Evil Children In Religion, Literature, And Art (cross Currents In Religion And Culture)

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. Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Introduction....Pages 1-11 The Bad Boys of Bethel as Sacrilegious Type....Pages 12-35 Patristic and Medieval Views of 2 Kings 2.23—24....Pages 36-55 Children of the Passion....Pages 56-81 Urchins Plaguing Saints....Pages 82-101 The Bethel Boys Motif at the Dawn of Modernity....Pages 102-124 Nineteenth-Century Antitypes....Pages 125-144 Twentieth-Century Antitypes....Pages 145-174 Conclusion....Pages 175-188 Back Matter....Pages 189-253