Religion, Culture, and the Monstrous
Of Gods and Monsters
Religion, Culture, and the Monstrous
Of Gods and Monsters
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Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN: 9781793640260
Number of Pages: 288
Published: 05/02/2025
Width: 16.1 cm
Height: 22.9 cm
Religion, Culture, and the Monstrous: Of Gods and Monsters explores the intersection of the emerging field of “monster theory” within religious studies. With case studies from ancient Mesopotamia to contemporary valleys of the Himalayas to ghost tours in Savannah, Georgia, the volume examines the variegated nature of the monstrous as well as the cultural functions of monsters in shaping how we see the world and ourselves. In this, the authors constructively assess the state of the two fields of monster theory and religious studies, and propose new directions in how these fields can inform each other. The case studies included illuminate the ways in which monsters reinforce the categories through which a given culture sees the world. At the same time, the volume points to how monsters appear to question, disrupt, or challenge those categories, creating an ‘unsettling’ or surplus of meaning.
Table of Contents
PART I: Thinking with Monsters
Chapter 1: Five Further Theses on Monster Theory and Religious Studies
Natasha L. Mikles and Joseph P. Laycock
Chapter 2: Re-Iterations: On Tellings, Variants, and Why Monsters Always Come Back
Doug Cowan
Chapter 3: Horror and Bible (Six Theses)
Brandon R. Grafius
Chapter 4: A Biological Model of Monster Flaps
Blake Smith
PART II: Monsters Guarding the Gates
Chapter 5: The Idea of Evil and Messianic Deliverance in the Satpanth Ismaili Tradition of South Asia
Wafi Momin
Chapter 6: Ghost stories from Tales of Retribution: Understanding elements of Seventeenth-century Japanese Ghost Stories
Frank Chu
Chapter 7: Of Monsters and Invisible Villages: Nags myi rgod Tales of the Tibetans of Gyalthang
Eric D. Mortensen
Chapter 8: Godly Aromas and Monstrous Stenches: An Analysis of Buddhist New Year Fumigation Rituals in an Indo-Himalayan Borderland
Rohit Singh
Chapter 9: Man, Yeti, And Mi-go: The Transgressive History of A Monstrous Word
Lee W
