The Fantastic in Religious Narrative from Exodus to Elisha

The Fantastic in Religious Narrative examines the astonishing array of narratives about marvels, monsters, and magic depicted in the Hebrew Bible. These stories -- with the Exodus narrative at their centre -- do not read as foundational stories, affirming triumphantly and unambiguously the bond between the deity, his people, and their territory. Rather, they are texts which offer ambiguity and uncertainty. As such, they may encourage reflection and doubt as much as belief and meaningfulness. The fantastic elements of the narratives in Exodus, Numbers, Judges and Kings are the focus of this study. Aiming to discover their fantastic power rather than to explain that power away, the book argues for the need to incorporate destabilisation, disorientation, and ambiguity more strongly into theories of what religious narrative is and does.