Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Lovecraft, Meet Yahweh: The Biblical Book of Isaiah as a Horror Story 


To find out more about this here is the interview

CONTENTS:
Apologia Pro Libro Suo    ix
FICTIONS    1
Teeth    2   (Click title to read an excerpt)
The Stars Shine Without Me    32
Desert Places    45
Blackbrain Dwarf    69
Nightmares, Imported and Domestic (with Mark McLaughlin)    85
The Devil and One Lump    113
The God of Foulness    126   (Click title to read an excerpt)
OTHER FICTIONS    181
Icons of Supernatural Horror: A Brief History of the Angel and the Demon
I. Introduction: Is There Someone Inside You?    182   (Click title to read an excerpt)
II. The Prehistory of the Demon    186
III. The Prehistory of the Angel    198
IV. The Demon from the First Century to Modern Times    203
V. The Angel from the First Century to Modern Times    211
VI. Understanding the Angel and the Demon in Supernatural Literature and Film    218
VII. Conclusion: The Daimonic Zeitgeist, 1971-2001    235
Sources and Suggestions for Further Reading    237
Loathsome Objects: George Romero's Living Dead Films as Contemplative Tools
Introduction: Night of the Sociocultural Critics    241
I. Flesh Becomes Meat    243
II. The Dead Walk    248
III. The Dead Eat    253
IV. "He Visited a Curse on Us": The Spiritual Angle    259
V. The Missing Rainbow: Theism's Inadequacy    268
VI. Leaning Eastward: The Contemplation of Foulness    270
Notes    278
Works Cited    282
Works Consulted    286
Gods and Monsters, Worms and Fire: A Horrific Reading of Isaiah
Introduction: Troubling Questions and Taxonomic Schemes    287
I. Distorted Cosmology    290
II. Yahweh, King of the Monsters    295
III. Cosmic Inversion and Closure in Corpses    301
Some Concluding Thoughts on Closure, Anticlosure, and Cognitive Dissonance    307
Notes    312
Bibliography    316

Below are the chapters mentioned in the interview from the Book of Isaiah (he was a prophet to Israel).

The contents from Isaiah 24 as a summary:

This chapter powerfully proclaims God's judgment on the earth. However, although the historical judgment of these nations may partially fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 24, the destruction described here is much too severe to have been totally fulfilled in the past. Consider the following statements taken out of the chapter:
  1. "Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof" (Isaiah 24:1).
  2. "The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled" (Isaiah 24:3).
  3. "Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left" (Isaiah 24:6).
  4. "for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake" (Isaiah 24:18).
  5. "The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly" (Isaiah 24:19).
  6. "The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard" (Isaiah 24:20).
Contents from Isaiah 34:
Judgment Against the Nations
 1 Come near, you nations, and listen;
       pay attention, you peoples!
       Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,
       the world, and all that comes out of it!
 2 The LORD is angry with all nations;
       his wrath is upon all their armies.
       He will totally destroy them,
       he will give them over to slaughter.
 3 Their slain will be thrown out,
       their dead bodies will send up a stench;
       the mountains will be soaked with their blood.
 4 All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved
       and the sky rolled up like a scroll;
       all the starry host will fall
       like withered leaves from the vine,
       like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
 5 My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
       see, it descends in judgment on Edom,
       the people I have totally destroyed.
 6 The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood,
       it is covered with fat—
       the blood of lambs and goats,
       fat from the kidneys of rams.
       For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah
       and a great slaughter in Edom.
 7 And the wild oxen will fall with them,
       the bull calves and the great bulls.
       Their land will be drenched with blood,
       and the dust will be soaked with fat.
 8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
       a year of retribution, to uphold Zion's cause.
 9 Edom's streams will be turned into pitch,
       her dust into burning sulfur;
       her land will become blazing pitch!
 10 It will not be quenched night and day;
       its smoke will rise forever.
       From generation to generation it will lie desolate;
       no one will ever pass through it again.
 11 The desert owl and screech owl will possess it;
       the great owl and the raven will nest there.
       God will stretch out over Edom
       the measuring line of chaos
       and the plumb line of desolation.
 12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,
       all her princes will vanish away.
 13 Thorns will overrun her citadels,
       nettles and brambles her strongholds.
       She will become a haunt for jackals,
       a home for owls.
 14 Desert creatures will meet with hyenas,
       and wild goats will bleat to each other;
       there the night creatures will also repose
       and find for themselves places of rest.
 15 The owl will nest there and lay eggs,
       she will hatch them, and care for her young under the shadow of her wings;
       there also the falcons will gather,
       each with its mate.
 16 Look in the scroll of the LORD and read:
       None of these will be missing,
       not one will lack her mate.
       For it is his mouth that has given the order,
       and his Spirit will gather them together.
 17 He allots their portions;
       his hand distributes them by measure.
       They will possess it forever
       and dwell there from generation to generation.

Contents from Isaiah 66:
Judgment and Hope

 1 This is what the LORD says:
       "Heaven is my throne,
       and the earth is my footstool.
       Where is the house you will build for me?
       Where will my resting place be?  2 Has not my hand made all these things,
       and so they came into being?"
       declares the LORD.
       "This is the one I esteem:
       he who is humble and contrite in spirit,
       and trembles at my word.
 3 But whoever sacrifices a bull
       is like one who kills a man,
       and whoever offers a lamb,
       like one who breaks a dog's neck;
       whoever makes a grain offering
       is like one who presents pig's blood,
       and whoever burns memorial incense,
       like one who worships an idol.
       They have chosen their own ways,
       and their souls delight in their abominations;
 4 so I also will choose harsh treatment for them
       and will bring upon them what they dread.
       For when I called, no one answered,
       when I spoke, no one listened.
       They did evil in my sight
       and chose what displeases me."
 5 Hear the word of the LORD,
       you who tremble at his word:
       "Your brothers who hate you,
       and exclude you because of my name, have said,
       'Let the LORD be glorified,
       that we may see your joy!'
       Yet they will be put to shame.
 6 Hear that uproar from the city,
       hear that noise from the temple!
       It is the sound of the LORD
       repaying his enemies all they deserve.
 7 "Before she goes into labor,
       she gives birth;
       before the pains come upon her,
       she delivers a son.
 8 Who has ever heard of such a thing?
       Who has ever seen such things?
       Can a country be born in a day
       or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
       Yet no sooner is Zion in labor
       than she gives birth to her children.
 9 Do I bring to the moment of birth
       and not give delivery?" says the LORD.
       "Do I close up the womb
       when I bring to delivery?" says your God.
 10 "Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
       all you who love her;
       rejoice greatly with her,
       all you who mourn over her.
 11 For you will nurse and be satisfied
       at her comforting breasts;
       you will drink deeply
       and delight in her overflowing abundance."
 12 For this is what the LORD says:
       "I will extend peace to her like a river,
       and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
       you will nurse and be carried on her arm
       and dandled on her knees.
 13 As a mother comforts her child,
       so will I comfort you;
       and you will be comforted over Jerusalem."
 14 When you see this, your heart will rejoice
       and you will flourish like grass;
       the hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants,
       but his fury will be shown to his foes.
 15 See, the LORD is coming with fire,
       and his chariots are like a whirlwind;
       he will bring down his anger with fury,
       and his rebuke with flames of fire.
 16 For with fire and with his sword
       the LORD will execute judgment upon all men,
       and many will be those slain by the LORD.
 17 "Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following the one in the midst of those who eat the flesh of pigs and rats and other abominable things—they will meet their end together," declares the LORD.
 18 "And I, because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory.
 19 "I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans  and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations.  
20 And they will bring all your brothers, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD -on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels," says the LORD. "They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the LORD in ceremonially clean vessels.
21 And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites," says the LORD.
 22 "As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure.  
23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD.
24 "And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind."

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