Literature and Theology - current issue

The Augustinian Soliloquies of an Early Modern Reader: A Stylistic Relation of Shakespeare's Hamlet?

Staykova, J. D. — 2009-05-24

Augustine's Soliloquia, an early dialogue composed in 386–387 A.D., is a significant precursor of Augustine's interior turn and the dramatised account of his mental life in the Confessions. The present essay suggests that the reception of the Augustinian soliloquy in early modern England was mediated by a compilation that bore the title St. Augustine's Soliloquies but was not written by Augustine. Published under variant titles advertising the devotional practices of its three principal pieces, Meditationes Sancti Augustini, Soliloquiorum animae ad deum, and Manuale de aspiratione hominis ad Deum, the compilation was widely known on the continent and had an energetic reception in England, going through twenty-seven translated editions in the 1550s–1640s alone. In light of the publishing history of the pseudo-Augustinian apocrypha, the essay investigates evidence of the currency of soliloquy in early modern usage, and suggests that the soliloquies in Tudor and early Stuart devotional practice originate in the apocryphal Meditations, Soliloquies and Manual. Finally, after comparing a passage from the apocryphal compilation with Hamlet's soliloquy in I.ii.129–137, the essay argues that early modern devotional soliloquies display significant stylistic similarities to the dramatic soliloquies of the age.

Dutch Religious Love Emblems: Reflections of Faith and Toleration in the Later 17th Century

Stronks, E. — 2009-05-24

In this article, I examine the process of appropriation demonstrated in early modern Dutch religious love emblems published in the Dutch Republic around 1700. These religious love emblems were adaptations of Roman Catholic emblem books, originally made by Jesuits or priests in the Southern Netherlands around 1630. The reconstruction of the network formed by these religious emblems in the Republic, and an analysis of the gaps between the originals and their adaptations, allow us to take a closer look at changing attitudes towards religious faith and religious toleration at the time.

Ambivalent Imperialism: The Missionary Rhetoric of Robert Boyd

Livingstone, J. — 2009-05-24

Postcolonial Studies has directed much of its critique of British Imperialism at those informal agents responsible for the cultural crimes of colonial exploitation. Missionaries have routinely been charged with cultural annihilation and for conjuring up images of different and distant peoples and places. In keeping with a growing trend in historical studies, this article revisits the complexity of missionary involvement in colonialism, and its rhetorical construction of otherness. But I do this in quite a different way by examining as literature writings produced by missionaries themselves. Specifically, I analyse the works of Robert Boyd, a missionary in India in the early 20th century and later convener of Foreign Mission for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. By bringing the tools of rhetorical analysis to bear upon such ‘non-literary’ texts, I hope to intervene in a debate dominated by historians and theologians. I argue that the relationship between mission and imperialism is one of ambivalence, an ever complex dynamic, which refuses the cliché of the bible and the gun as the dual tools of empire.

'Equanimity': Les Murray, Levinas and the Breath of God

Cooper, I. — 2009-05-24

This article provides a close reading of Les Murray's poem ‘Equanimity’ in the context of Emmanuel Lévinas’ ethical thought. It argues that Murray's poem can be located in relation to Paul Celan's concept of the ‘turn of breath’, a hermeneutics of voice and address that points to Lévinas' understanding of the face of the other. ‘Equanimity’ both works out a conception of encounter with the other that has strong parallels in Lévinas (particularly concerning the themes of speaking and seeing), and seeks to move beyond an ethics based in difference by incorporating speech and vision into a theology of grace.

A Deleuzian Analysis of Thomas Altizer's Style

Carlsson, P. — 2009-05-24

This article offers a new entrance into the radical theology of Thomas J. J. Altizer and suggests a contemporary relevance of his theology that might not yet be fully acknowledged. By relating Altizer's theology to the French thinker Gilles Deleuze's notions of repetition and the actual/virtual the article suggests a subversive force in precisely those stylistic characteristics of Altizer's prose that have been critiqued for indicating an incomplete break with modernist thought.

Emplotting Forgiveness: Narrative, Forgetting and Memory

Tran, J. — 2009-05-24

Miroslav Volf has provocatively argued that redemption necessitates forgetting (1996, 2006). Yet, Volf's claims insufficiently consider the narratival configuration of memory. This essay utilises Paul Ricoeur's work on mimesis in order to challenge Volf's case for forgetting. The author advances Ricoeur's philosophical description of forgiveness toward a theological account of divine forgiveness as re-narration, gift-giving funded by trinitarian abundance.

In Memoriam Robert Detweiler (1932-2008)

Jasper, D. — 2009-05-24

Gregory of Nyssa, Ancient and (Post)modern. By Morwenna Ludlow. * Clement of Alexandria: A Project of Christian Perfection. By Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski.

Jasper, D. — 2009-05-24

Religion without Belief: Contemporary Allegory and the Search for Postmodern Faith. By Jean Ellen Petrolle.

Ruf, F. J. — 2009-05-24

Reframing Theology and Film. New Focus for an Emerging Discipline. Edited by Robert K. Johnston.

Birzache, A. — 2009-05-24

Earth and World Classic Sermons on Saving the Planet. Edited by David Rhoads.

Smith, A. — 2009-05-24

Douglas Coupland. By Andrew Tate.

Stewart, F. — 2009-05-24

Terry Eagleton: A Critical Introduction. By James Smith.

Taylor, T. K. — 2009-05-24

Karl Barth and Hans Urs Von Balthasar: A Critical Engagement. By Stephen D. Wigley.

Taylor, T. K. — 2009-05-24

The Religion and Film Reader. Edited by Jolyon Mitchell and S. Brent Plate.

Murphy, D. — 2009-05-24

What Would Jesus Deconstruct?: The Good News of Postmodernity for the Church. By John D. Caputo.

Rivera, J. M. — 2009-05-24

The Death of God: An Investigation into the History of the Western Concept of God. By Frederiek Depoortere.

Martinson, M. — 2009-05-24

Perspectives on the Passion: Encountering the Bible Through the Arts. Edited by Christine E. Joynes.

Orr, D. M. — 2009-05-24

Notices and Reports

2009-05-24