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Playing with Dragons: Living with Suffering and God
There are many Jewish and early Christian texts which refer to dragons and the battle that God or his angels fight against them. The myth is easily ignored or sidelined on account of its strangeness – and partly on account of the way in which people who are interested in this mythology languish in its lurid images. However, Andy Angel argues that some ancients had a far richer language for exploring their spiritual lives partly because they were willing to use and explore this language. Somehow this language has helped different people over many years to find a way of expressing their thoughts and feelings about living with suffering and God.
'Playing with Dragons' explores this language and specifically looks at the mythology of dragons and their demonic counterparts in Jewish and Christian literature from around 1000 BC to AD 300.
'Playing with Dragons' explores this language and specifically looks at the mythology of dragons and their demonic counterparts in Jewish and Christian literature from around 1000 BC to AD 300.
- GenresTheology
138 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 22, 2025
Dragons appear in the Bible more often than you think. The dragon in Revelation is just the last of many times we find sea monsters or twisting serpents, all part of a larger category of chaos creatures like those mentioned in Daniel.
The Old Testament associates them with disorder and evil which God ultimately controls. Sometimes they are equated with the seas and rivers from which they arise, seas which God rebukes, setting their limits, trampling them.
Why use such images? They came from the creation myths of surrounding cultures which were well-known to the first biblical audiences. Moses, the psalmists, and prophets borrowed them but gave the stories significant twists to distinguish Yahweh from those other gods, showing his clear superiority.
Yet Andy Angel emphasizes another dimension, a very human dimension. We often find these creatures mentioned when the authors are struggling with suffering and the triumphs of God’s enemies. If God has already defeated these chaos creatures, they ask, why do his people still suffer? We find these questions most prominently in Psalms of lament (Ps 74,77, 89, 144) and the book of Job (Leviathan and Behemoth in Job 38–41).
Matthew also takes up these themes especially in the stories of Jesus and the disciples on the waters. He gives his own spin to the topics of chaos, fear, and faith in the midst of suffering.
All these stories are more than stories. The forces of darkness are the realities we live in, a world in which the noise of chaos seems so much louder than the voice of God. Yet listen we must.
The Old Testament associates them with disorder and evil which God ultimately controls. Sometimes they are equated with the seas and rivers from which they arise, seas which God rebukes, setting their limits, trampling them.
Why use such images? They came from the creation myths of surrounding cultures which were well-known to the first biblical audiences. Moses, the psalmists, and prophets borrowed them but gave the stories significant twists to distinguish Yahweh from those other gods, showing his clear superiority.
Yet Andy Angel emphasizes another dimension, a very human dimension. We often find these creatures mentioned when the authors are struggling with suffering and the triumphs of God’s enemies. If God has already defeated these chaos creatures, they ask, why do his people still suffer? We find these questions most prominently in Psalms of lament (Ps 74,77, 89, 144) and the book of Job (Leviathan and Behemoth in Job 38–41).
Matthew also takes up these themes especially in the stories of Jesus and the disciples on the waters. He gives his own spin to the topics of chaos, fear, and faith in the midst of suffering.
All these stories are more than stories. The forces of darkness are the realities we live in, a world in which the noise of chaos seems so much louder than the voice of God. Yet listen we must.
November 30, 2021
This book is all about reading, understanding, and applying the myths in the Bible.
The author goes through key passages, talking about chaotic monsters, and their relations with their own contexts (ancient near east).
This reading helps to see how the authors of the different books in the bible deal with suffering.
Going through Psalms, Job, and Matthieu, the author draws a wonderful line to see suffering as a patient role to play in a hopeful present and future, centred in Jesus.
Worth reading for an introduction in the chaotic monsters, allying applications for a contemporary suffering situations.
The author goes through key passages, talking about chaotic monsters, and their relations with their own contexts (ancient near east).
This reading helps to see how the authors of the different books in the bible deal with suffering.
Going through Psalms, Job, and Matthieu, the author draws a wonderful line to see suffering as a patient role to play in a hopeful present and future, centred in Jesus.
Worth reading for an introduction in the chaotic monsters, allying applications for a contemporary suffering situations.
April 21, 2025
never expected such a great book.
Thought this was going to be about the historical dragons in the the Bible and yet it was so much more.
A much needed shift in perspective that deals with the question of pain and suffering in such a new way.
Thought this was going to be about the historical dragons in the the Bible and yet it was so much more.
A much needed shift in perspective that deals with the question of pain and suffering in such a new way.
May 31, 2017
*3.5 Stars*
August 2, 2026
There were a few profound places in the book, but overall, I didn’t find it very engaging.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews