Scribner Seminar Program
Course Description

Gods & Monsters

Instructor(s): Gregory Spinner, Religious Studies

Astonish. Excite. Confound. For as long as humans have recorded their histories, they have talked of gods and monsters, beings that evoke both wonder and dread. Even in our supposedly disenchanted age, these strange beings still appear to be very much with us, revealing cultural priorities and social anxieties. How is it that gods and monsters exert such a strong pull on our imaginations? In what ways does that make them real? How do they mark the outer limits of what we can know?

We start with gods and goddesses that unsettle genteel notions of divinity, examining “the holy” as a category that combines mystery with beauty and terror. We then survey the monstrous, which doubles as the marvelous. Whether encountering gods or monsters, responses typically fuse fear and fascination into an affect we can properly call “awe.” Roaming across the map, we look to ancient and medieval texts alongside of contemporary writing, comics, and films. As an introduction to a liberal arts education, this course moves readily among academic disciplines (primarily Religious Studies, History, Asian Studies, Classics, and Media and Film Studies), encouraging students to learn broadly as they think deeply.