Seeing Into the Life of Things: Essays on Religion and Literature

by John Mahoney

Book Overview

As the discourse of contemporary cultural studies brings questions of race, nationality, and gender to the center of critical attention nowadays, there is a strong sense that religious, or perhaps religious experience, should command the attention of the academic and wider reading community. Seeing into the Life of Things is a response to that need. By combining the theoretical and the practical, this book serves as both a pioneering scholarly...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823217337
• ISBN13: 9780823217335
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Fordham University Press
• Length: 353 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Main virtues of Religious life and writings

Virtue of the Deed: "Literature, or art in general, should never be an end in itself. The virtues of seeing, thinking, and feeling must culminate in the virtue of the deed." If this observation by Shumway is true, it could not be more evident than within Religious life and writings where biography inspires. There is a problem that lies with the definition of religious experience, especially since William James' Varieties of Religious Experience.' Within a fragmentation of lives, even as a labeling expedient for discussion, encourages schism and war between parties that are really on the same side, a strong sense developed that should redraw the attention of the academia to current issues reader's interest. Religious Experience: The revision of the 'King James Version' must be seen as a work of English literature , as well as an important theological and religious document. Still widely used as the translation of preference by many Christians, its impact upon English literature is incalculable, making the inclusion of some material of relevance essential for the purposes of this anthology. "Life is total, and all of its loves are imbued with reason and the will of God. Thus he cannot separate the 'spiritual or religious' from the 'aesthetic or imaginative.' The Gospel, his academic training, and his love of the arts work within him a oneness, a mutually sustaining relationship between a 'spontaneity of consciousness' and 'a strictness of conscience" (Arnold 124). Cultural Response: As the discourse of contemporary cultural studies brings questions of gender, race, and nationality to the center of contemporary concerns, there is a compelling sense that religious experience, should catch the attention of the academic as it did with the wider reading community. Seeing into the Life of Things is a response to the contemporary cultural need to answer questions of gender, race, ethnicity, and bring the answers to the core of critical attention of present times. By combining the empirical and the mundane, this fine selection would serve as an appetizer for the readers and a catalyst to literally and academic research, analysis, and development of such domain, interface of religion & literature. The book's second section evaluates different approaches to novels, poems, stories, and discusses the individual writers. Contributors: The contributors to this pioneering study represent a range of voices and viewpoints, some of them established leaders in their fields, others in the process of becoming new leaders, addressing these versatile issues Integrated into a well composed study, they are themselves representatives of a spectrum of viewpoints, some are leaders in their fields, including Neo historicism, inspiration biographies, and Feminism. "I think the book's range of subjects is very appropriate. The discussions which fostered the book certainly reflected a diversity of interests, from fiction to poetry to cinema. Seeing Into the Life c

Main virtues of otherness: Seeing into the Life of Things

"Literature is seldom written, and can be seldom written, in the service of religion. But the fact that religion has no business in literature and that literature has no place in the Church does not invalidate either as a way of life and mind." (K. Keller, On Words and the Word of God) Historical Evidence: In his Theological anthology, "Christian Literature: An Anthology," British theologian, Alister McGrath wrote, "The patristic period saw considerable thought being given to an issue of major importance to this anthology - the extent to which Christian writers could make use of existing secular approaches to rhetoric, literature, and poetry in developing a Christian literature. Initially, there was considerable hostility toward the use of such approaches." The revision of the 'King James Version' must be seen as a work of English literature , as well as an important theological and religious document. Still widely used as the translation of preference by many Christians, its impact upon English literature is incalculable, making the inclusion of some material of relevance essential for the purposes of this anthology. Religious literature: Seeing into the Life of Things is a response to the contemporary cultural need to answer questions of gender, race, ethnicity, and bring the answers to the core of critical attention of present times. Lately, since William James, a strong sense that 'The Varieties of Religious Experience', should redraw the attention of the academia and current issues reader's interest. By combining the empirical and the mundane, this fine selection would serve as an appetizer for the readers and a catalyst to literally and academic research, analysis, and development of such interfacial domain of religion and literature. The book's second section evaluates different approaches to novels, poems, stories, and discusses the individual writers. Professor Mahoney, hence, looks into the works of poet Stevie Smith, and Stephen Fix appraises Samuel Johnson, the author and the lexicographer. Authors on their writings: "The book dovetails very well with the purpose behind the journal. In my chapter, I wanted to pose a question and challenge the journal consistently deals with: How do we discuss the religious and the spiritual in literature?" D.Taylor "In movies like these which explore specific ethnic groups, religious history is understood to be part of these ethnic lives," Wilt said. "So while the film's primary interest is in providing entertainment, at the same time it conveys these religious and spiritual messages." J. Wilt "I think the book's range of subjects is very appropriate. The discussions which fostered the book certainly reflected a diversity of interests, from fiction to poetry to cinema. Seeing Into the Life captures the essence of that discourse." (Fr. J.Barth, his essay examines Hopkins, the renowned Jesuit poet) Epilogue: "Finally let me affirm the synthesis of the four virtues of otherness. Literature, o