Track My Order
Help Centre
1300 187 187
Likes
My Wish ListsLogin / Join
Booktopia
Australia's local bookstore
Religion and Its Monsters - Timothy Beal

Religion and Its Monsters

By: Timothy Beal

Paperback | 5 November 2001 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance
New Edition
Published: 24th November 2022

Paperback

$105.50

or 4 interest-free payments of $26.38 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 10 to 15 business days

Religion's great and powerful mystery fascinates us, but it also terrifies. So too the monsters that haunt the stories of Jewish and Christian scriptures and earlier traditions: Leviathan, Behemoth, dragons, and other beasts. In this unusual and provocative book, Timothy K. Beal writes about the monsters that lurk in our religious texts, and reveals how monsters and religion are irrevocably entwined. Most of us do not go to monster movies or read Gothic tales in search of religion, at least not consciously. Nor do we go to religious services in search of monsters. Yet, horror and faith, it seems, are inextricable. According to Beal, we can learn something about religion by getting to know its monsters, and we can learn something about monsters by investigating their religious roots. As Timothy Beal follows monsters throughout religious texts and traditions, he also discovers religion lurking in the modern horror genre, from classics likeFrankensteinandDraculato thecontemporary spookiness of H.P. Lovecraft's short stories and theHellraiserfilms. Drawing upon a broad range of ancient texts and popular culture, from rabbinic lore to Goth counterculture, he explores the fascinating and often disturbing ways in which monsters haunt religion and religion haunts the monstrous. Learned and witty,Religion and Its Monstersis a captivating look at how we imagine good and evil--and what lies beyond.
Industry Reviews
"Imaginatively written, entertaining, and well researched, this work of creative scholarship is a fascinating read.." -"CHOICE, R.L. Massanari, Alma College ..."well researched. Recommended for religion and popular culture collections.." -"Library Journal, December 2001 ..."this is a fine, readable and often intriguing book." -"The Plain Dealer "This brilliant, twisted, imaginative book explores religion's dark side, from the predictable monsters of sacred texts to more startling choices from popular culture....When Beal concludes the book by explaining that 'our monsters are ourselves, ' it comes not as a cultural indictment from a self-satisfied pundit but an astute observation by a witty and wise fellow traveler." -Publishers Weekly "This is scholarship in cultural analysis at its best: well-documented, thought-provoking, and funny. Its crisp writing almost fools you into thinking it's simple. But it does what it says: it raises profound questions that survive their answers. Critical of the devastating prejudices that underlie the religious imagination, it stops short of moralizing. A bravura piece of what binds the cultural disciplines together." - Mieke Bal, author of "Quoting Caravaggio: Contemporary Art, Preposterous History

You Can Find This Book In

Non-FictionReligion & BeliefsReligionComparative ReligionPhilosophy of ReligionSociety & CultureCultural StudiesEducationPhilosophy & Theory of EducationAlternative Belief SystemsOccult StudiesSatanism & Demonology

More in Religion

We Who Wrestle With God : Perceptions of the Divine - Jordan B. Peterson

We Who Wrestle With God

Perceptions of the Divine

Paperback

RRP $39.99

$34.80

13%
OFF
The Great Cosmic Mother : Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth - Monica Sjoo

The Great Cosmic Mother

Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth

Paperback

RRP $56.35

$46.40

18%
OFF
The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics : Boxed Set - C. S. Lewis

The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics

Boxed Set

Paperback

RRP $97.99

$63.35

35%
OFF
The Essential Rumi : New Expanded Edition - Coleman Barks

The Essential Rumi

New Expanded Edition

Paperback

RRP $32.99

$30.25

The Prophet : Penguin Classics Hardcover - Kahlil Gibran

The Prophet

Penguin Classics Hardcover

Hardcover

RRP $32.99

$30.25

Beyond Good and Evil : Penguin Classics - Friedrich Nietzsche

Beyond Good and Evil

Penguin Classics

Paperback

$17.99

The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

The God Delusion

Paperback

RRP $14.00

$9.50

32%
OFF
Meditations : Penguin Classics - Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

Penguin Classics

Paperback

$17.99

The Book of Enoch - Enoch

The Book of Enoch

Paperback

$27.00

Conversations with God : An Uncommon Dialogue : Book 1 - Neale Donald Walsch

Conversations with God

An Uncommon Dialogue : Book 1

Paperback

RRP $24.99

$23.75

Tao Te Ching : Traditional Wisdom - Stephen Mitchell

Tao Te Ching

Traditional Wisdom

Paperback

$24.99

Jesus Calling : Enjoying Peace in His Presence - Sarah Young

Jesus Calling

Enjoying Peace in His Presence

Hardcover

RRP $24.99

$23.75

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Spinoza : Bloomsbury Handbooks - Wiep van Bunge

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Spinoza

Bloomsbury Handbooks

Hardcover

RRP $260.00

$183.95

29%
OFF

This product is categorised by