Supernal serpent : mysteries of Leviathan in Judaism and Christianity /

"A certain king built himself a palace and summoned two persons to decorate it for him. The king divided his palace into two parts, putting one person in charge of one half and the second in charge of the other. One of the persons decorated his part of the palace with beautiful paintings of bir...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Orlov, Andrei A., 1960- (Author)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2023]
Subjects:
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Table of Contents:
  • Cover
  • Supernal Serpent
  • Copyright
  • Dedication
  • Contents
  • Preface
  • Abbreviations
  • Introduction
  • 1. Leviathan's Theophany
  • 1.1 The "Likeness of Heaven" and Chaos' Epiphany
  • 1.2 Leviathan's Theophany in the Book of Job
  • 1.3 Leviathan's Theophany in Later Jewish Accounts
  • 1.4 Leviathan's Theophany in Early Christian Accounts
  • 1.4.1 Antagonists and the Leviathan Tradition
  • 1.4.1.1 Dragon and Leviathan
  • 1.4.1.2 Two Beasts: Leviathan and Behemoth?
  • 1.4.2 Divine Features of the Antagonists
  • 1.4.3 Leviathan's Features of the Protagonists
  • 1.4.3.1 The Two Witnesses
  • 1.4.3.2 The Son of Man's Sash
  • 2. Leviathan as the Axis Mundi
  • 2.1 Background: Antagonist as a Cosmological Foundation in Early Judaism
  • 2.1.1 Arukhas as the Dark Foundation in 2 Enoch
  • 2.1.2 The Fallen Watchers as Cosmological Pillars in the Book of the Watchers
  • 2.1.3 Satan and the Adamatine Pillar
  • 2.2 Ancient West Asian and Early Jewish Traditions about Monsters as the Axis Mundi
  • 2.2.1 Ancient West Asian Materials
  • 2.2.2 Biblical Accounts
  • 2.2.3 Pseudepigraphical Accounts
  • 2.3 Rabbinic and Later Jewish Mystical Accounts about Leviathan as the Axis Mundi
  • 2.4 Islamic Traditions about Leviathan as the Axis Mundi
  • 2.5 The Axis Mundi Tradition in the Apocalypse of Abraham
  • 2.5.1 The Motif of the Tormenting Abyss
  • 2.5.1.1 The Monster's Prison
  • 2.5.1.2 Leviathan and Hades
  • 2.5.2 The Motif of Leviathan's Abode
  • 2.5.2.1 The Sea and Its Islands
  • 2.5.2.2 Leviathan's Holding
  • 2.5.2.3 Leviathan's Channels
  • 2.5.3 The Motif of Leviathan as the Axis Mundi
  • 2.5.3.1 Leviathan's Liminality
  • 2.5.3.2 Leviathan as a Destructive Force
  • 2.5.4 Leviathan and Overflowing Rivers
  • 2.5.4.1 Lying upon the Waters
  • 2.5.4.2 Locking the Abyss with Leviathan's Fin(s)
  • 2.5.4.3 Swallowing Waters.
  • 2.5.5 The Motif of Watery Circles: Leviathan as the Circuitus Mundi
  • 2.5.6 Leviathan and Eden
  • 2.6 Conclusion
  • 3. Leviathan and Yahoel
  • 3.1 Introduction
  • 3.2 The Tradition of the Multiple Leviathans
  • 3.2.1 Behemoth and Leviathan as a Pair
  • 3.2.2 The Tradition of Two Leviathans
  • 3.3 Rivalries of the Hayyot and the Combat between Behemoth and Leviathan
  • 3.3.1 The Monsters' Rivalry in Later Jewish Accounts
  • 3.3.2 The Lion and the Ox
  • 3.4 Yahoel and Leviathan
  • 3.4.1 The Antecedents of Yahoel's Constraining Role in the Ancient West Asian and Jewish Materials
  • 3.4.1.1 Marduk
  • 3.4.1.2 Baal
  • 3.4.1.3 Raphael
  • 3.4.1.4 Gabriel
  • 3.4.1.5 The 'Elim
  • 3.4.1.6 God
  • 3.5 Yahoel's Control of the Monsters
  • 3.5.1 Yahoel as the Hypostasis of the Divine Name
  • 3.5.1.1 Yahoel and the Angel of the Lord Traditions
  • 3.5.1.2 Yahoel's Clothing with the Name
  • 3.5.1.3 Yahoel as the Personification of the Tetragrammaton?
  • 3.5.2 Yahoel as the "Power"
  • 3.5.3 Yahoel as the Embodiment of God's Glory
  • 3.5.4 Leviathan as a Divine Warrior: Traditions about Leviathan's Glory
  • 4. Leviathan and the Temple
  • 4.1 Temple of Creation
  • 4.2 Waters of the Sacred Courtyard
  • 4.3 The Chambers of the Macrocosmic Temple
  • 4.4 The Veil of the Cosmological Sanctuary
  • 4.5 Leviathan as the Foundation Stone
  • 4.6 Cosmological Temple and Leviathan's Role as the Circuitus Mundi
  • 4.7 The High Priest as the Eschatological Adam
  • 4.8 High Priest Yahoel and Leviathan
  • 5. Leviathan and the Mysteries of Evil
  • 5.1 Mysteries of Evil in Judaism
  • 5.2 The Mysteries of the Chariot and the Mysteries of the Monsters
  • 5.3 Revelation of the Monsters' Corporealities and Shiʻur Qomah Traditions
  • 5.4 Eschatological Consumption of the Monsters as a Revelation of Mysteries.
  • 5.4.1 Eschatological Feeding on the Monsters in Biblical, Pseudepigraphical, and Rabbinic Accounts
  • 5.4.2 Acquisition of the Divine Mysteries through Feeding
  • 5.4.3 Mysteries of the Monsters and the Heavenly Manna
  • 5.5 Eschatological Beholding of the Monsters as a Revelation of Mysteries
  • 5.6 Ontological Acquisition of the Divine Mysteries and Ancient Epistemology
  • 5.7 Beholding of and Feeding on the Monsters as the Revelation of the Eschatological Torah
  • 5.8 Descent into Leviathan's Domain as Acquisition of Mysteries
  • 5.8.1 Abraham and Leviathan
  • 5.8.2 Jonah and Leviathan
  • 5.8.3 Moses and the "Serpents"
  • 5.8.4 Jesus and Dragons
  • 5.9 The Emulation of Leviathan and the Journey into the Mysteries of the Other Side
  • Conclusion
  • Bibliography
  • Index.