Ruben van Luijk
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190275105
- eISBN:
- 9780190275136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190275105.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This concluding chapter summarizes what came before and shows that aptitude of the methodological tools of attribution and appropriation/identification to understand the history of modern religious ...
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This concluding chapter summarizes what came before and shows that aptitude of the methodological tools of attribution and appropriation/identification to understand the history of modern religious Satansim. While in a historical sense, Western Satanism can primarily be understood as a reaction to Christianity, its genesis is more complicated than this bare fact suggests. The Christian tradition had solidly established an interpretation of the devil as the prime mythological representation of evil, and from this interpretation had emerged a predefined set of ideas that had evolved about what it meant to be a Satanist. A choice to adopt Satanism thus meant identification or at least coming to terms with this preceding image of the Satanist. In addition, this study has proposed a intermediate step in this process from attribution to appropriation: the rehabilitation of Satan undertaken by Romantic authors and artists. Springing from major historical developments as the Western Revolution and modern secularization, their redefinition of Satan and religion reflects a shift in attitude that would eventually enable a modern religious Satanism to emerge in the shape it has now, as a post-secular and post-Enlightment religious construct that is aware of its own rooting in fiction. Far from a mere change in the nomenclature of divine hierarchy, it presents a profound shift away from a lofty transcendent deity to a more earthly godhead anchored in man’s own humanity.Less
This concluding chapter summarizes what came before and shows that aptitude of the methodological tools of attribution and appropriation/identification to understand the history of modern religious Satansim. While in a historical sense, Western Satanism can primarily be understood as a reaction to Christianity, its genesis is more complicated than this bare fact suggests. The Christian tradition had solidly established an interpretation of the devil as the prime mythological representation of evil, and from this interpretation had emerged a predefined set of ideas that had evolved about what it meant to be a Satanist. A choice to adopt Satanism thus meant identification or at least coming to terms with this preceding image of the Satanist. In addition, this study has proposed a intermediate step in this process from attribution to appropriation: the rehabilitation of Satan undertaken by Romantic authors and artists. Springing from major historical developments as the Western Revolution and modern secularization, their redefinition of Satan and religion reflects a shift in attitude that would eventually enable a modern religious Satanism to emerge in the shape it has now, as a post-secular and post-Enlightment religious construct that is aware of its own rooting in fiction. Far from a mere change in the nomenclature of divine hierarchy, it presents a profound shift away from a lofty transcendent deity to a more earthly godhead anchored in man’s own humanity.
Rachel Havrelock
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226319575
- eISBN:
- 9780226319599
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226319599.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
As the site of several miracles in the Jewish and Christian traditions, the Jordan is one of the world's holiest rivers. It is also the major political and symbolic border contested by Israelis and ...
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As the site of several miracles in the Jewish and Christian traditions, the Jordan is one of the world's holiest rivers. It is also the major political and symbolic border contested by Israelis and Palestinians. Combining biblical and folkloric studies with historical geography, this book explores how the complex religious and mythological representations of the river have shaped the current conflict in the Middle East. It contends that the intractability of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict stems from the nationalist myths of the Hebrew Bible, where the Jordan is defined as a border of the Promised Land. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim the Jordan as a necessary boundary of an indivisible homeland. Examining the Hebrew Bible alongside ancient and modern maps of the Jordan, the book chronicles the evolution of Israel's borders based on nationalist myths while uncovering additional myths that envision Israel as a bi-national state. These other myths, it proposes, provide roadmaps for future political configurations of the nation.Less
As the site of several miracles in the Jewish and Christian traditions, the Jordan is one of the world's holiest rivers. It is also the major political and symbolic border contested by Israelis and Palestinians. Combining biblical and folkloric studies with historical geography, this book explores how the complex religious and mythological representations of the river have shaped the current conflict in the Middle East. It contends that the intractability of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict stems from the nationalist myths of the Hebrew Bible, where the Jordan is defined as a border of the Promised Land. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim the Jordan as a necessary boundary of an indivisible homeland. Examining the Hebrew Bible alongside ancient and modern maps of the Jordan, the book chronicles the evolution of Israel's borders based on nationalist myths while uncovering additional myths that envision Israel as a bi-national state. These other myths, it proposes, provide roadmaps for future political configurations of the nation.
