CSFF Blog Tour: "Night of the Living Dead Christian" Day Two

Part of the reason why I love Matt Mikilatos's books, such as Night of the Living Dead Christian, so much is because of how profoundly uncomfortable they can make me. The same thing happened while I was reading Imaginary Jesus, which examined the false idols we construct for ourselves and then try to dress up as Jesus Himself.

In this book, though, Mikilatos tackled the uncomfortable topic of what the Christian life is supposed to look like. According to the Bible, we're supposed to have new life in Christ, but do we really? Using the imagery of horror movie monsters, Mikilatos unpacks a number of ways that Christians fall short of the life we could have.

Maybe we're zombies, mindlessly shuffling along while we follow a supposedly wise leader. Or we could be werewolves, people who succumb to based instincts that should be under control. Or vampires, folks who live only to gratify their own selfish thirsts. Whatever the case, Mikilatos takes the time to show us what each of these monsters look like in real life. He holds a mirror to our faces and asks us what monster we are.

This is especially true in the epilogue, where Mikilatos lists off a number of different monsters (some in the book and some not), along with defining characteristics. When I read through them, I recognized myself as being a number of different monsters. For example, I'm pretty sure I'm a Gargantuan (and not just because of my height). I can be something of a glory hog, even if I pretend not to be.

So what about you, folks? What kind of monster are you? Admitting to your monsterhood is the first step in being fixed.

Go check out what the other tourists have to say.

Gillian Adams Julie Bihn Red Bissell Thomas Clayton Booher Thomas Fletcher Booher Keanan Brand Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Theresa Dunlap Amber French Tori Greene Nikole Hahn Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Janeen Ippolito Becky Jesse Jason Joyner Carol Keen Leighton Shannon McDermott Rebecca LuElla Miller Nissa Joan Nienhuis Crista Richey Sarah Sawyer Chawna Schroeder Rachel Starr Thomson Steve Trower Fred Warren Shane Werlinger Nicole White Dave Wilson