What if Horror Proves God Exist?

About this episode

The episode explores how horror may serve as an unlikely witness to God and objective morality through theological and philosophical lenses.

Our exploration of horror reveals the paradox that the genre may serve as an unlikely witness to God, objective morality, and divine order. By filtering the genre through the lenses of theology and classical philosophy, this series explores the compelling hypothesis that the very concept of a "monster" or a "shadow" inherently requires a pre-existing light—a fundamental standard of "good" and the "natural"—to define it by violation. Drawing upon seminal thinkers such as C.S. Lewis and Rudolf Otto, we illustrate how the supernatural dread evoked by horror directly mirrors the "mysterium tremendum"—the profound mix of awe and terror historically associated with encountering the truly divine and holy. Even within the supposedly godless realms of secular or cosmic horror, the pervasive use of concepts like "blasphemy" implies the violation of a transcendent rulebook, thereby implicitly validating the existence of a higher cosmic law. Ultimately, this series posits that horror functions as a unique metaphysical lens, inadvertently directing secular audiences toward faith by vividly depicting the corruption, perversion, and utter insufficiency of a reality void of the divine. A…

People in this episode

Host: Norman Plant

Topics covered

• horror
• theology
• philosophy
• divine order
• metaphysics
• morality

Keywords

• horror
• God
• morality
• theology
• philosophy
• C.S. Lewis
• Rudolf Otto
• supernatural
• divine
• cosmic law

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