J. David Pleins

When the Great Abyss Opened (eBook, PDF)

Classic and Contemporary Readings of Noah's Flood

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

The story of Noah's flood is one of the best-loved and most often retold biblical tales, the inspiration for numerous children's books and toys, novels, and even films. Whether as allusion, archetype, or literal presence--the American landscape is peppered with "recreations" of the ark--the story of Noah's animals and the ark resonates throughout American culture and the world. While most think of Noah's ark as a dramatic myth, others are consumed by the quest for geological and archeological proof that the flood really occurred. Persistent rumors of a large vessel on the mountain of Ararat in Turkey, for instance, have led many pilgrims and explorers over the centuries to visit that fabled peak. Recent finds suggest that there may have been a catastrophic flood on the shores of the Black Sea some 7,600 years ago. Is this then the reality behind the ancient tale of Noah? More to the point, why does it matter? 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.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Erscheinungstermin: 19. August 2009
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780199736553
• Artikelnr.: 38131657

Autorenporträt

J. David Pleins is Professor of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University, where he teaches courses in biblical studies and comparative ancient Near Eastern literature and mythology. He is the author of The Social Visions of the Hebrew Bible: A Theological Introduction (2001) and Psalms: Songs of Tragedy, Hope, and Justice (1993).

Inhaltsangabe

* 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