William Arnal
Biographic Data
| ID | 978901 |
|---|---|
| NAME | William Arnal |
| GIVEN NAMES | William |
| FAMILY NAME | Arnal |
| SIGNATURE | ARNAL W |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Regina |
| ORCID | 0009-0002-0813-2342 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 23 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 25 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Response
This article responds to the other contributions in this special issue, focusing on points of convergence among them. These include a shared sense that the media mishandled the trucker convoy; a common conviction that the protestors’ rhetoric often involved an ideological substitution of part for whole (or vice versa); and a shared interest in how mythic narratives of the past shape present actions. The response concludes by pointing to the salie…
Drudgery, Terminable and Interminable 1
DRUDGERY DIVINE: ON THE COMPARISON OF EARLY CHRISTIANITIES AND THE RELIGIONS OF LATE ANTIQUITY. By Jonathan Z. Smith. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990. Pp. xvi + 147. Paperback, $30.00. I finally saw “The Godfather” (1972) sometime in the early 2020s. I hated it. I remarked to my partner that it was unoriginal, filled with clichés, completely predictable, and almost comic in its abuse of common tropes. With some exasperation, she po…
The state, the gods and the imagination; or, David Graeber as a theorist of religion
This short article suggests that the writings of the recently deceased anthropologist David Graeber have a great deal to contribute to the study of religion. Drawing from a wide array of works by Graeber and his collaborators, the article sketches out his basic social theory, focusing on his insistence on the creative dimension of human social activity. It then focuses on the relevance of religion - specifically, the fabrication and modification …
Introduction
Arnal William, Iricinschi Eduard. Introduction : Thinking about the Past — and a Future ? with David Graeber. In: ASDIWAL. Revue genevoise d'anthropologie et d'histoire des religions, n°18, 2023. pp. 67-73
An Anarchist Meets the Demiurge
The following article applies some of the anthropological insights of David Graeber, in conjunction with those of Marshall Sahlins and David Wengrow, to a reading of the Nag Hammadi text Hypostasis of the Archons . The text emerges as a critique of political sovereignty, articulated by casting «metahuman persons » in particular roles. This allows us to view the document as something rather more than sectarian literature : as an imaginative fabric…
« Dans l'entre-deux surgit la fiction »
Arnal William Edward, Borgeaud Philippe. « Dans l'entre-deux surgit la fiction »: apprendre de Jonathan Z. Smith / « There is Fiction in the Space Between » : Learning from J. Z. Smith. In: ASDIWAL. Revue genevoise d'anthropologie et d'histoire des religions, n°13, 2018. pp. 15-23
On Smith, On Myth, On Mark
Clarifications
This short paper aims to respond to some of the observations and insights of the five reviewers of our book, The Sacred Is the Profane
A Myth of Innocence
FOR OVER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS, Burton Mack's A Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins has had a profound yet ambivalent influence on how scholars have worked on biblical texts in particular and theorized religion in general. A Myth of Innocence, along with the multiple emerging methodologies in contemporary biblical scholarship and religious studies, demonstrates that any responsible engagement of the Bible in the twenty-first century must in…
The Identity of Naasr and the Character of the Critical Study of Religion
Introduction to the following set of papers: Aaron W. Hughes, Sleeping with Elephants; Julie Ingersoll, Establishing a Beachhead or Kicking up Sand?; Nicole Kelley, Making Myths and Policing Borders: NAASR and the Critical Study of Religion; Russell T. McCutcheon, A Modest Proposal on Method; and Donald Wiebe, Change the Name! On the Importance of Reclaiming NAASR’s Original Objectives for the Twenty-First Century
Accommodating an American secularism
Markus Vinzent, Christ’s Resurrection in Early Christianity and the Making of the New Testament
The Sacred Is the Profane
It has become increasingly recognized in the field of religious studies that the very idea of “religion”—the founding concept of our area of study—is an idea with a history, specifically a modern and Western history. Yet this recognition has not extended beyond the narrow boundaries of theoretical discourse in the field, and so has had little influence on how “religious” data are actually described and studied, and even on how they are explained.…
What Are They Saying about the Gospel of Thomas? By Christopher Skinner
The Collection and Synthesis of “Tradition” and the Second-Century Invention of Christianity
The following paper argues that “Christianity” as a discursive entity did not exist until the second century CE. As a result, the first-century writings that constitute the field of inquiry for “Christian origins” are not usefully conceived as “Christian” at all. They were, rather, secondarily claimed as predecessors and traditions by second-century (and later) authors engaged in a process of “inventing tradition” to make sense of their own novel…
What branches grow out of this stony rubbish? Christian Origins and the Study of Religion
The following paper argues for the potential relevance of scholarship on New Testament/Christian origins to the study of religion generally, in response to recent institutional developments that have driven the Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion to hold separate meetings. The paper claims that Christian Origins scholarship suggests a series of cautions - about originary stories, the boundaries of traditions, and the p…
Paul and His World
Helmut Koester's Paul and his World is a collection of twenty-five separate articles and essays, spanning the more than fifty years of Koester's illustrious career. Chronologically, these papers range from a one-page (coauthored with Klaus Baltzer) technical discussion of the designation of James as Oblias according to Hegesippus (chapter 23, p. 266), originally published in German in 1955, to an unpublished lecture on Ralph Waldo Emerson and the…
The Segregation of Social Desire
This article, inspired by the decision to hold the 1998 American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting on the Disney World grounds, attempts to compare the construction of “fantasy” in Disney-related phenomena with the generation of “religion” as a category, arguing that both serve the liberal political agenda of modernity: they create special enclosures that serve to segregate positive ends-oriented behavior, to minim…
Black holes, theory and the study of religion
Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews
As a Jesus of History "Scholar wannabe" 1 looked forward to reading and reviewing Paula Fredriksen's recent work on the historical Jesus.It came to me with some strong recommendations.Unfortunately my overwhelming reaction to the book remains a profound disappointment.Not surprisingly, in the welter of widely divergent reconstructions of the historical Jesus, 1 find myself drawn powerfully to some, such as John Dominic Crossan and William R. Herz…
Approaches To the Study of Religion
Approaches to the Study of Religion Fall and Winter, 1997 Tuesdays, 6
What if I don't want to play tennis
The Man in the Scarlet Robe
The Rhetoric of Marginality
Of a total of twelve parables or similitudes appearing in Q, fully half are paralleled in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas . The two writings share approximately forty separate sayings. The similarity between these collections extends beyond considerable shared content, however, to embrace a common genre, a common predilection for aphoristic and proverbial forms, a common concern with both practical and speculative wisdom, and a surprising lack of int…
What if I don't want to play tennis
The Segregation of Social Desire
This article, inspired by the decision to hold the 1998 American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting on the Disney World grounds, attempts to compare the construction of “fantasy” in Disney-related phenomena with the generation of “religion” as a category, arguing that both serve the liberal political agenda of modernity: they create special enclosures that serve to segregate positive ends-oriented behavior, to minim…
What branches grow out of this stony rubbish? Christian Origins and the Study of Religion
The following paper argues for the potential relevance of scholarship on New Testament/Christian origins to the study of religion generally, in response to recent institutional developments that have driven the Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion to hold separate meetings. The paper claims that Christian Origins scholarship suggests a series of cautions - about originary stories, the boundaries of traditions, and the p…
Approaches To the Study of Religion
Clarifications
This short paper aims to respond to some of the observations and insights of the five reviewers of our book, The Sacred Is the Profane
The Identity of Naasr and the Character of the Critical Study of Religion
Introduction to the following set of papers: Aaron W. Hughes, Sleeping with Elephants; Julie Ingersoll, Establishing a Beachhead or Kicking up Sand?; Nicole Kelley, Making Myths and Policing Borders: NAASR and the Critical Study of Religion; Russell T. McCutcheon, A Modest Proposal on Method; and Donald Wiebe, Change the Name! On the Importance of Reclaiming NAASR’s Original Objectives for the Twenty-First Century
Black holes, theory and the study of religion
The Rhetoric of Marginality
Of a total of twelve parables or similitudes appearing in Q, fully half are paralleled in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas . The two writings share approximately forty separate sayings. The similarity between these collections extends beyond considerable shared content, however, to embrace a common genre, a common predilection for aphoristic and proverbial forms, a common concern with both practical and speculative wisdom, and a surprising lack of int…
The Man in the Scarlet Robe
What if I don't want to play tennis
Approaches To the Study of Religion
Approaches to the Study of Religion Fall and Winter, 1997 Tuesdays, 6
Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews
As a Jesus of History "Scholar wannabe" 1 looked forward to reading and reviewing Paula Fredriksen's recent work on the historical Jesus.It came to me with some strong recommendations.Unfortunately my overwhelming reaction to the book remains a profound disappointment.Not surprisingly, in the welter of widely divergent reconstructions of the historical Jesus, 1 find myself drawn powerfully to some, such as John Dominic Crossan and William R. Herz…
The Segregation of Social Desire
This article, inspired by the decision to hold the 1998 American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting on the Disney World grounds, attempts to compare the construction of “fantasy” in Disney-related phenomena with the generation of “religion” as a category, arguing that both serve the liberal political agenda of modernity: they create special enclosures that serve to segregate positive ends-oriented behavior, to minim…
Black holes, theory and the study of religion
Paul and His World
Helmut Koester's Paul and his World is a collection of twenty-five separate articles and essays, spanning the more than fifty years of Koester's illustrious career. Chronologically, these papers range from a one-page (coauthored with Klaus Baltzer) technical discussion of the designation of James as Oblias according to Hegesippus (chapter 23, p. 266), originally published in German in 1955, to an unpublished lecture on Ralph Waldo Emerson and the…
What branches grow out of this stony rubbish? Christian Origins and the Study of Religion
The following paper argues for the potential relevance of scholarship on New Testament/Christian origins to the study of religion generally, in response to recent institutional developments that have driven the Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion to hold separate meetings. The paper claims that Christian Origins scholarship suggests a series of cautions - about originary stories, the boundaries of traditions, and the p…
The Collection and Synthesis of “Tradition” and the Second-Century Invention of Christianity
The following paper argues that “Christianity” as a discursive entity did not exist until the second century CE. As a result, the first-century writings that constitute the field of inquiry for “Christian origins” are not usefully conceived as “Christian” at all. They were, rather, secondarily claimed as predecessors and traditions by second-century (and later) authors engaged in a process of “inventing tradition” to make sense of their own novel…
Markus Vinzent, Christ’s Resurrection in Early Christianity and the Making of the New Testament
The Sacred Is the Profane
It has become increasingly recognized in the field of religious studies that the very idea of “religion”—the founding concept of our area of study—is an idea with a history, specifically a modern and Western history. Yet this recognition has not extended beyond the narrow boundaries of theoretical discourse in the field, and so has had little influence on how “religious” data are actually described and studied, and even on how they are explained.…
What Are They Saying about the Gospel of Thomas? By Christopher Skinner
The Identity of Naasr and the Character of the Critical Study of Religion
Introduction to the following set of papers: Aaron W. Hughes, Sleeping with Elephants; Julie Ingersoll, Establishing a Beachhead or Kicking up Sand?; Nicole Kelley, Making Myths and Policing Borders: NAASR and the Critical Study of Religion; Russell T. McCutcheon, A Modest Proposal on Method; and Donald Wiebe, Change the Name! On the Importance of Reclaiming NAASR’s Original Objectives for the Twenty-First Century
Accommodating an American secularism
Clarifications
This short paper aims to respond to some of the observations and insights of the five reviewers of our book, The Sacred Is the Profane
A Myth of Innocence
FOR OVER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS, Burton Mack's A Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins has had a profound yet ambivalent influence on how scholars have worked on biblical texts in particular and theorized religion in general. A Myth of Innocence, along with the multiple emerging methodologies in contemporary biblical scholarship and religious studies, demonstrates that any responsible engagement of the Bible in the twenty-first century must in…
On Smith, On Myth, On Mark
« Dans l'entre-deux surgit la fiction »
Arnal William Edward, Borgeaud Philippe. « Dans l'entre-deux surgit la fiction »: apprendre de Jonathan Z. Smith / « There is Fiction in the Space Between » : Learning from J. Z. Smith. In: ASDIWAL. Revue genevoise d'anthropologie et d'histoire des religions, n°13, 2018. pp. 15-23
Introduction
Arnal William, Iricinschi Eduard. Introduction : Thinking about the Past — and a Future ? with David Graeber. In: ASDIWAL. Revue genevoise d'anthropologie et d'histoire des religions, n°18, 2023. pp. 67-73
An Anarchist Meets the Demiurge
The following article applies some of the anthropological insights of David Graeber, in conjunction with those of Marshall Sahlins and David Wengrow, to a reading of the Nag Hammadi text Hypostasis of the Archons . The text emerges as a critique of political sovereignty, articulated by casting «metahuman persons » in particular roles. This allows us to view the document as something rather more than sectarian literature : as an imaginative fabric…
The state, the gods and the imagination; or, David Graeber as a theorist of religion
This short article suggests that the writings of the recently deceased anthropologist David Graeber have a great deal to contribute to the study of religion. Drawing from a wide array of works by Graeber and his collaborators, the article sketches out his basic social theory, focusing on his insistence on the creative dimension of human social activity. It then focuses on the relevance of religion - specifically, the fabrication and modification …
Response
This article responds to the other contributions in this special issue, focusing on points of convergence among them. These include a shared sense that the media mishandled the trucker convoy; a common conviction that the protestors’ rhetoric often involved an ideological substitution of part for whole (or vice versa); and a shared interest in how mythic narratives of the past shape present actions. The response concludes by pointing to the salie…
Drudgery, Terminable and Interminable 1
DRUDGERY DIVINE: ON THE COMPARISON OF EARLY CHRISTIANITIES AND THE RELIGIONS OF LATE ANTIQUITY. By Jonathan Z. Smith. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990. Pp. xvi + 147. Paperback, $30.00. I finally saw “The Godfather” (1972) sometime in the early 2020s. I hated it. I remarked to my partner that it was unoriginal, filled with clichés, completely predictable, and almost comic in its abuse of common tropes. With some exasperation, she po…
Philosophy (18 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Art (10 works) · Epistemology (10 works) · Theology (10 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (9 works) · History (7 works) · Law (7 works)