Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Peter Joshua Atkins, "The Animalising Affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4: Reading Across the Human-Animal Boundary" (Bloomsbury, 2022)
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Peter Joshua Atkins, "The Animalising Affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4: Reading Across the Human-Animal Boundary" (Bloomsbury, 2022)
The Animalising Affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4: Reading Across the Human-Animal Boundary (Bloomsbury, 2022) is a detailed investigation into the nature of Nebuchadnezzar's animalising affliction in Daniel 4 and the degree to which he is depicted as actually becoming an animal. Peter Atkins examines two predominant lines of interpretation: either Nebuchadnezzar undergoes a physical metamorphosis of some kind into an animal form; or diverse other readings that specifically preclude or deny an animal transformation of the king. By providing an extensive study of these interpretative opinions, alongside innovative assessments of ancient Mesopotamian divine-human-animal boundaries, Atkins ultimately demonstrates how neither of these traditional interpretations best reflect the narrative events.
While there have been numerous metamorphic interpretations of Daniel 4, these are largely reliant upon later developments within the textual tradition and are not present in the earliest edition of Nebuchadnezzar's animalising affliction. Atkins' study displays that when Daniel 4 is read in the context of Mesopotamian texts, which appear to conceive of the human-animal boundary as being indicated primarily in relation to possession or lack of the divine characteristic of wisdom, the affliction represents a far more significant categorical change from human to animal than has hitherto been identified.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies
View all episodes
By Marshall Poe
3.9
1717 ratings
The Animalising Affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4: Reading Across the Human-Animal Boundary (Bloomsbury, 2022) is a detailed investigation into the nature of Nebuchadnezzar's animalising affliction in Daniel 4 and the degree to which he is depicted as actually becoming an animal. Peter Atkins examines two predominant lines of interpretation: either Nebuchadnezzar undergoes a physical metamorphosis of some kind into an animal form; or diverse other readings that specifically preclude or deny an animal transformation of the king. By providing an extensive study of these interpretative opinions, alongside innovative assessments of ancient Mesopotamian divine-human-animal boundaries, Atkins ultimately demonstrates how neither of these traditional interpretations best reflect the narrative events.
While there have been numerous metamorphic interpretations of Daniel 4, these are largely reliant upon later developments within the textual tradition and are not present in the earliest edition of Nebuchadnezzar's animalising affliction. Atkins' study displays that when Daniel 4 is read in the context of Mesopotamian texts, which appear to conceive of the human-animal boundary as being indicated primarily in relation to possession or lack of the divine characteristic of wisdom, the affliction represents a far more significant categorical change from human to animal than has hitherto been identified.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies
More shows like New Books in Christian Studies
View all
5 Minutes in Church History with Stephen Nichols
1,696 Listeners
New Books in Philosophy
111 Listeners
History Extra podcast
3,214 Listeners
New Books in History
215 Listeners
New Books in Military History
160 Listeners
New Books in Critical Theory
144 Listeners
New Books in Political Science
62 Listeners
New Books in Economics
28 Listeners
New Books in Psychoanalysis
189 Listeners
New Books in African American Studies
165 Listeners
New Books in Environmental Studies
25 Listeners
New Books in Literary Studies
24 Listeners
New Books in Intellectual History
60 Listeners
OnScript
613 Listeners
New Books in Biblical Studies
33 Listeners
The Minefield
47 Listeners
Theology in the Raw
1,464 Listeners
The Daily
112,238 Listeners
The Bible For Normal People
3,286 Listeners
Ask NT Wright Anything
2,047 Listeners
The Biblical Mind
221 Listeners
The Ezra Klein Show
15,859 Listeners
The Bulletin
558 Listeners
Biblical Time Machine
217 Listeners
The Opinions
604 Listeners