Cherubim and Cyborgs in the Divine World of Ezekiel

Abstract

The entangled human and nonhuman component of Ezekiel’s cherubim has proven challenging for both scholars and artists. Whether the cherubim are portrayed as endearing winged children or as terrifying wheels covered with eyes, both attempts fail to capture their complexity. In addition to their human, nonhuman, and divine components, these living creatures also evidence a mechanical aspect integral to their hybrid natures. In this article, I argue for an expanded study of the cherubim’s hybridity that reorients the centering of the human by focusing on both the nonhuman animals and the machine that constitutes the divine chariot. Donna Haraway’s cyborg theory serves as a guide to reexamine Ezekiel’s animated divine chariot as an entangled species. First, the figure of the modern cyborg is adopted as a cipher for reevaluating the collapsing categories of Ezekiel’s cherubim. Second, the creaturehood of the cherubim enforces the interconnected natures of the human and nonhuman components. Finally, I argue that the mechanical or robotic aspect of the cherubim should be reassessed as a central part of their composite anatomies. This results in an unsettling vision of monstrous creatures in the divine throne room whose bodies straddle numerous borders including the human/nonhuman and animate/inanimate.