3. Wilderness and Hebrew Bible Religion – fertility, apostasy and religious transformation in the Pentateuch

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. 1. Wilderness in Mythology and Religion 1
4. 2. Greek Demons of the Wilderness: the case of the Centaurs 25
5. 3. Wilderness and Hebrew Bible Religion – fertility, apostasy and religious transformation in the Pentateuch 55
6. 4. “The mountain, a desert place”: Spatial categories and mythical landscapes in the Secret Book of John 95
7. 5. “The truth is out there”: Primordial lore and ignorance in the wilderness of Athanasius’ Vita Antonii 113
8. 6. Wilderness as a Necessary Feature in Hindu Religion 131
9. 7. Notes on Qur’ānic Wilderness – and its absence 157
10. 8. Wilderness, Liminality, and the Other in Old Norse Myth and Cosmology 183
11. 9. Making a Garden out of the Wilderness: landscape, dwelling and personhood in the encounter between European settlers and the Mi’kmaq in “New France” 205
12. 10. William Robertson Smith on the Wilderness 229
13. 11. The Taiga Within. Topography and personhood in Northern Mongolia 241
14. 12. Ritual is Etiquette in the Larger than Human World: the two wildernesses of contemporary Eco-Paganism 265
15. 13. Wilderness, Spirituality and Biodiversity in North America – tracing an environmental history from Occidental roots to Earth Day 293
16. Contributor biographies 325
17. Index 329