Santa Clara University
Religious Studies Department, SCU
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Research Topics
  Tower of Babel

Resources for
Historical Analysis
Resources for
Modern Modes

Bar Rose
Historical Analysis
 
Authors
according to the Documentary Hypothesis; click on links for information
 
 
 
Commentaries
 
Clifford, Richard J. and Roland E. Murphy.  "Genesis." In The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (ed. Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer and Roland E. Murphy; Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1990) 8-43. Read with this the material on the authorship of the Pentateuch in the same volume: Roland E. Murphy, "Introduction to the Pentateuch," pp. 3-7.
[Link to article here]
 
Fretheim, Terence E.  "Genesis."  In The New Interpreter's Bible, vol. 1, Genesis to Leviticus (Nashville: Abingdon, 1994) [add pages of full essay].
 
Sadler, Rodney S., Jr.  "Genesis."  In Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The Old Testament and Apocrypha (ed. Gale A. Yee, Hugh R. Page, Jr. and Matthew J. M. Coomber; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2014) 89-136.
[Link above is to the print copy; here is a link to an electronic copy]
 
Sarna, Nahum M.  Genesis = Be-reshit: The Traditional Hebrew Text with New JPS Translation.  Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989.
 
Speiser, E. A.  Genesis, Anchor Bible 1.  Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1964.
[Link to beginning of commentary here]
 
Westermann, Claus.  Genesis 1–11: A Commentary, trans. John J. Scullion.   Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984.
 
 
Secondary Literature
 
Blenkinsopp, Joseph.  "The Structure of P."  Catholic Biblical Quarterly 38 (1976) 275-92.
 
Boorer, Suzanne.  The Vision of the Priestly Narrative: Its Genre and Hermeneutics of Time.   Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016.
 
Giorgetti, Andrew.  "The ‘Mock Building Account’ of Genesis 11:1-9: Polemic against Mesopotamian Royal Ideology."  Vetus testamentum 64:1 (2014) 1-20.
 
Hiebert, Theodore.  "The Tower of Babel and the Origin of the World's Cultures."   Journal of Biblical Literature 126:1 (2007) 29-58.
 
Kikawada, Isaac.  "The Shape of Genesis 11:1-9."  In Rhetorical Criticism: Essays in Honor of James Muilenburg (ed. Jared J. Jackson and Martin Kessler; PTMS 1; Pitsburgh: Pickwich, 1974) 18-32.
 
Lacocque, André.  "Whatever Happened in the Valley of Shinar? A Response to Theodore Hiebert."  Journal of Biblical Literature 128:1 (2009) 29-41.
 
Meyer, Esias E.  "Divide and Be Different: Priestly Identity in the Persian Period."    Hervormde teologiese studies/Theological Studies 68:1 (2012) Art. #1202, 6 pages.  Online, http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v68i1.1202.
 
Sasson, Jack M.  "The 'Tower of Babel' as a Clue to the Redactional Structuring of the Primeval History (Genesis 1:1–11:9)."  In "I Studied Inscriptions from before the Flood": Ancient Near Eastern, Literary, and Linguistic Approaches to Genesis 1–11 (ed. Richard S. Hess and David Toshio Tsumura; Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1994; reprinted from The Bible World: Essays in Honor of Cyrus H. Gordon [ed. Gary Rendsburg et al.; New York: Ktav and the Institute of Hebrew Culture and Education of New York University, 1980] 211-19) 448-57.
 
Strong, John T.  "Shattering the Image of God: A Response to Theodore Hiebert's Interpretation fof the Story of the Tower of Babel."  Journal of Biblical Literature 127:4 (2008) 625-34.
 
Van Seters, John.  The Yahwist: A Historian of Israelite Origins.  Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2013.
 
 
Bar Rose
 
Modern Modes
Religious   Secular
  • González Iñárritu, Babel (film, 2006)
Bar Rose
 
Bedford Hours, Tower of BabelTower of Babel, Bedford Master (1410-1430)
 
Primary Text Citation
 
Bedford Master.  Tower of Babel, folio 17v, Bedford Hours.   1410–1430.   Illuminated Manuscript.   British Museum, London.
 
 
Mode
 
 
 
Secondary Literature
 
Relevant Databases for Secondary Sources
  • Art Full Text
  • Art Index Retrospective
  • ARTstor
  • Arts & Humanities Citation Index
  • ATLA Religion Database
  • Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective
  • Humanities Full Text
 
Source
 
 
 
Bar Rose
 
Bruegel, The Tower of BabelPieter Bruegel the Elder, The Tower of Babel (1563)
 
Primary Text Citation
 
Bruegel, Pieter, the Elder.  The Tower of Babel.  1563.  Oil on panel.   114 x 155 cm.  Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.
 
 
Mode
 
Goodenough, Erwin Ramsdell.   "The Paintings of the Dura-Europos Synagogue: Method and an Application."  Israel Exploration Journal 8:2 (1958) 69-79.
 
 
Secondary Literature
 
Relevant Databases for Secondary Sources
  • L'année philologique
  • Art Full Text
  • Art Index Retrospective
  • ARTstor
  • Arts & Humanities Citation Index
  • ATLA Religion Database
  • Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective
  • Humanities Full Text
 
Anderson, Jutta F.  "The Tower of Babel."  Christianity and the Arts 7:2 (2000) 68-69.
 
Jockel, Nils.  Pieter Bruegel’s Tower of Babel: The Builder with the Red Hat.  New York: Prestel, 1998.
 
Jonckheere, Koenraad.  "An Allegory of Artistic Choice in Times of Trouble.”"  Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art/Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek (NKJ) 64 (2014) 186-213.
 
Kaminska, Barbara A.  "'Come, Let Us Make a City and a Tower': Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Tower of Babel and the Creation of a Harmonious Community in Antwerp."  Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 6:2 (2014) 1-18.
 
Mansbach, Steven A.  "Pieter Bruegel'’'s Towers of Babel."  Zeitschrift fuuml;r Kunstgeschichte 45:1 (1982) 43-56.
 
Morra, Joanne.  "Utopia Lost: Allegory, Ruins and Pieter Bruegel'’'s Towers of Babel."  Art History 30:2 (2007) 198-216.
 
Uno, Kei.  "Consuming the Tower of Babel and Japanese Public Art Museums: The Exhibition of Bruegel's 'The Tower of Babel' and the Babel-mori Project."  Religions 10:3 (2019) 1-8.
 
 
 
Bar Rose
 
Van Cleve, The Building of the Tower of BabelThe Building of the Tower of Babel, Van Cleve (16th century)
 
Primary Text Citation
 
Van Cleve, Hendrick, III.  The Building of the Tower of Babel.   16th century.   Medium.   Private collection.
 
 
Mode
 
 
 
Secondary Literature
 
Relevant Databases for Secondary Sources
  • Art Full Text
  • Art Index Retrospective
  • ARTstor
  • Arts & Humanities Citation Index
  • ATLA Religion Database
  • Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective
  • Humanities Full Text
 
Chudzikowski, Andrzej.  "Flemish and Dutch Landscape rawings; An Exhibition in the University Library, Warsaw."  Connoisseur 149 (March 1962) 166.
 
 
 
Bar Rose
 
Jackson, Ezekiel's Vision by the River ChebarThe Tower of Babel, Van Valckenborch (1594)
 
Primary Text Citation
 
Van Valckenborch, Lucas.  The Tower of Babel.   1594.   Oil on panel.   41 x 56.5 cm.  Louvre Museum, Paris, France.
 
 
Mode
 
 
 
Secondary Literature
 
Relevant Databases for Secondary Sources
  • Art Full Text
  • Art Index Retrospective
  • ARTstor
  • Arts & Humanities Citation Index
  • ATLA Religion Database
  • Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective
  • Humanities Full Text
 
Sawday, Jonathan.  Engines of the Imagination: Renaissance Culture and the Rise of the Machine.  New York: Routledge, 2007.
 
 
 
 
Bar Rose
 
Babel, dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu (2006)
 
Primary Text Citation
 
Babel. Produced by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Steve Golin, and Jon Kilik; directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. 143 min. Paramount Vantage, 2006. [format you watched it in].

2.25
 
 
Secondary Literature
 
Relevant Databases for Secondary Sources
  • ATLA Religion Database
  • ComAbstracts
  • Communication Source
  • Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text
  • Film Literature Index
 
Anker, Elizabeth S.  "In the Shadowlands of Sovereignty: The Politics of Enclosure in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel."  University of Toronto Quarterly 82:4 (2013) 950-973.
 
Bosley, Rachael K.  "Forging Connections."  American Cinematographer 87:11 (2006) 36-49. Cohen, David S. “From Script to Screen Babel."  Scr(i)Pt 12:6 (2006) 36-41.
 
DeLashmutt, Michael W.  "Breaking the Ties That Bind: A Review of Babel."   Political Theology 8:4 (2007) 493-496.
 
Locke, Richard.  "Globalization and Its Discontents."  American Scholar 76:2 (2007) 114-117. McGowan, Todd. “The Contingency of Connection: The Path to Politicization in Babel."  Discourse: Journal for Theoretical Studies in Media & Culture 30:3 (2008) 401-418.
 
Pellicer, Juan.  "Bridging Worlds: Transtextuality, Montage, and the Poetics of Babel."  Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos 26:2 (2010) 239-249.
 
Rothlisberger, Leisa.  "Babel'’'s National Frames in Global Hollywood."  Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media 54 (2012) 21.
 
Runions, Erin.  "Tolerating Babel: The Bible, Film, and the Family in U.S. Biopolitics."  Religious Studies and Theology 29:2 (2010) 143-69.
 
Tierney, Dolores.  "Alejandro González Iñárritu: Director without Borders."  New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film 7:2 (2009) 101-117.
 
 
Film Reviews
Because these are short and popular, you can read them, but they don't replace the need for at least two professional sources.
 
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