Synopses & Reviews
Speaking of Gods in Figure and Narrative analyzes the figurative-narrative creation of gods, their heavenly abodes, and behaviors, reaching back to the beginning of history in Sumer, Babylon, Egypt, Persia, and Greece, and continuing through a biblical tradition that includes the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Quran. Each culture leaves its linguistic residue for the next to incorporate into its sacred texts, resulting in the perpetuation and validation of ancient imagining, attitudes, and ideas.
Review
"A brilliant strategy--to read the narratives of the gods as linguistic embodiments of limit-questions. This is a remarkable book. The author coaxes insight and mystery from a wide range of classical scriptures and contemporary literature--all the while engaging opposing as well as supportive arguments for her claims. Graced with elegant writing and touched with irony and occasional humor, this book can elicit wonder as well as appreciation."--Mary Gerhart, Professor of Religious Studies Emerita, Hobart and William Smith College
About the Author
Deeanne Westbrook is Professor Emerita of English at Portland State University. She is the author of Ground Rules: Baseball and Myth and Wordsworths Biblical Ghosts and has published articles on the Romantic poets and prose writers, mythology, baseball literature, and the Bible.
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Mirror of Heaven * In the Beginning: Time and the Figurative Forms of Creation * End-Times and Doom-Eagerness * The Power and the Glory: Divine Combatants, Heavenly Hosts, and Holy War * All in the Family: The Secret Sex Lives of Gods * Fathers and Sons: Violence and Sacrifice * Look Whos Talking—and Writing: The Language of Heaven * The Great Figures Life and Death: Dualism and Divine Judgment * The Ways of God to Men: Belief, Preordination, Predestination, Rewards and Punishments, Spiritual Economics * Prophecy and Plot: The Making of the Hero and the Villain * Prayer, Praise, and the War Plot * Holy Madness * Reflections