Beasts of the Bible

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Authors
Moran, Kinsey
Advisor
Minor, Sam
Issue Date
2015-05
Keyword
Degree
Thesis (B.?)
Department
Honors College
Other Identifiers
Abstract

Mythology permeates every culture and religion throughout history, each group or sect adhering to their own version of creation, catastrophes, and creatures. In the latter category, many beasts of the past have been chalked up as fiction, equating the mythological or the fantastical with the fake. However, biblical text, which the Christian religion claims as truth through God's word, explicitly mentions several creatures that throughout history have been dismissed as fictitious. The beasts studied include: Nephilim, a race of giants; Leviathan, a fire-breathing dragon of the sea; and Behemoth, an oddity of dinosaur-like proportions. I describe where these creatures appear in biblical context, how they're described, where similar creatures appear in other cultural and religious contexts outside of Christianity, and finally create an image that displays my interpretation of how these creatures might have looked.