The Aesthetics of Violence in the Prophets

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Description

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 distressingly-modern: 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.

Reviews

Originating from a 2006 session at the Society of Biblical Literature, this excellent and timely volume explores the complex synergy among violence, rhetoric, aesthetics and audience impact in the prophets and their contemporary analogues.' -- Religious Studies Review
Overall, this collection of essays is a wonderful contribution to the study of violence in biblical texts... The personal nature of the essays creates a connection between the author and reader that enhances the reader's experience. I highly recommend this book because it will do much for how people teach, preach, and read all of the violent texts in the Bible. -- Reviews in Religion & Theology
[The book] takes violent rhetoric seriously as a powerful datum of the Bible that is substantive and intentional and not as simply an embarrassing side issue...[It]is an invitation to think again about violence in the Biblenot to dismiss it as objectionable and unacceptable, but to recognize it as an inescapable vehicle for saying what must be said in a society narcotized by denial and despair.' Christian Century

Author Bio

Julia M. O'Brien is Professor of Old Testament, Lancaster Theological Seminary Chris Franke is Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at the College of St. Katherine in St. Paul, Minnesota