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Joseph Laycock

Joseph Laycock is an assistant professor of religious studies at Texas State University. In addition to Speak of the Devil (Oxford University Press, 2020), his books include The Seer of Bayside: Veronica Lueken and the Struggle for Catholic Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2014) and Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic Over Role-Playing Games Says About Religion, Play, and Imagined Worlds (University of California Press, 2015).

Articles

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Religion Dispatches
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter retells the story of America, laying the blame for many of the worst episodes on vampires. Does this history let us off the hook?
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Religion Dispatches
Mexico may have experienced its own “Manson moment” last month when eight devotees of “ Santa Muerte” were arrested for the murder of three people, allegedly as human sacrifices. While the media has been fairly restrained in covering this event, these murders will likely have lasting consequences for alternative religion in North America. Like the Manson murders, the Santa Muerte murders present a concrete instance of violence that can be used to support much broader claims about the dangers of the religious and cultural Other.
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