Terror All Around
The Rhetoric of Horror in the Book of Jeremiah
Terror All Around
The Rhetoric of Horror in the Book of Jeremiah
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Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN: 9780567026569
Number of Pages: 176
Published: 15/08/2008
Among the many strategies of persuasive speech, biblical prophets often employ a rhetoric of horror. Prophets use verbal threats and graphic images of destruction to terrify their audience. Contemporary horror theory provides insight into the rhetoric of horror employed by the prophets. In this book, Amy Kalmanofsky applies horror theory to the book of Jeremiah and considers the nature of biblical horror and the objects that provoke horror, as well as the ways texts like Jeremiah work to elicit horror from their audience.
Kalmanofsky begins by analyzing the emotional response of horror as reflected in characters' reactions to terrifying entities in the book of Jeremiah. Horror, she concludes, is a composite emotion consisting of fear in response to a threatening entity and a corresponding response of shame either directed toward one's self or felt on behalf of another. Having considered the nature of horror, she turns to the objects that elicit horror and consider their ontological qualities and the nature of the threat they pose. There are two central monstrous figures in the book of Jeremiah-aggressor God and defeated Israel. Both of these monsters refuse to be integrated into and threaten to disintegrate the expected order of the universe. She then presents a close, rhetorical reading of Jeremiah 6 and consider the way this text works to horrify its audience. The book concludes by considering fear's place within religious experience and the theological implications of a rhetoric that portrays God and Israel as monsters.
Chapter One: Introduction
I present the horror theory that enables me to locate and analyze a rhetoric of horror in the book of Jeremiah. I will also introduce my objectives and the theological implications of my study.
Chapter Two: The Horror
This chapter considers the nature of the emotional response of horror as reflected in the book of Jeremiah as well as in contemporary texts. I will introduce the two perspectives, direct and indirect horror, that inform my study
Chapter Three: Shock and Shame: The Language of Horror
This chapter presents a linguistic analysis of two Hebrew words that communicate characters' horror in the book of Jeremiah in order to understand the nature of the response.
Chapter Four: Shock and Shame: The Images of Horror
In this chapter I analyze two images that convey horror-the figure of the maternal body and the figure of those who pass by the devastated.
Chapter Five: The Horrible
This chapter presents monster theory that enables me to identify the monsters of the book of Jeremiah and consider their ontological qualities.
Chapter Six: Monstrous God
I will present and analyze the characteristics and effects of monstrous God.
Chapter Seven: Monstrous Israel
I will consider the role of the abject in constructing monstrous Israel.
Chapter Eight: A Strategy of Terror: The Rhetoric of Horror in Jeremiah 6
This chapter will examine the rhetoric of horror in one specific horror text and will demonstrate how Jeremiah 6 is designed to horrify its readers.
Chapter Nine: Fear and Faith: Monsters and Theology in the Book of Jeremiah
I will consider the theological implications of a rhetoric of horror. Is fear an integral element of the religious experience? What kind of theology includes monsters? What does it mean to consider God as a monster?
...a fresh perspective on the prophetic oracles in the book of Jeremiah... * Expository Times, December 2009 * The volume's interdisciplinary nature, which does not neglect possible theological implications, will benefit both students and scholars, especially those interested in the rhetorical study of the prophets and/or the use of postmodernist literary theory. * Religious Studies Review * A helpful analogy...K.'s very close reading of Jeremiah 6 has much to commend it. * Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, June 2009 *
