Description
The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Monsters brings together the work of world-renowned scholars in Bible, theology, religion, and cultural studies to explore the monsters that rampage through the biblical text. Essays provide in-depth analysis of the Ancient Near Eastern background of these creatures, explore how they have continued to live on after the biblical text, and discuss how they remain impactful through art and literature today. The chapters not only study where monsters came from, but continually focus on what they mean, and how these meanings are generated.These chapters work to bridge the perspectives of traditional scholarship and more postmodern ideas of monsters as cultural and rhetorical constructions. There are chapters on the Ghosts of Mesopotamia, Leviathan, and the Giants, but also on the Monstrous Jew in the Gospels and the Monstrosity of the Crucifixion. They serve both as foundational pieces of research for scholars looking to familiarize themselves with monsters and discourses of monstrosity, but also as creative and provocative examinations of how these monsters generate meaning. While working to summarize the research that has been done on biblical monsters up to the present day, this Handbook points the way forward towards new and exciting studies in unnatural creatures and the rhetoric of horror.
Table of Contents
Introduction by Brandon R. Grafius and John W. MoreheadBackground Studies1. Overview of Monster Theory by Doug Cowan2. Monstrous God and Monstrous Creators by Anthony Rees3. Demons and Monsters of Mesopotamia by Anne Marie Kitz4. Ghosts of Mesopotamia by JoAnn Scurlock Hebrew Bible Explorations5. Moloch by George Heider6. Anzu by Tammi Schneider7. Giants by Brian Doak8. Lilith by Jessi Knippel and Leland Merritt9. Shapeshifters in Daniel by Michael Hammett10. Monsters of Daniel 7 by Eric JarrardMonsters of the Divine11. Leviathan by Robert Miller II12. Behemoth by Mark Sneed13. Satan by Ryan Stokes14. Sheol by Christopher B. Hays15. The Mischwesen of Ezekiel by Megan RemingtonRhetoric of Control16. The Monstrous Feminine in the Hebrew Bible by Rhiannon Graybill and Peter Sabo17. Monstrosity in the Wisdom of Solomon by Thomas Scott CasonNew Testament Explorations18. The Monstrosity of the Crucifixion by Richard Walsh19. Demons in the New Testament by Archie Wright20. The Monstrous Jew in the Gospels by Kelly J. Murphy21. The Monstrous Dragon of Revelation by Heather Macumber22. The Other Monsters of Revelation by David BarrMonstrous Afterlives23. Monstrous Angels in the Modern World by Gregory Stevenson24. Biblical Demons in Contemporary Culture by Joseph Laycock25. Satan in Contemporary Culture by Scott Poole26. The Monsters of Young-Earth Creationists by Valarie Ziegler27. Today's Apocalyptic Monsters by Elizabeth Coody
