Lesson 4: Religion: Salvation and Damnation
The state of modern humankind and its relation to the divine is explored. The consequence of the death of god is damnation. This is discussed as presented by the author H.P. Lovecraft.
Lesson Introduction
Lesson objectives
Cosider religion in its context of time.
Discuss the implications of the “death of god”.
Recommended resources referred to: Lovecraft's Essay, King (page 303-304), Clemens Chapters One and Four.
Please note: Books are recommended but not mandatory.
Student preparation:
Consider yourself and your religious conviction. Do you have religious convictions? What are they? Do you consider yourself “saved” in terms of death and religion? Can you think of any human fears that are addressed by religion? Are such fears of yours allayed by your own religious beliefs if you are really honest with yourself?
When considering the fear of death and the unknown, religious issues inevitably arise. Religion in itself in fact contains a lot of horror. Consider for example the crucifiction of Christ. Could anyone think of a more abject depiction of humiliation and suffering? Thousands of martyrs after him also suffered similar humiliations and abject deaths in the name of ultimate salvation.
In this lesson religion and religious ideas in their various time contexts are considered. Gothic fiction for example depicts religion and demons in a much different way than does horror fiction today. The Castle of Otranto for example dealt with the theme in terms of popular religious ideas of the time. Demons were evil, God was good and women were innocent heroines in need of salvation by their strong and mighty men. Damnation would occur if a demon became inextricably linked with the human soul. Salvation at this point would not be possible and the human soul would be lost. The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby are two good examples of how traditional religious codes are depicted as the salvation of mankind.
However, more or less at the beginning of the twentieth century, scientific and psychological progress gave rise to the idea of the “death of god”. H.P. Lovecraft, himself a scientist of note specializing particularly in astronomy, called himself a “mechanistic materialist”. He depicts in his works a world created by aliens, where no religion is meaningful and no god can save. In Lovecraft’s work God is not only dead; he never was. This is what Lovecraft calls “cosmic alienage” in his work, and all his horror fiction focusses on this alienage. This is the ultimate loneliness. Humanity has no God and no salvation. Damnation and annihilation appear to be the only fate of humankind. This lesson will also speculate about the role of horror fiction in the possible salvation of mankind. The idea of the “other” is introduced.
