It was five years in the making, from initial concept to publishing, but The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Monsters ships this Wednesday, June 25. I received my contributor copies last week, and it looks great. A word of warning: this is an academic title designed for purchase by libraries in universities and colleges, so it’s a little pricey. If you’d like to see a copy the best bet might be to ask your local university library to secure a copy. The description and contents are listed below.
OUP website: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-biblical-monsters-9780197565056?cc=us&lang=en&
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Handbook-Biblical-Monsters-Handbooks/dp/0197565050
Google Books preview: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Oxford_Handbook_of_Biblical_Monsters/f61cEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
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.
Introduction by Brandon R. Grafius and John W. Morehead
Background Studies
- Overview of Monster Theory by Doug Cowan
- Monstrous God and Monstrous Creators by Anthony Rees
- Demons and Monsters of Mesopotamia by Anne Marie Kitz
- Ghosts of Mesopotamia by JoAnn Scurlock
Hebrew Bible Explorations
- Moloch by George Heider
- Anzu by Tammi Schneider
- Giants by Brian Doak
- Lilith by Jessi Knippel and Leland Merritt
- Shapeshifters in Daniel by Michael Hammett
- Monsters of Daniel 7 by Eric Jarrard
Monsters of the Divine
- Leviathan by Robert Miller II
- Behemoth by Mark Sneed
- Satan by Ryan Stokes
- Sheol by Christopher B. Hays
- The Mischwesen of Ezekiel by Megan Remington
Rhetoric of Control
- The Monstrous Feminine in the Hebrew Bible by Rhiannon Graybill and Peter Sabo
- Monstrosity in the Wisdom of Solomon by Thomas Scott Cason
New Testament Explorations
- The Monstrosity of the Crucifixion by Richard Walsh
- Demons in the New Testament by Archie Wright
- The Monstrous Jew in the Gospels by Kelly J. Murphy
- The Monstrous Dragon of Revelation by Heather Macumber
- The Other Monsters of Revelation by David Barr
Monstrous Afterlives
Today’s Apocalyptic Monsters by Elizabeth Coody
Monstrous Angels in the Modern World by Gregory Stevenson
Biblical Demons in Contemporary Culture by Joseph Laycock
Satan in Contemporary Culture by Scott Poole
The Monsters of Young-Earth Creationists by Valarie Ziegler
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