Goddess Killing: The Combat Myth and Politics in the Revelation of John

Emma Snape, Oberlin CollegeFollow

Location

King Building 325

Document Type

Presentation

Start Date

4-28-2017 1:30 PM

End Date

4-28-2017 2:50 PM

Abstract

In this paper, I argue, through a source-critical reading of Revelation, that the implementation of the combat myth in Revelation displays not only the text’s religious ideology, but its political ideology. The combat myth is a narrative central to many Near Eastern creation myths, in which a hero-god must fight a deity embodying chaos and the sea to take on the task of creation and establish kingship. This archetype manifests in Revelation in the conflict between Christ and Satan, and it results in the destruction of the old world and the creation of the new. I will argue that Revelation derives its subject matter from a variety of religious traditions, adapting each of these influences to fit the author’s monotheistic, politicized ideology. The resulting text is a piece of apocalyptic literature which promises salvation to all Christians, once the spiritual evils posed by the Roman Empire have been overcome, by utilizing a rhetoric of gendered violence.

Keywords:

revelation, biblical studies, cosmogony, gender, mythology

Notes

Session I, Panel 7 - Political | Stories
Moderator: Joyce Babyak, Dean of Studies and Professor of Religion

Major

Religion; Cinema Studies

Advisor(s)

Cynthia Chapman, Religion
William Patrick Day, English; Cinema Studies

Project Mentor(s)

Cynthia Chapman, Religion

April 2017

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Apr 28th, 1:30 PM Apr 28th, 2:50 PM

Goddess Killing: The Combat Myth and Politics in the Revelation of John

King Building 325

In this paper, I argue, through a source-critical reading of Revelation, that the implementation of the combat myth in Revelation displays not only the text’s religious ideology, but its political ideology. The combat myth is a narrative central to many Near Eastern creation myths, in which a hero-god must fight a deity embodying chaos and the sea to take on the task of creation and establish kingship. This archetype manifests in Revelation in the conflict between Christ and Satan, and it results in the destruction of the old world and the creation of the new. I will argue that Revelation derives its subject matter from a variety of religious traditions, adapting each of these influences to fit the author’s monotheistic, politicized ideology. The resulting text is a piece of apocalyptic literature which promises salvation to all Christians, once the spiritual evils posed by the Roman Empire have been overcome, by utilizing a rhetoric of gendered violence.