Noah As Antihero

This collection of essays by biblical scholars is the first book-length treatment of the 2014 film Noah, directed by Darren Aronofsky. The film has proved to be of great interest to scholars working on the interface between the Bible and popular culture, not only because it was heralded as the first of a new generation of biblical blockbusters, but also because of its bold, provocative, and yet unusually nuanced approach to the interpretation and use of the Noah tradition, in both its biblical and extra-biblical forms. The book’s chapters, written by both well-established and up-and-coming scholars, engage with and analyze a broad range of issues raised by the film, including: its employment and interpretation of the ancient Noah traditions; its engagement with contemporary environmental themes and representation of non-human animals; its place within the history of cinematic depictions of the flood, status as an ‘epic’, and associated relationship to spectacle; the theological implications of its representation of a hidden and silent Creator and responses to perceived revelation; the controversies surrounding its reception among religious audiences, especially in the Muslim world; and the nature and implications of its convoluted racial and gender politics. Noah as Antihero will be of considerable interest to scholars conducting research in the areas of religion and film, contemporary hermeneutics, reception history, religion and popular culture, feminist criticism, and ecological ethics.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of figures -- List of contributors -- Introduction: Russell Crowe's Knees and Darren Aronofsky's Vision -- 1 An Ongoing Tradition: Aronofsky's Noah as 21st-Century Rewritten Scripture -- 2 Rock Giants and the Magic Stone of Torah: Allusions to Esoteric and Extra-Biblical Literature in Noah -- 3 Retelling the Biblical Story of Noah: Jewish and Christian Perspectives -- 4 Moving Beyond 'Fatwā This!': On the Possibility of Human Redemption in Noah, The Ark, and Islamic Tradition -- 5 Seeing Is Believing: Aronofsky's Noah and Cinematic Spectacle -- 6 Commercial Configurations of Scriptural Temporality: Noah as a Blockbuster -- 7 Noah: Aronofsky's Nuancing of the Biblical Epic -- 8 The Presence and Hiddenness of God in Noah -- 9 "How-How Is This Just?!": How Aronofksy and Handel Handle Noah's Curse -- 10 'Real' Women and Multiple Masculinities in Aronofsky's Noah -- 11 'It's Not the End of the World': Aronofsky's Noah and IMAXed Apocalyptic Animals -- 12 The Innocent, the Image, and the White Imagination: Noah as Ecological Mythology -- Index

This collection of essays by biblical scholars is the first book-length treatment of the 2014 film Noah, directed by Darren Aronofsky. The film has proved to be of great interest to scholars working on the interface between the Bible and popular culture, not only because it was heralded as the first of a new generation of biblical blockbusters, but also because of its bold, provocative, and yet unusually nuanced approach to the interpretation and use of the Noah tradition, in both its biblical and extra-biblical forms. The book's chapters, written by both well-established and up-and-coming scholars, engage with and analyze a broad range of issues raised by the film, including: its employment and interpretation of the ancient Noah traditions; its engagement with contemporary environmental themes and representation of non-human animals; its place within the history of cinematic depictions of the flood, status as an 'epic', and associated relationship to spectacle; the theological implications of its representation of a hidden and silent Creator and responses to perceived revelation; the controversies surrounding its reception among religious audiences, especially in the Muslim world; and the nature and implications of its convoluted racial and gender politics. Noah as Antihero will be of considerable interest to scholars conducting research in the areas of religion and film, contemporary hermeneutics, reception history, religion and popular culture, feminist criticism, and ecological ethics.

In Violence in the Hebrew Bible scholars reflect on texts of violence in the Hebrew Bible, as well as their often problematic reception history. Authoritative texts and traditions can be rewritten and adapted to new circumstances and insights. Texts are subject to a process of change. The study of the ways in which these (authoritative) biblical texts are produced and/or received in various socio-historical circumstances discloses a range of theological and ideological perspectives. In reflecting on these issues, the central question is how to allow for a given text’s plurality of possible and realised meanings while also retaining the ability to form critical judgments regarding biblical exegesis. This volume highlight that violence in particular is a fruitful area to explore this tension.

Biblical Reception is rapidly becoming the go-to annual publication for all matters related to the reception of the bible. The annual addresses all kinds of use of the bible in art, music, literature, film and popular culture, as well as in the history of interpretation. For this fourth edition of the annual, guest editor David Tollerton has commissioned pieces specifically on the use of the bible in one film: Exodus: Gods and Kings and these chapters consider how the film uses the bible, and how the bible functions within the film.

The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible brings together 37 essential essays written by leading international scholars, examining crucial points of analysis within the field of feminist Hebrew Bible studies. Organized into four major areas - globalization, neoliberalism, media, and intersectionality - the essays collectively provide vibrant, relevant, and innovative contributions to the field. The topics of analysis focus heavily on gender and queer identity, with essays touching on African, Korean, and European feminist hermeneutics, womanist and interreligious readings, ecofeminist and animal biblical studies, migration biblical studies, the role of gender binary voices in evangelical-egalitarian approaches, and the examination of scripture in light of trans women's voices. The volume also includes essays examining the Old Testament as recited in music, literature, film, and video games. The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible charts a culturally, hermeneutically, and exegetically cutting-edge path for the ongoing development of biblical studies grounded in feminist, womanist, gender, and queer perspectives.

Wrestling with Angels For over twenty years, psychotherapist, lecturer, and Bible teacher Naomi H. Rosenblatt has been leading some of the nation's best and brightest minds through the Bible, from Wall Street boardrooms to weekly sessions in the U.S. Congress, in what William Safire has called "the best Bible class for the layman." Drawing upon insights into human nature gleaned from decades of private practice and a lifelong study of the Bible, she sifts through the Bible's epic stories, filled with vivid characters in dramatic circumstances, to show how the lessons of their lives empower us today as parents, spouses, businesspeople, citizens, and lovers. In Wrestling with Angels, she and her co-author Joshua Horwitz retell and interpret the multigenerational saga of the first family of the Bible, showing how their all-too-human struggles are decidedly relevant to the issues confronting us today. The Bible? Relevant today? Many readers will be surprised by how truly relevant the Book of Genesis is. It discusses, among other things, the first recorded case of sexual harassment; surrogate parenting and the problems it raises; siblings battling over the love of a parent; rape and its consequences; and vigilante justice. The issues faced by Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, and their descendants are remarkably similar to those that arise in all of our lives, including: The strenuous demands of adulthood The challenges of faith The joys of sexuality The nature of leadership and heroism The responsibilities of parenting The role of values in building character The empowerment of a spiritual identity In this extraordinary book of timeless and profound wisdom, Naomi Rosenblatt invites both Christians and Jews to revisit our common spiritual heritage: "For the humanist, the religious, the agnostic, or the merely inquisitive, Wrestling with Angels is an open invitation to probe the mystery, the miracle, and the drama of adult life in an imperfect world." A book to be read again and again, Wrestling with Angels is a poignant and pragmatic guide to the bestselling self-help book of all time.

This is a detailed investigation into the nature of Nebuchadnezzar's animalising affliction in Daniel 4 and the degree to which he is depicted as actually becoming an animal. PeterAtkins examines two predominant lines of interpretation: either Nebuchadnezzar undergoes a physical metamorphosis of some kind into an animal form; or diverse other readings that specifically preclude or deny an animal transformation of the king. By providing an extensive study of these interpretative opinions, alongside innovative assessments of ancient Mesopotamian divine-human-animal boundaries, Atkins ultimately demonstrates how neither of these traditional interpretations best reflect the narrative events. While there have been numerous metamorphic interpretations of Daniel 4, these are largely reliant upon later developments within the textual tradition and are not present in the earliest edition of Nebuchadnezzar's animalising affliction. Atkins' study displays that when Daniel 4 is read in the context of Mesopotamian texts, which appear to conceive of the human-animal boundary as being indicated primarily in relation to possession or lack of the divine characteristic of wisdom, the affliction represents a far more significant categorical change from human to animal than has hitherto been identified.