#CFP Theology And LOST

Okay, I am really excited about this call for chapter proposals, even though I really shouldn’t take anything else on. Those who have read my blog for a long time will know that I avidly blogged about the show when it was on, and then again rewatching it from start to finish with my son. The show has so much depth to it, that I’d be delighted to return to it. If you never watched or rewatched it, I highly recommend it!

Theology and LOST: Call for Abstracts

Due Date for Abstracts: August 1, 2021

Few commercial television series in recent memory had such a lasting impact on its viewers as did the TV series “Lost” which aired 2004-2010, and although the series is now over a decade old, it is still available on streaming services and its themes are still relevant, perhaps even more so in our (post) pandemic world.

Introduced as a seemingly conventional “mystery/ action” TV show with an initial episode detailing a plane crash in the South Pacific, “Lost” very quickly pivoted to a complex but engaging mediation on deeply spiritual/ theological questions: faith or reason (Shepherd v. Locke)? science or religion, or both? what is death? Is there an afterlife? multiple afterlives? what is time? Is there redemption? Does the arc of the universe bend toward justice? is there meaning in existence or is it a random assortment of actions and reactions? The series also offers sequential reflections on certain theological/ epistemological/ philosophical and literary themes, including: the hero; enlightenment; sacrifice; the ethics of care; ways of ‘knowing’(e.g., revelation and intuition/ analysis); violence and human nature; the rights of the invividual vs. the needs of the community; the presence of suffering in the human condition, and the reality of evil. Every season shifted the focus and the themes into more complex iterations that continue to excite debate.

This call is for abstracts of proposed essays for an edited collection (already under contract with a publisher as a volume in its “Theology and Popular Culture” series) on theological/ spiritual/ religious themes in the TV series “Lost”. Abstracts of no less than 275 words are due by August 1, 2021: please include as well a CV and a brief (no more than 50 words) academic/ scholarly bio with the abstract. Please email the proposal as a Word doc attachment to [email protected] Submissions from junior, senior and independent scholars are welcome.

Contact Info:

June-Ann Greeley, PhD

Department of Languages and Literature

Sacred Heart University

Fairfield CT 06825 USAContact Email: [email protected]