Subverting Scriptures: Critical Reflections on the Use of the Bible

by B. Benedix (Editor)

Overview

This collection seeks to fill the interdisciplinary space that addresses when, why, and how writers strategically reference the Bible for subversive or re-evaluative purposes. It explores the specific biblical pieces used this subversion, and why they are used, with reference to many contemporary sources.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349376483
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	11/18/2009
Edition description:	1st ed. 2009
Pages:	245
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

BETH HAWKINS BENEDIX is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Literature Coordinator, Program in Jewish Studies, DePauw University, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction PART I: SETTING THE STAGE: WHAT IS SUBVERSIVE SCRIPTURE? Walking the (Damascus Road) Line: The Irony of Appropriation in Johnny Cash's Man in White; J.Twomey Refuse, Realism, and Retelling: Literal and Literary Takes on Noah's Ark; L.Cushing Literary Hijackings: Between the Book of Isaiah and The Handmaid's Tale; Q.Tan PART II: BETWEEN SPEECH AND SILENCE Face to Face: Biblical Traces in the Philosophy of Elie Wiesel; J.Roth Mother Tongue, Holy Tongue: On Translating and Not Translating Paul Celan; J.Felstiner PART III: REVOLUTION, REBELLION, LIBERATION Flight, Rapture, and Transcendence: Imagination and the Politics of Nostalgia in the African American Diaspora; L.James Exodus and Redemption in Toni Morrison's Paradise: a Magical Encounter with the Bible; A.Hartnell In the Beginning- Big Bang: The Issue of Violence in Ernesto Cardenal's Cosmic Canticle; E.Jimmerson PART IV: VIOLENCE, POWER, PROPHECY Babel Revisited: Kafka and Pinter Critique the Covenant; B.Hawkins Benedix Masters, Slaves, and the Implacable Deity of the Wilderness in Simone Zelitch's Moses in Sinai; R.Omer-Sherman The Modern Day Followers of the Lamb: The Rhetoric of Suffering and the Politics of Identity in The Left Behind Series; D.Hall Subversion as Return: Scripture, Dissent, and Renewal in Contemporary Judaism; S.Magid

Editorial Reviews

"This provides a new and convincing account of the strategic reception of the Bible in a wide range of writers and thinkers.That such a use can be truly subversive; that it can undermine the very meaning attached to biblical narratives by organized religion, is one of the surprising and exciting discoveries of this readable and intelligent book." - Sander L. Gilman, Distinguished Professor of the Liberal Arts and Sciences, Emory University

"This collection providesa wonderful array of essays attuned to the manifold literary and political uses and abuses of scripture in the contemporary world. The contributors show both theneed to subvert the presumptions of scriptureto overreach itshistorical contexts andscripture's power to remain a source of critique of the hubristic pretentions of secular culture . . .This collection is full of surprising treasures that serve to open new paths in the study of the relation between the Bible and postmodern culture." - Steven Kepnes, Murray W. and Mildred K. Finard Professor in Jewish Studies and Religion,Colgate University

"This could not be more timely or more crucial; in a period where we are ever more conscious of the effect of the appropriation, manipulation, subversion, or reinterpretation of canonical religious texts for at times bewildering variety of purposes, any attempt to examine the phenomenon is highly welcome...The 'subversive' literary works covered in the contributors' selections constitute a dazzling array of choices. They provide ample proof of the book's value as a vital way of thinking about international literary culture. This has the potential to be a frequently consulted and often thumbed anthology of secondary literature that creatively rediscovers a perennially absorbing topic." - Jeremy Dauber, Associate Professor of Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture, Columbia University

From the Publisher