When the Great Abyss Opened

Classic and Contemporary Readings of Noah's Flood
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-19-973363-7
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 260 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 430 g

What does the story of the Flood mean to us and why does it so stir the collective imagination? When the Great Abyss Opened examines the history of our attempts to understand the Flood, from medieval Jewish and Christian speculation about the physical details of the ark to contemporary efforts to link it to scientific findings. Unraveling the mythical dimensions of the parallel Mesopotamian flood stories and their deeper social and psychological significance, J. David Pleins also considers the story's positive uses in theology and moral instruction. Noah's tale, however, has also been invoked as a means of justifying exclusion, racism, and anti-homosexual views. Pro-slavery advocates, for example, used the story of Noah's Curse on Ham's son Canaan to rationalize the enslavement of Africans.

Throughout this expansive and lively book, Pleins sheds new light on our continuing attempts to understand this ancient primal myth. Noah's Flood, he contends, offers a unique case study that illuminates the timeless and timely question of how fact and faith relate.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Pleins, John David

Pleins, J. David

Pleins, J.

Welch, David

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Volkskunde: Sitten, Traditionen, Mythen, Legenden

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- 1.: Of Angels, Mangers, and Arks: Black Sea Flooding and Mountain Mania

- 2.: For the Bible Tells Me SO!: Competing Ways to Read Genesis

- 3.: Not as Seamless as It Seems: The Literalist's Lens

- 4.: Just after Breakfast on Sunday, October 23, 4004 B.C.: Fundamentalist Literalism and Creation "Science"

- 5.: From Sarcophagus to Ship: Traditional and Early Scientific Visions of the Flood

- 6.: Weather Reports?: Adopting the Mythic View

- 7.: Diverting the Stream of Tradition: Reinventing the Flood Myth

- 8.: Race, Sex, and the Cruse: When Myths Go Wrong

- 9.: Simone de Beauvoir aboard the Ark: Male Hero Fantasies and the Second Sex

- 10.: Can We Really Dig Up God?: Science, Myth, and the Flood Today

- Conclusion. Telling Many Stories

- Appendix

- Notes

- Bibliography

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

J. David Pleins is Professor of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University