Dead – This is an actual book. Looks cool. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1932792651/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

Peace,

Ben

When he isn't writing about fictional zombie-based books, Ben spends his time training to become an Olympic medalist in competitive floating. Crossing his fingers for Baku in 2020. You can follow his training regimen on Twitter @BenHoward87.

God and the (Zombie) Apocalypse

Another guest post, this time from my former college roommate Ian McLoud on The Walking Dead.  There are a few season two spoilers in this post, so be warned if you plan on catching up and care about that sort of thing.

Peace,

Ben

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by Ian McLoud

It’s a common Christian stereotype that we love to bemoan the failure of Hollywood to truly understand “the Christian life”.  We're typically represented as either self-righteous hypocrites or crazy, Bible-thumping rednecks (or a cringe-worthy combination of the two).  As Christians, we would love to say that we're not like that; that these portrayals are caricatures and do not exemplify what real Christians are like. Some of us would like to look back with fondness on the late 90’s and early 2000's and find the glory days of Christian television shows like 7^th Heaven, Touched by an Angel, and Promised Land.  Of course we’d also like to forget that these cookie-cutter love fests are simply positive caricatures and seldom seem like anything that we might experience in real life.  And these are just exceptions to the rule; television at large ignores God unless a major catastrophe happens and then, once all is well, it's back to fundamentalist hyperbole if not outright disappearance.

So it comes as a quite refreshing surprise when a TV show does get something right regarding the Christian experience, even if it's just one aspect and even if that one aspect is not particularly flattering. Beware spoilers.

I just started watching season 2 of The Walking Dead.  After the first six episodes, I’ve been struck by the addition of a few characters belief in God.  However, this belief has only manifested itself in situations where something has gone wrong.  Now by “go wrong” I mean a daughter has gone missing or a son has been shot and may possibly die.  Somehow, the whole dead walking thing and the potential end of the human race don't warrant a talk with the Big Guy, but that’s neither here nor there.  

In watching this character development I was struck by how accurate a picture this has actually captured of the Christian life. For the most part we only go to God when things are tough and when those things impact us in a way that is different from the norm.  At this point in the show the dead walking is a point of fact, but still children should not be lost nor should they be dying and in the face of these tragedies God needs to come in and help.  These characters are surrounded on all sides by situations that would send most anyone to their knees, yet it's only when the attacks get personal and extra messy that they realize prayer might be beneficial.  Say what you want about the television industry, but they get a few things right every now and then. We'd just prefer they stick to a wholesome Camden family dinner instead of shining a light on our faults and asking us to try fixing them.