Table Of ContentPOS1MODERNISM, LITERATURE AND
THE FUTURE OF THEOLOGY
From the same publishers
David Scott Arnold
LIMINAL READINGS
Forms of Otherness in Melville, Joyce and Murdoch
John D. Barbour
THE CONSCIENCE OF THE AUTOBIOGRAPHER
Ethical and Religious Dimensions of Autobiography
Tibor Fabiny
THE LION AND THE LAMB
Figuralism and Fulfilment in the Bible, Art and Literature
Max Harris
THEATRE AND INCARNATION
David Jasper (editor)
TRANSLATING RELIGIOUS TEXTS
Translation, Transgression and Interpretation
Ann Loades and Michael McLain (editors)
HERMENEUTICS, THE BffiLE AND LITERARY CRITICISM
LindaMunk
THE TRIVIAL SUBLIME
George Pattison
KIERKEGAARD: THE AESTHETIC AND THE RELIGIOUS
Postm.odernism.,
Literature and the
Future of Theology
Edited by
David Jasper
Director
Centre for the Study of Literature and Theology
University of Glasguw
© The Macmillan Press Ltd 1993
Editorial matter and selection© David Jasper 1993
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1993 978-0-333-57062-3
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court
Road, London W1P 9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
First published in Great Britain 1993 by
1HE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
This book is published in Macmillan's Studies in Literature and Religion series
General Editor: David Jasper
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-22689-4 ISBN 978-1-349-22687-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-22687-0
Ipswich Book Co Ltd, Ipswich, Suffolk
First published in the United States of America 1993 by
Scholarly and Reference Division,
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
175 Fifth Avenue,
NewYork,N.Y.10010
ISBN 978-0-312-08669-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Postmodernism, literature and the future of theology I [edited by
David Jasper].
P· em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-08669-5
1. Postmodernism (Literature) 2. Christianity and literature.
3. Christianity in literature. 4. Theology-20th century.
I. Jasper, David.
PN98.P67P693 1993
261.5'8--dc20 92-24843
CIP
Contents
Preface vii
Notes on the Contributors ix
1 Introduction: Religious Thought and
Contemporary Critical Theory 1
David Jasper
2 Two Ways to Avoid Tragedy 7
David E. Klemm
3 Tragedy is - Scription Contra-diction 21
Brayton Polka
4 Torn by Desire: Sparagmos in Greek Tragedy and
Recent Fiction 60
Robert Detweiler
5 An Apocalypse of Race and Gender: Body
Violence and Forming Identity in Toni Morrison's
Beloved 78
T. Mark Ledbetter
6 The Postmodernity of Judas: Religious Narrative
and the Deconstruction of lime 91
Stephen Happel
7 Nietzsche's Theology of History and the
Redemption of Postmodernism 120
Bernard Zelechow
8 Theology in the Context of Pluralism and
Postmodernity: David Tracy's Theological Method 143
Werner G. Jeanrond
9 The End of the Story? 164
Dag T. Andersson
vi Contents
10 Back to Literature-and Theology? 180
David E. Klemm
Index 191
Preface
This collection of essays originated in a two-day consultation which
took place at the University of Durham in the autumn of 1990. We
were a small but disparate group - of theologians, literary critics,
philosophers and historians. The task which we set ourselves was
to consider the possible future of theological reflection in the light
of the so-called postmodern condition. We decided that we would
take as our starting point the twelve lectures of Jiirgen Habermas
published as The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity (Frankfurt,
1985), which is a study of contemporary thought in the wake of
the exhaustion of the European Enlightenment. Habermas was
simply a pre-text, and our discussions ranged widely and often
heatedly.
As the essays have emerged it will quickly be evident that,
despite their common interest and themes, approaches to the ques
tions of postmodernity are widely divergent. Some of these essays
are deeply philosophical and make great demands on the reader.
Others are firmly within the field of theological study and reflec
tion. Yet others are literary and deal with specific texts in great
detail. Often the links between them are implicit rather than
explicit. But the great themes of tragedy, apocalypse, history, vio
lence, recur in different ways and within different arguments
throughout the book.
Theology, as David Tracy perceives, only has a future inasmuch
as it recognises the pluralistic context of thought and reflection.
The diversity of these papers does not deny their common purpose
and anxiety. By no means are all their authors in agreement. To
take postmodernism seriously does not require one to be in accord
with thinkers like Jacques Derrida or Paul de Man. An underlying
theme is the political dimension of our situation - an element
clearly identified by David Klemm in the final chapter. The
recognition of this adds a further note of nervousness to the
discussion.
Our concern, therefore, is not with a so-called 'postmodern theol
ogy'. Rather, we set out to examine the conditions for theological
activity within our present literary and cultural situation, offering
one or two substantial pointers for those concerned for its future.
viii Preface
The discussion still has far to go, but at least, we hope, a start has
been made.
DAVID }ASPER
University of Glasgow
Notes on the Contributors
Dag T. Andersson teaches in the Department of Philosophy of the
University of Tromse, Norway.
Robert Detweiler teaches in the Graduate Institute of the Liberal
Arts of Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Stephen Happel teaches in the School of Religious Studies of the
Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
David Jasper teaches in the Departments of English and of Divinity
in the University of Glasgow.
Werner G. Jeanrond teaches in the School of Hebrew, Biblical and
Theological Studies of Trinity College, Dublin.
David E. Klemm teaches in the Department of Religion of the
University of Iowa, Iowa City.
T. Mark Ledbetter teaches at Huntington College, Montgomery,
Alabama.
Brayton Polka teaches in the Division of Humanities and the
Department of History, York University, Toronto.
Bernard Zelechow teaches in the Division of Humanities and the
Department of History, York University, Toronto.
