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Earthbound & The Greatest Story Ever Told (Resolving Narrative Error in the Bible) / EILIAN RICHMOND

Swansea University Author: EILIAN RICHMOND

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.68865

Abstract

How would the narrative told over the 66 canonical books of the Christian Bible (73 in the case of Catholicism) be received if it were presented to us now, for the first time, as a piece of contemporary fiction? This work suggests that such a novel or screenplay would be heavily critiqued for the pr...

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Published: Swansea, Wales, UK 2025
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Bilton, Alan
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68865
first_indexed 2025-02-11T14:52:36Z
last_indexed 2025-02-12T05:52:46Z
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recordtype RisThesis
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spelling 2025-02-11T15:19:42.3806653 v2 68865 2025-02-11 Earthbound & The Greatest Story Ever Told (Resolving Narrative Error in the Bible) ea85c0c3fffdc73638969f5f3c8cc8d4 EILIAN RICHMOND EILIAN RICHMOND true false 2025-02-11 How would the narrative told over the 66 canonical books of the Christian Bible (73 in the case of Catholicism) be received if it were presented to us now, for the first time, as a piece of contemporary fiction? This work suggests that such a novel or screenplay would be heavily critiqued for the presence of plot-holes, or narrative errors. Then, having categorised these narrative errors, it examines the extent to which the superimposition of a new, parallel narrative can contextualise or reframe said errors to provide, where possible, resolutions. The superimposed narrative, Earthbound, explores whether or not it can provide a resolving context by explaining the most pertinent errors – those instances where the supposedly benevolent God character either directly mandates or just tacitly approves of various, unnecessary pain and suffering, or simply behaves in ways which undermine claims of his omniscience and omnipotence – in the same way as the suffering visited upon the eponymous character in The Book of Job is explained: as being the consequences of a wager made between God and Satan. Retelling core events of the biblical narrative through this lens - The Fall, The Flood, The Crucifixion, Revelation – the enclosed novel, Earthbound, endeavours to improve the overall cohesion of the narrative, while preserving as much of the original detail as possible. The analysis that follows, The Greatest Story Ever Told? will examine the successes and failures of that project. E-Thesis Swansea, Wales, UK Creative Writing, Theology, Philosophy 8 1 2025 2025-01-08 10.23889/SUthesis.68865 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Bilton, Alan Doctoral Ph.D SLC SLC 2025-02-11T15:19:42.3806653 2025-02-11T14:49:49.2188140 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing EILIAN RICHMOND 1 68865__33567__c4ed69e8dc36409790dfa346a15c79c2.pdf Richmond_Eilian_J_PhD_Thesis_Final_Cronfa.pdf 2025-02-11T15:06:29.9088808 Output 1962297 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true Copyright: The Author, Eilian J. Richmond, 2025. true eng
title Earthbound & The Greatest Story Ever Told (Resolving Narrative Error in the Bible)
spellingShingle Earthbound & The Greatest Story Ever Told (Resolving Narrative Error in the Bible)
EILIAN RICHMOND
title_short Earthbound & The Greatest Story Ever Told (Resolving Narrative Error in the Bible)
title_full Earthbound & The Greatest Story Ever Told (Resolving Narrative Error in the Bible)
title_fullStr Earthbound & The Greatest Story Ever Told (Resolving Narrative Error in the Bible)
title_full_unstemmed Earthbound & The Greatest Story Ever Told (Resolving Narrative Error in the Bible)
title_sort Earthbound & The Greatest Story Ever Told (Resolving Narrative Error in the Bible)
author_id_str_mv ea85c0c3fffdc73638969f5f3c8cc8d4
author_id_fullname_str_mv ea85c0c3fffdc73638969f5f3c8cc8d4_***_EILIAN RICHMOND
author EILIAN RICHMOND
author2 EILIAN RICHMOND
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUthesis.68865
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing
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description How would the narrative told over the 66 canonical books of the Christian Bible (73 in the case of Catholicism) be received if it were presented to us now, for the first time, as a piece of contemporary fiction? This work suggests that such a novel or screenplay would be heavily critiqued for the presence of plot-holes, or narrative errors. Then, having categorised these narrative errors, it examines the extent to which the superimposition of a new, parallel narrative can contextualise or reframe said errors to provide, where possible, resolutions. The superimposed narrative, Earthbound, explores whether or not it can provide a resolving context by explaining the most pertinent errors – those instances where the supposedly benevolent God character either directly mandates or just tacitly approves of various, unnecessary pain and suffering, or simply behaves in ways which undermine claims of his omniscience and omnipotence – in the same way as the suffering visited upon the eponymous character in The Book of Job is explained: as being the consequences of a wager made between God and Satan. Retelling core events of the biblical narrative through this lens - The Fall, The Flood, The Crucifixion, Revelation – the enclosed novel, Earthbound, endeavours to improve the overall cohesion of the narrative, while preserving as much of the original detail as possible. The analysis that follows, The Greatest Story Ever Told? will examine the successes and failures of that project.
published_date 2025-01-08T09:46:05Z
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score 11.205331

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