The Aesthetics of Violence in the Prophets

by Julia M. O'Brien (Editor), Chris Franke (Editor)

At the 2006 annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Prophetic Texts in their Ancient Contexts section devoted a session to the theme "The Aesthetics of Violence."   Participants were invited to explore  multiple dimensions of prophetic  texts and their violent rhetoric.  The results were rich-- engaging discussion of violent images in ancient Near Eastern art and in modern film, as well as advancing our understanding of the poetic skill required for invoking terror through words.

This volume collects those essays as well as others especially commissioned for its creation. As a collection, they address questions that are at once ancient and    What do violent images do to us?  Do they encourage violent behavior and/or provide an alternative to actual violence?  How do depictions of violence define boundaries between and within communities?   What readers can and should readers make of the disturbing rhetoric of violent prophets?  

Contributors include Corrine Carvahlo, Cynthia Chapman, Chris Franke, Bob Haak, Mary Mills, Julia O'Brien, Kathleen O'Connor, Carolyn Sharp,  Yvonne Sherwood, and Daniel Smith-Christopher.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published April 8, 2010

Reviews

[M Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthologies, whether of fiction or essays, are always a mixed bag. I found some of the articles in this book extremely helpful; others, not so much. YMMV.