Category Archives: new religious movements

Reflections on an Academic Conference on the Saint and ‘Cult of Death’

November 24th, 2014 | Posted in Day of the Dead, death, Dia de los Muertos, new religious movements, Santa Muerte

Santa Muerte, the Saint of Death, and the international following she has is an area of interest here at TheoFantastique. R. Andrew Chesnut, author of Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint (Oxford University Press, 2012), recently posted on his blog regarding his thoughts on an international conference in the Netherlands that brought scholars […]

Tagged in: Day of the Dead, death, Dia de los Muertos, Santa Muerte | 0 Comments

Titles of Interest – Devoted to Death: Santa Muerta, the Skeleton Saint

October 7th, 2014 | Posted in Day of the Dead, death, Dia de los Muertos, new religious movements, Santa Muerte, Titles of Interest

Devoted to Death: Santa Muerta, the Skelton Saint by R. Andrew Chesnut (Oxford University Press, 2012) R. Andrew Chesnut offers a fascinating portrayal of Santa Muerte, a skeleton saint whose cult has attracted millions of devotees over the past decade. Although condemned by mainstream churches, this folk saint’s supernatural powers appeal to millions of Latin […]

Tagged in: Day of the Dead, death, Dia de los Muertos, Santa Muerte, Titles of Interest | 0 Comments

“Nova Religio” Focus on the Paranormal

August 6th, 2014 | Posted in new religious movements, paranormal

Joseph Laycock has announced the publication of a special edition of a journal that focuses on the paranormal where he served as guest editor. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Vol. 18, No. 1, August 2014 http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/nr.2014.18.issue-1 Table of Contents Approaching the Paranormal JOSEPH P. LAYCOCK Abstract: This issue of […]

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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and cultic/self-help America

October 1st, 2013 | Posted in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), new religious movements, religion

Previously I have written about Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and suggested that it may contain commentary on the religious right. My thinking found some connection to an interview with the film’s director, Philip Kaufman, by Michael Doyle in the September 2013 issue of Rue Morgue magazine. It is found on pages 21-22: Were […]

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Joseph Laycock: The Omega Man and Sociophobics of Cults

January 13th, 2011 | Posted in cults, horror, Joseph Laycock, new religious movements, Richard Matheson, The Omega Man

Joseph Laycock, an up and coming scholar of religion and popular culture, has an article in the International Journal for the Study of New Religions Volume 1, No. 2 (2010), titled “Conversion by Infection: The Sociophobic of Cults in the Omega Man.” The abstract: The Omega Man (1971), starring Charlton Heston, is a film adaptation […]

Tagged in: cults, horror, Joseph Laycock, Richard Matheson, The Omega Man | 1 Comment