Postmodernism Literature And The Future Of Theology

These essays set out to consider the possible future of theology in the light of the so-called postmodern condition. They are necessarily deeply interdisciplinary, since it is a characteristic of post-Enlightenment thought to disintegrate the lines of definition which separate areas of reflection in the human sciences. Theology, we believe, must be exposed to the consequences of what has happened in literature and critical theory if it is to have any future outside the protected and isolated environment of ecclesia and the communities of the faithful. The authors represent a great diversity of opinion and discipline. Not all of us would agree with one another, and certainly there is no agreement as to what constitutes postmodernity. Yet this very diversity forms the strength and importance of the book, for there are no simple answers or straightforward definitions. Theology must recognize the pluralism within which it now must carry out its task and which alone defines its future. The keynote of the discussion is the tragic. Tragedy takes us back to the Greeks, and to Nietzsche. Both feature centrally in this presentation. It also suggests a future, a return, perhaps, through literature to theology, and not merely an end of the story as it has been traditionally sold.

Longlisted for the 2022 International Gothic Association's Allan Lloyd Smith Prize Surpassing scholarly discourse surrounding the emergent secularism of the 19th century, Theology, Horror and Fiction argues that the Victorian Gothic is a genre fascinated with the immaterial. Through close readings of popular Gothic novels across the 19th century – Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Dracula and The Picture of Dorian Gray, among others – Jonathan Greenaway demonstrates that to understand and read Gothic novels is to be drawn into the discourses of theology. Despite the differences in time, place and context that informed the writers of these stories, the Gothic novel is irreducibly fascinated with religious and theological ideas, and this angle has been often overlooked in broader scholarly investigations into the intersections between literature and religion. Combining historical theological awareness with interventions into contemporary theology, particularly around imaginative apologetics and theology and the arts, Jonathan Greenaway offers the beginnings of a modern theology of the Gothic.

In this critical examination of the role of the imagination in the modern and postmodern periods, Victor E. Taylor looks at the 'fable' as a narrative form that addresses the ultimate questions of how to live and why. He assesses various literary theories and styles in the wake of postmodernism to reveal the ways in which fable-style narrative can be a meaningful genre for addressing traditional and post-traditional religious, ethical, and epistemological concerns. In the process, Taylor draws on key figures across the humanities--from Mircea Eliade and Claude Levi-Strauss, Paul Ricoeur and Slavoj Zizek, to Leo Tolstoy and Franz Kafka. Placing an emphasis on rethinking the importance of critical theory in religious studies, the author argues that a new, more demanding formulation of the concept of possibility allows for a realignment of the philosophical, mythological, and literary imaginations. By returning to the history of philosophy, myth studies, and modern literature, Taylor makes a renewed case for the significance of a distinctive formulation of religious theory as a desire for thinking. Religion after Postmodernism calls for a reconsideration of "theory as thinking" for the future of philosophy, religious studies, and literature.

The sacrament par excellence, the Eucharist, has been upheld as the foundational sacrament of Christ's Body called Church, yet it has confounded Christian thinking and practice throughout history. Its symbolism points to the paradox of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of God in Jesus of Nazareth, which St. Paul describes as a stumbling-block (skandalon). Yet the scandal of sacramentality, not only illustrated by but enacted in the Eucharist, has not been sufficiently accounted for in the ecclesiologies and sacramental theologies of the Christian tradition. Despite what appears to be an increasingly post-ecclesial world, sacrament remains a persistent theme in contemporary culture, often in places least expected. Drawing upon the biblical image of "the Word made flesh," this interdisciplinary study examines the scandal of sacramentality along the twofold thematic of the scandal of language (word) and the scandal of the body (flesh). While sacred theology can think through this scandal only at significant risk to its own stability, the fictional discourses of literature and the arts are free to explore this scandal in a manner that simultaneously augments and challenges traditional notions of sacrament and sacramentality, and by extension, what it means to describe the Church as a "eucharistic community."

Eschatology is the study of the last things: death, judgment, the afterlife, and the end of the world. Through centuries of Christian thoughtfrom the early Church fathers through the Middle Ages and the Reformationthese issues were of the utmost importance. In other religions, too, eschatological concerns were central. After the Enlightenment, though, many religious thinkers began to downplay the importance of eschatology which, in light of rationalism, came to be seen as something of an embarrassment. The twentieth century, however, saw the rise of phenomena that placed eschatology back at the forefront of religious thought. From the rapid expansion of fundamentalist forms of Christianity, with their focus on the end times; to the proliferation of apocalyptic new religious movements; to the recent (and very public) debates about suicide, martyrdom, and paradise in Islam, interest in eschatology is once again on the rise. In addition to its popular resurgence, in recent years some of the worlds most important theologians have returned eschatology to its former position of prominence. The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology will provide an important critical survey of this diverse body of thought and practice from a variety of perspectives: biblical, historical, theological, philosophical, and cultural. This volume will be the primary resource for students, scholars, and others interested in questions of our ultimate existence.

This book examines the range of issues that echo in James Baldwin’s short stories. It articulates and defends the claim that the stories in the collection Going to Meet the Man are driven by the autobiographical memory of the author. To support this line of thought and the related proposition that the stories feed into themes relevant to self-knowledge, vicarious suffering, love, and forgiveness, their effectiveness as transformative and “revelatory texts” is highlighted. By drawing on contemporary studies and challenging the view that short stories are no more than miniature pieces merely echoing “major” works of their authors, this book demonstrates that the short story genre can be profoundly forceful and effective in the articulation of complex human issues. This study shows also that the humanistic import of the Baldwin stories is amplified by their ability to accumulate moral tension as they elicit the participation of the reader in an imaginative quest for a better world.

Around the world religion is an increasingly vital and pervasive force in both personal and public life. Though this trend has been widely noted, its long-term implications are as yet only dimly perceived. Will this be a force for healing or for violence? To express the question to its most dramatic, yet urgent form: can the world's major religious traditions respond constructively to contemporary challenges in the public sphere that are now, by definition, global? Religion and Ethics in a Globalizing World seeks to address this question, and to contribute to a greater understanding of the role of religion in the paradoxical context of a world that is increasingly unified, but which remains fundamentally plural.