GOLEM: Journal of Religion and Monsters

Spring 2007, Volume 2: Issue 1

* * *

GOLEM

Volume 2, Issue 1 (2007, Spring)

* * *

FROM THE EDITOR'S KEYBOARD

In the insightful work Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors, anthropologist David Gilmore boldly concludes, “our monsters are our innermost selves” (194). The “our” in Gilmore’s claim is society, or at least the collective psychologies that construct society; the “monsters” are the hybrid creatures whose physiologies speak to what Elaine Graham calls the dissolution of the ‘ontological hygiene’ (11). This second volume of the GOLEM journal vividly illustrates the ways in which the challenging bodies and behaviors of monsters shed light on the particular societies and cultures that imagine them.

In our first article, “Evolutionary Controversy and a Side of Pasta: The Flying Spaghetti Monster and the Subversive Function of a Religious Parody,” Gavin Van Horn and Lucas Johnston perceptively analyze the Internet and media phenomenon “the Flying Spaghetti Monster,” a mischievous creation of author Bobby Henderson offering an implied and severe critique of “intelligent design.” Van Horn and Johnston find that the FSM is so effective in assailing the religious controversy precisely because of the power of humor and parody, the Bakhtinian “carnival idiom” (11, 13). They highlight the ways in which the unsettling absurdities of monsters translate into an incisive humor that directly comments on similarly absurd social realities.

Monsters exist in every historical period and culture. In our second feature piece, “Smiting Goliath: Giants as Monsters in the Ancient Near East,” Paul B. Thomas argues that the recurrent mythic character of the ancient “giant” functions as a monster. This, Thomas argues, necessitates a reworking of the prevailing scholarly definitions of monsters in ancient Near Eastern cultures. His structuralist analysis of the David and Goliath story in 1 Samuel 17 is compelling and lends much to the interpretation of the biblical passage, in addition to illuminating the study of monsters or teratology.

Thirdly, in “Do I Look Like Someone Who Cares What God Thinks?’ Rethinking the Relationship between Religions and Cinema Horror,” Douglas Cowan takes cinema horror seriously as an expression of both religious themes and sensibilities. Why does this film genre flourish and what is its enduring appeal for some audiences? Through the analytical lens of “sociophobics,” Cowan argues that the popularity of horror movies stems from its refraction of numerous societal fears, particularly social ambivalence towards religion in a postmodern period.

Finally, our student publication section, GREMLIN, features a complementary piece by Nathan Shinn of Hendrix College. Shinn explores several ancient Near Eastern “wild men,” including Enkidu, Adam and Goliath, whose physiologies and behaviors mark the boundaries dividing civilization and nature in Mesopotamian and Israelite cultures.

We hope you enjoy these explorations of diverse monsters - a flying creator ball of pasta, ancient Near Eastern giants, the frightening denizens of horror cinema, and hairy wild men of the ancient Near East. Each monster functions, whether by means of parody, mythic narrative, or fear, as a blurry mirror for a particular society.

In closing, I am very pleased to announce that Rubina Ramji of Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia, Canada, is the new Senior Editor of GOLEM. Ruby brings a new perspective and a wealth of experience through her work with the Religion, Film and Visual Culture Group of the American Academy of Religion. She may be reached at: ruby_ramji@cbu.ca. Welcome Ruby!! I wish to extend my deep thanks to the editors, contributors and readers of GOLEM and GREMLIN. I also would like to announce a change of affiliation for myself, as I begin as Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and Judaism in the Dept. of Philosophy and Religion at James Madison University in Virginia (www.jmu.edu/philrel). Along with Ruby, I will be happy to continue to take questions about current issues and/or submissions for the next issue. We hope you enjoy these fascinating explorations of monsters and the societies that produce them.

- Frances Flannery, James Madison University, Founding Editor of GOLEM.

Bibliography:

• Bakhtin, Mikhail. Rabelais and His World. Hélène Iswolsky, trans. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984.
• David Gilmore. Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003.
• Graham, Elaine L. Representations of the Post/Human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular Culture. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2002.
  

* * *

GOLEM

Vol. 2, Issue 1 (2007)

* * *

Gavin Van Horn and Lucas Johnston, Evolutionary Controversy and a Side of Pasta: The Flying Spaghetti Monster and the Subversive Function of a Religious Parody

Abstract: The role that religious understandings should play in the science classrooms of public schools has been particularly contentious in some parts of the United States, and has thus become a target for the recently-invented Flying Spaghetti Monster. Though many monsters may inspire terror or serve as scapegoats for internal psychological or external cultural conflicts, monsters can also inspire laughter. This laughter may be no less subversive than terror, calling attention to and mischievously ridiculing mythic narratives, beliefs, and widespread cultural faiths that are held sacred. By inserting a faceless ball of pasta into a creation narrative considered sacred by many Americans, through subtle sexuality, and patent absurdity, the Flying Spaghetti Monster aims to confound those who believe metaphysical explanations should be actively taught in science classrooms alongside evolutionary theory, and it offers a potent example of how monstrous humor can be used as a tool of playful subversion.

* * *

Paul B. Thomas, Smiting Goliath: Giants as Monsters in the Ancient Near East

Abstract: This article begins by examining the definition of “monster” as commonly employed in ancient Near Eastern studies with the purpose of revealing that the definitions are constructed in a manner that excludes giants. Through a structural analysis of the David and Goliath story in 1 Samuel 17, I demonstrate that giants do function morphologically as monsters. I conclude by constructing a broader definition of “monster” for ancient Near Eastern studies that necessarily includes giants.

* * *

Douglas E. Cowan, "Do I Look Like Someone Who Cares What God Thinks?" Rethinking the Relationship between Religion and Cinema Horror

Abstract: Contrary to much popular and academic opinion, cinema horror is replete with religion. Through the analytic lens of sociophobics, this paper argues that horror movies disclose overwhelming social ambivalence toward the religious traditions, beliefs, practices, and mythic histories which we confront on a daily basis, but only minimally understand.

* * *

GREMLIN:

Student Publication Section

Nathan Shinn, "Boundaries between Wild and Civilized Humans in Near Eastern and Biblical Mythology"

* * *