Noah and the Flood in Western Thought

Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-009-55722-1
Verlag: Cambridge University Pr.

Buch, Englisch, 396 Seiten, Format (B × H): 144 mm x 217 mm, Gewicht: 638 g

In a world beset by climatic emergencies, the continuing resonance of the flood story is perhaps easy to understand. Whether in the tortured alpha male intensity of Russell Crowe's Noah, in Darren Aronofsky's eponymous 2014 film, or other recent derivations, the biblical narrative has become a lightning rod for gathering environmental anxieties. However, Philip C. Almond's masterful exploration of Western cultural history uncovers a far more complex Noah than is commonly recognised: not just the father of humanity but also the first shipbuilder, navigator, zookeeper, farmer, grape grower, and wine maker. Noah's pivotal significance is revealed as much in his forgotten secular as in his religious receptions, and their major impact on such disciplines as geology, geography, biology, and zoology. While Noah's many interpretations over two millennia might seem to offer a common message of hope, the author's sober conclusion is that deliverance now lies not in divine but rather in human hands.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Almond, Philip C

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of plates; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Prologue; 1. Ancient floods and heroes; 2. Building narrative arcs; 3. Noah and the flood in Judaism and Islam; 4. The late medieval and early modern Noah; 5. Noah and the new science; 6. Noah, myth, and history; 7. Legends of Noah and the ark; Epilogue: a legend for our time; Bibliography; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Almond, Philip C
Philip C. Almond is Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought at The University of Queensland. A noted authority in the history of religion and of ideas, he has written many books on subjects as diverse as God, the Devil, the afterlife, witchcraft and witches, Adam and Eve, heaven and hell in Enlightenment England, and early modern demonic possession. His recent works include The Buddha: Life and Afterlife Between East and West (2024), Mary Magdalene: A Cultural History (2023), and The Antichrist: A New Biography (2020), all published by Cambridge University Press.