Stories Of Desire And Narratives Of Faith

Stories are the foundation for identity and the ground of understanding. Stories of Desire and Narratives of Faith addresses humankind’s search for identity and meaning through the stories of science and religion. Both arose in the mists of history. Both are awe inspiring. Both beggar the imagination. Both have always competed for authority. Science gained preeminence in our postmodern, pluralistic, globalized world as evidenced based, while religion (for many reasons) lost credibility. Yet religion has not disappeared. Stories is a concise, engaging, inspiring accessible account of the history of science (geological and biological evolution perceived through increasingly sophisticated technology) and the history of nine text-based world religions of antiquity. Stories avoids insider language, democratizing both God talk and scientific jargon without patronizing either. There is no attempt to identify the best or truest religion, and Stories disavows dogmatic religious triumphalism. The authors do follow the tradition of giving an account of their Christian faith, the only religious story with which they have experience. They invite others to do the same, paying attention to their own stories as they grapple with modern science, do theology, and engage faith. Stories proposes how and in what manner these disciplines can meaningfully converse in today’s world.

Stories are the foundation for identity and the ground of understanding. Stories of Desire and Narratives of Faith addresses humankind's search for identity and meaning through the stories of science and religion. Both arose in the mists of history. Both are awe inspiring. Both beggar the imagination. Both have always competed for authority. Science gained preeminence in our postmodern, pluralistic, globalized world as evidenced based, while religion (for many reasons) lost credibility. Yet religion has not disappeared. Stories is a concise, engaging, inspiring accessible account of the history of science (geological and biological evolution perceived through increasingly sophisticated technology) and the history of nine text-based world religions of antiquity. Stories avoids insider language, democratizing both God talk and scientific jargon without patronizing either. There is no attempt to identify the best or truest religion, and Stories disavows dogmatic religious triumphalism. The authors do follow the tradition of giving an account of their Christian faith, the only religious story with which they have experience. They invite others to do the same, paying attention to their own stories as they grapple with modern science, do theology, and engage faith. Stories proposes how and in what manner these disciplines can meaningfully converse in today's world.

A thoughtful literary treatise suggesting that the Gospel is not just like a story, but that narrative in general is like the Gospel.

Megan Hustad and her family try to reconcile an evangelical upbringing in a post-Christian America When Megan Hustad was a child, her father uprooted their family from Minneapolis to embark on a cross-cultural journey in the name of evangelical Christianity. As missionaries they brought the Gospel to the Caribbean island of Bonaire and later to the outskirts of Amsterdam. After a decade away, they returned to the States only to find themselves more alien than before. The evangelical landscape had transformed from the idealistic, market-averse movement it was in the 1970s to one where media-savvy pastors held sway over mega-churches. As the family struggled with the economic and spiritual aftermath of their break from middle-class Middle America, Megan and her sister, Amy, began to plot their escape. Megan sets her sights on New York City, where everything she was denied as a child would be at her fingertips, and Amy makes her home among the intellectual swagger of New Englanders. But fitting in proves harder than they'd imagined. As much as Megan tries to shake them, thoughts of the God she was ignoring follow her into every party and relationship. In More Than Conquerors, Hustad explores what happens when the habits of your religion coincide with the demands of your social class, and what breaks when they conflict. With a sharp tongue and deep insight, Hustad offers a vivid account of the cultural divisions, anxieties, and resentments that continue to divide our country and her own family.

This book presents an in-depth ethnographic case study carried out in the years following the 2010 Haiti earthquake to present the role of faith beliefs in disaster response. The earthquake is one of the most destructive on record, and the aftermath, including a cholera epidemic and ongoing humanitarian aid, has continued for years following the catastrophe. Based on dozens of interviews, this book gives primacy to survivors’ narratives. It begins by laying out the Haitian context, before presenting an account of the earthquake from survivors’ perspectives. It then explores in detail how the earthquake affected the religious, mainly Christian, faith of survivors and how religious faith influenced how they responded to, and are recovering from, the experience. The account is also informed by geoscience and the accompanying "complicating factors." Finally, the Haitian experience highlights the significant role that religious faith can play alongside other learned coping strategies in disaster response and recovery globally. This book contributes an important case study to an emerging literature in which the influence of both religion and narrative is being recognised. It will be of interest to scholars of any discipline concerned with disaster response, including practical theology, anthropology, psychology, geography, Caribbean studies and earth science. It will also provide a resource for non-governmental organisations.

First published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

"Provides an innovative theoretical framework for an analysis that integrates structural and narratological considerations with thematic (religious and ethical) aspects, by focusing on the characters' interactivity as the most fundamental level on which the ethical systems of the novel are enacted. Examines the questions of what ethical bases are put forward by the novel, what faith-issues and philosophical world-views they derive from, and how, in terms of structuring and narration rather than simply thematically, they are presented in the novel ... Through the concept of scripting, the author shows how the ethical becomes the foundation for the narratological in The idiot"--Page 4 of cover

The life and work of John Henry Newman were dominated by questions concerning the nature of Christian faith and the way in which it comes to expression in history. In this collection of essays, eight leading scholars examine the theological, philosophical, historical, literary and spiritual dimensions of Newman's understanding of faith, and reflect on the way in which his thought relates to contemporary concerns and interests in their disciplines. The themes discussed include the relationship between faith and reason, Newman and postmodernity, the rights and limitations of conscience, the place of doctrine in Christian life, the believer in the church, and the autobiographical significance of Newman's treatment of faith in his novels. Like its predecessor, Newman and the Word, this collection aims to provide a critical reflection on the relevance of Newman's thought for today.