- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: OUP USA (21 Aug 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0195156080
- ISBN-13: 978-0195156089
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 2.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,159,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
When the Great Abyss Opened
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Product Description
Review
No one else has given us such sustained readability in an effort to summarize the historical and cultural impact through the centuries of the biblical Flood story. (L. Russ Bush III, Journal of the American Academy of Religion )
No one who writes on this subject in the future, however, will successfully ignore this work by Pleins. (L. Russ Bush III, Journal of the American Academy of Religion )
No one who writes on this subject in the future, however, will successfully ignore this work by Pleins. (L. Russ Bush III, Journal of the American Academy of Religion )
Product Description
The story of Noah's flood is one of the best-loved and most often retold biblical tales, the inspiration for numerous children's books and toys, novels, and even films. Whether as allusion, archetype, or literal presence--the American landscape is peppered with 'recreations' of the ark--the story of Noah's animals and the ark resonates throughout American culture and the world. While most think of Noah's ark as a dramatic myth, others are consumed by the quest for geological and archeological proof that the flood really occurred. Persistent rumors of a large vessel on the mountain of Ararat in Turkey, for instance, have led many pilgrims and explorers over the centuries to visit that fabled peak. Recent finds suggest that there may have been a catastrophic flood on the shores of the Black Sea some 7,600 years ago. Is this then the reality behind the ancient tale of Noah? More to the point, why does it matter? What does the story of the Flood mean to us and why does it so stir the collective imagination? When the Great Abyss Opened examines the history of our attempts to understand the Flood, from medieval Jewish and Christian speculation about the physical details of the ark to contemporary efforts to link it to scientific findings. Unraveling the mythical dimensions of the parallel Mesopotamian flood stories and their deeper social and psychological significance, J. David Pleins also considers the story's positive uses in theology and moral instruction. Noah's tale, however, has also been invoked as a means of justifying exclusion, racism, and anti-homosexual views. Pro-slavery advocates, for example, used the story of Noah's Curse on Ham's son Canaan to rationalize the enslavement of Africans. Throughout this expansive and lively book, Pleins sheds new light on our continuing attempts to understand this ancient primal myth. Noah's Flood, he contends, offers a unique case study that illuminates the timeless and timely question of how fact and faith relate.
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Just survey the shelves of the New Age boutiques, and you will learn the whole story. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Just survey the shelves of the New Age boutiques, and you will learn the whole story. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Very interesing
14 Nov 2009
Format:Hardcover
Given that the synopsis of the book provided by the "Editorial Reviews" plus "Product Description" is fairly accurate, I will only point out that this is a wonderful book on Noah's biblical narration, theology and folklore and which wisely avoids sterile religion vs. science arguments. I was somehow afraid that it would be boring: after all, the book was published six years ago and there were no previous comments on it (perhaps because the hardcover edition is so expensive!). I took the chance and I am glad of it. Pleins manages to narrate and expose everything related to the matter in such a way that I could not put it down, and read it in less than two weeks' time's time. I think that any religious person and/or educated layperson can savour it. So I recommend it with five starts.
I will also suggest reading the following interesting works in addition to this book: a) "How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now" by James L. Kugel; b) "From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible" by Eric H. Cline; c) "The Birth of Satan: Tracing the Devil's Biblical Roots" by T.J. Wray and Gregory Mobley; d) "Life after Death. A History of the afterlife in Western Religion" by Alan F. Segal; and e) "When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth" by Paul and Elizabeth Barber.
I will also suggest reading the following interesting works in addition to this book: a) "How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now" by James L. Kugel; b) "From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible" by Eric H. Cline; c) "The Birth of Satan: Tracing the Devil's Biblical Roots" by T.J. Wray and Gregory Mobley; d) "Life after Death. A History of the afterlife in Western Religion" by Alan F. Segal; and e) "When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth" by Paul and Elizabeth Barber.
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