Andrew J. Byers serves as lecturer in New Testament at Ridley Hall in the Cambridge Theological Federation and as an affiliated lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge.Adam Powell is a lecturer in medical humanities in the Department of Theology & Religion at Durham University (UK).

Modern cultures and society frequently consider theology and religion as if they belong to a long-gone nostalgia of another world, yet—as the essays which Byers and Powell have compiled show—the universe of Stranger Things draws freely from the wells found in that other world. Stranger Things provides a rich and fertile ground to explore these themes. Through a wide-ranging series of essays and reflections, Religion, Theology and Stranger Things does a wonderful job of translating and working through both the “Upside Down” of Stranger Things in Hawkins, Indiana into the “Right Side Up” of our own world. It is an excellent volume thinking through the religion and theology of such a popular series which has sparked widespread cultural nostalgia for the 1980s. May this volume do the same for reflections on our theology and religion.

• Introduction, Andrew J. Byers, Adam PowellPart I: Spirits, Monsters, and Supernatural ScienceChapter 1: Comfort, Control, and Christmas Lights: The Types and Techniques of Spirit Communication in Stranger Things, Season One, Adam PowellChapter 2: The Myth of Stranger Things: A Structural Analysis of Monsters and Fears in Season One, Vivian AsimosChapter 3: Defining the Normal: Monstrosity in Stranger Things, Brandon GrafiusChapter 4: Enchanted Science? The Supernatural Imagination of Stranger Things, Josh ReevesPart II: History, (Pop) Culture, and Nostalgic ContextsChapter 5: Who Is Suzie Bingham? Gender and the 1980s Mormon Family in Stranger Things, Jana ReissChapter 6: “Do Not Be Overcome by Evil”: Dungeons, Dragons, and the Satanic Panic in Stranger Things , Joseph P. LaycockChapter 7: Fighting Satan with the Devil’s Music? Subverting Suspicions of Demonic Influence on Rock ‘n’ Roll in Stranger Things Season 4, John Anthony DunneChapter 8: Home, Nostalgia, and Stranger Things, Andrew RootChapter 9: Utopia, Intertextuality, and Liturgy: Nostalgia and Religion in Stranger Things, Melissa ConroyPart III: Theology, Ethics and Biblical ThemesChapter 10: “Peeking Behind Bauman’s Curtain”: A Theology and Ethics of Institutions in Stranger Things, Nathaniel A. Warne AdishianChapter 11: Max and the Magdalene: On Violence, Grief, and Trauma Under Patriarchy, Siobhán JolleyChapter 12: From Patmos to Hawkins: Slipping through Time and Space in Revelation and Stranger Things, Heather MacumberChapter 13: Can Anything Good Come out of Hawkins? Self, Place, Evil, and Salvation in John’s Gospel, Stranger Things, and the Secular Age, Andrew J. ByersAfterword: What Would Suzy, Erica, and Steve Say? Concluding Reflections, Andrew J. Byers, Adam Powell

Andrew J. Byers serves as lecturer in New Testament at Ridley Hall in the Cambridge Theological Federation and as an affiliated lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge.Adam Powell is a lecturer in medical humanities in the Department of Theology & Religion at Durham University (UK).

Modern cultures and society frequently consider theology and religion as if they belong to a long-gone nostalgia of another world, yet—as the essays which Byers and Powell have compiled show—the universe of Stranger Things draws freely from the wells found in that other world. Stranger Things provides a rich and fertile ground to explore these themes. Through a wide-ranging series of essays and reflections, Religion, Theology and Stranger Things does a wonderful job of translating and working through both the “Upside Down” of Stranger Things in Hawkins, Indiana into the “Right Side Up” of our own world. It is an excellent volume thinking through the religion and theology of such a popular series which has sparked widespread cultural nostalgia for the 1980s. May this volume do the same for reflections on our theology and religion.

• Introduction, Andrew J. Byers, Adam PowellPart I: Spirits, Monsters, and Supernatural ScienceChapter 1: Comfort, Control, and Christmas Lights: The Types and Techniques of Spirit Communication in Stranger Things, Season One, Adam PowellChapter 2: The Myth of Stranger Things: A Structural Analysis of Monsters and Fears in Season One, Vivian AsimosChapter 3: Defining the Normal: Monstrosity in Stranger Things, Brandon GrafiusChapter 4: Enchanted Science? The Supernatural Imagination of Stranger Things, Josh ReevesPart II: History, (Pop) Culture, and Nostalgic ContextsChapter 5: Who Is Suzie Bingham? Gender and the 1980s Mormon Family in Stranger Things, Jana ReissChapter 6: “Do Not Be Overcome by Evil”: Dungeons, Dragons, and the Satanic Panic in Stranger Things , Joseph P. LaycockChapter 7: Fighting Satan with the Devil’s Music? Subverting Suspicions of Demonic Influence on Rock ‘n’ Roll in Stranger Things Season 4, John Anthony DunneChapter 8: Home, Nostalgia, and Stranger Things, Andrew RootChapter 9: Utopia, Intertextuality, and Liturgy: Nostalgia and Religion in Stranger Things, Melissa ConroyPart III: Theology, Ethics and Biblical ThemesChapter 10: “Peeking Behind Bauman’s Curtain”: A Theology and Ethics of Institutions in Stranger Things, Nathaniel A. Warne AdishianChapter 11: Max and the Magdalene: On Violence, Grief, and Trauma Under Patriarchy, Siobhán JolleyChapter 12: From Patmos to Hawkins: Slipping through Time and Space in Revelation and Stranger Things, Heather MacumberChapter 13: Can Anything Good Come out of Hawkins? Self, Place, Evil, and Salvation in John’s Gospel, Stranger Things, and the Secular Age, Andrew J. ByersAfterword: What Would Suzy, Erica, and Steve Say? Concluding Reflections, Andrew J. Byers, Adam Powell