Religion and Its Monsters

"Imaginatively written, entertaining, and well researched, this work of creative scholarship is a fascinating read.."
-"CHOICE, R.L. Massanari, Alma College
..."well researched. Recommended for religion and popular culture collections.."
-"Library Journal, December 2001
..."this is a fine, readable and often intriguing book."
-"The Plain Dealer
"This brilliant, twisted, imaginative book explores religion''s dark side, from the predictable monsters of sacred texts to more startling choices from popular culture....When Beal concludes the book by explaining that ''our monsters are ourselves, '' it comes not as a cultural indictment from a self-satisfied pundit but an astute observation by a witty and wise fellow traveler."
-Publishers Weekly
"This is scholarship in cultural analysis at its best: well-documented, thought-provoking, and funny. Its crisp writing almost fools you into thinking it''s simple. But it does what it says: it raises profound questions that survive their answers. Critical of the devastating prejudices that underlie the religious imagination, it stops short of moralizing. A bravura piece of what binds the cultural disciplines together."
- Mieke Bal, author of "Quoting Caravaggio: Contemporary Art, Preposterous History