God : an anatomy / Francesca Stavrakopoulou.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stavrakopoulou, Francesca, author.

Contributor:

John G. Hartman Memorial Library Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

God--Corporeality--History of doctrines.

God.

Image of God--History of doctrines.

Image of God.

Masculinity of God--History of doctrines.

Masculinity of God.

God--Corporeality.

Physical Description:

ix, 592 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color), maps ; 25 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2022.

Summary:

"An astonishing and revelatory history that re-presents God as he was originally envisioned by ancient worshippers--with a distinctly male body, and with superhuman powers, earthly passions, and a penchant for the fantastic and monstrous. The scholarship of theology and religion teaches us that the God of the Bible was without a body, only revealing himself in the Old Testament in words mysteriously uttered through his prophets, and in the New Testament in the body of Christ. The portrayal of God as corporeal and masculine is seen as merely metaphorical, figurative, or poetic. But, in this revelatory study, Francesca Stavrakopoulou presents a vividly corporeal image of God: a human-shaped deity who walks and talks and weeps and laughs, who eats, sleeps, feels, and breathes, and who is undeniably male. Here is a portrait--arrived at through the author's close examination of and research into the Bible--of a god in ancient myths and rituals who was a product of a particular society, at a particular time, made in the image of the people who lived then, shaped by their own circumstances and experience of the world. From head to toe--and every part of the body in between--this is a god of stunning surprise and complexity, one we have never encountered before"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Dissecting the Divine

pt. I Feet and Legs

2. Grounded

3. Footloose

4. Sensational Feet

pt. II Genitals

5. Cover Up

6. Phallic Masculinities

7. Perfecting the Penis

8. Divine Sex

pt. III Torso

9. Back and Beyond

10. Inside Out

11. From Belly to Bowel

pt. IV Arms and Hands

12. Handedness

13. Arm's Reach

14. Divine Touch

15. Holy Handbooks

pt. V Head

16. Face to Face

17. Headstrong Beauty

18. Profile

19. Sense and Sensitivity

20. Gasp and Gulp

Epilogue

21. An Autopsy.

Notes:

"This is a Borzoi book published by Alfred A. Knopf"-- title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the John G. Hartman Memorial Library Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Stavrakopoulou, Francesca. God

ISBN:

9780525520450

0525520457

OCLC:

1240413353