Crime fiction and mediatized religion: Towards a theory of post-secular crime fiction

In recent Scandinavian crime fiction an ongoing discussion on religion and religiosity is taking place. This undercurrent goes historically a long way back, but the past few decades seem to have left room for an altered view on religion in modern crime fiction. Crime fiction has usually been connected with modernity, modern society and ensuing secularity, but the question is, then, what happens to crime fiction if modern societies no longer uphold its trust in secular ideals. The thesis is that this leaves modern Scandinavian media open for a religious discussion which then also seeps into popular crime fiction. In novels by Arne Dahl, Henning Mortensen, Gunnar Staalesen, A.J. Kazinski, Gretelise Holm and several other Scandinavian writers of crime fiction it is possible to locate an interest in theology and topics of religious philosophy which reflects this current trend in modern Scandinavian media where religion has become mediatized. Consumers of popular culture no longer endorse confidence in institutionalized religion, but that does not mean that people are losing faith: Faith only seems to adjust itself and tiptoe into popular media and popular fiction. Hence, this paper seeks to explain this undercurrent of religious interest in recent Scandinavian crime fiction by way of a changed view on religion in late modernity and modern media.