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Palgrave Macmillan

Evil Children in Religion, Literature, and Art

  • Book
  • © 2001

Overview

Authors:
  1. Eric Ziolkowski

    1. Lafayette College, USA

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Part of the book series: Cross Currents in Religion and Culture (CCRC)

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Eric Ziolkowski
    Pages 1-11

  3. The Bad Boys of Bethel as Sacrilegious Type

    • Eric Ziolkowski
    Pages 12-35

  4. Patristic and Medieval Views of 2 Kings 2.23—24

    • Eric Ziolkowski
    Pages 36-55

  5. Children of the Passion

    • Eric Ziolkowski
    Pages 56-81

  6. Urchins Plaguing Saints

    • Eric Ziolkowski
    Pages 82-101

  7. The Bethel Boys Motif at the Dawn of Modernity

    • Eric Ziolkowski
    Pages 102-124

  8. Nineteenth-Century Antitypes

    • Eric Ziolkowski
    Pages 125-144

  9. Twentieth-Century Antitypes

    • Eric Ziolkowski
    Pages 145-174

  10. Conclusion

    • Eric Ziolkowski
    Pages 175-188

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 189-253
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About this book

Evil Children in Religion, Literature and Art explores the genesis, development, and religious significance of a literary and iconographic motif, involving a gang of urchins, usually male, who mock or assault a holy or eccentric person, typically an adult. Originating in the biblical tale of Elisha's mockery (2 Kings 2.23-24), this motif recurs in literature, hagiography, and art, from antiquity up to our own time, strikingly defying the conventional Judeo-Christian and Romantic image of the child as a symbol of innocence.

Reviews

'...thoughtful treatment of the deeply ambivalent, conflict-ridden relationship between children and adults.' - Kelly Bulkeley, Journal of Religion

Authors and Affiliations

  • Lafayette College, USA

    Eric Ziolkowski

About the author

ERIC ZIOLKOWSKI is Professor of Religion at Lafayette College. He is author of The Santification of Don Quixote: From Hildago to Priest and editor of A Museum of Faiths: Histories and Legacies of the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions. In 1997 he was elected as a Life Fellow in the Society of the Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture.

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