Even zombies can lead us to God
My journey in the Christian faith began with pop culture. God first spoke to me through Deep Purple’s Our Lady and Friday the 13th. As bizarre as it sounds, those pieces opened my mind to the metaphysical, something beyond the material world and mechanics. That was 36 years ago, and God still is speaking to me through pop culture.
Out of the 1970s culture of sex, drugs and rock and roll, I became an ordained pastor and got a doctorate in biblical studies from Glasgow University. Being a scholar is deeply embedded in me as a person and Christian. Scholarship substantiates, informs and guides my faith and practice. But I’m still a hopeless pop-culture junkie.
I see God in all things. But my scholarly training also alerts me to the bad things. Pop culture is not politically neutral or value-free. We are systematically brainwashed by Hollywood and advertising.
I teach religion and pop culture at Concordia University College, combining my passions for pop and scholarship. Students tell me they never look at billboards and tattoos the same way after taking my course. They learn to separate chaff from wheat — and to see God in the movies.
Lately I’ve been swarmed by zombies. It started with my 17-year-old son playing Call of Duty Zombies, then playing a CD of music from the game. I heard a divine voice from heaven in that recording, emanating out of the genre of zombie death metal. The voice was Elena Siegman, singing music by Kevin Sherwood, composer of the video game’s score. Sherwood’s lyrics led me on the path to “zombie enlightenment.”
There’s a lot going on with zombies — serious questions about who we are, along with our ethical choices and our own mortality. Sherwood’s music asks existential, eternal questions. Zombies are in our faces — because we are the zombies! They confront us with the fact that life is a profound mystery not completely explained by materialism. They express our feelings of being trapped in a ceaseless cycle of hopeless meaninglessness. They represent the apocalypse of our pain and suffering in the world. They communicate our desire for something more to life than 9 to 5 and certain death. Zombies are a dead end that spur us on to search for hope, purpose and a future (faith).
As director of the Canadian Centre for Scholarship and the Christian Faith at Concordia, I get to share my favourite moments in pop culture. I’ve also been able to interact with people like Sherwood, who will be the keynote speaker at our “religion and pop culture” conference on May 1 and 2. I’ll talk about how theology deals with zombies. For more information, go to cancscf.ca.
As a precursor to the conference, Sherwood, along with singers Elena Siegman and Malukah, will perform arrangements from Call of Duty Zombies with the Concordia University Choir with two concerts, at 7:30 and 9 p.m., on April 30. Tickets are $52.50 including GST and can be found at ZombieGig.ca.
The glory of God can be heard everywhere, even in death metal and soundtracks to zombie video games. Bill Anderson is professor of religious studies at Concordia University College of Alberta and the director of the Canadian Centre for Scholarship and the Christian Faith.