Religion and Literature

Religious experience and reflection have always engendered poetry and literature, prompting the imagination and moving beyond speculative thought. In this anthology, the editors address the common origins and various stages in the development of religious expression and literature, as well as the various interpretive methods that have been used to explain these literary texts.

Preface

ix

Introduction

xi

Further Reading

xv

History of the Field and Theoretical Issues

1

(16)

The Lyrical Ballads

3

(2)

William Wordsworth

The Life of Jesus Critically Examined

5

(1)

David Friedrich Strauss

``The Study of Poetry''

6

(2)

Matthew Arnold

The Point of View for My Work as an Author

8

(2)

Soren Kierkegaard

``Religion and Literature''

10

(2)

T. S. Eliot

Theology of Culture

12

(1)

Paul Tillich

The Wild Prayer of Longing

13

(1)

Nathan A. Scott, Jr.

The Great Code: The Bible and Literature

14

(3)

Northrop Frye

Further Reading

16

(1)

The Exploration of Origins

17

(22)

The Book of Genesis

19

(4)

The Gospel of John

23

(1)

Popol Vuh

24

(2)

``The Woman Who Fell from the Sky''

26

(2)

Metamorphoses

28

(4)

Ovid

Extracts from Adam's Diary

32

(2)

Mark Twain

``Ode''

34

(1)

Joseph Addison

``The Man Who Died''

34

(2)

D. H. Lawrence

The Presence of the Word

36

(3)

Walter Ong

Further Reading

38

(1)

The Interpretive Tradition of Literature and Religion

39

(21)

Psalm 130, Ezekiel 3, Revelation 10

41

(3)

Augustine of Hippo, The City of God

44

(1)

Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias

45

(3)

Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle

48

(2)

Table Talk

50

(2)

Martin Luther

Fear and Trembling

52

(1)

Soren Kierkegaard

The Gift of Death

53

(2)

Jacques Derrida

``Jachid and Jechidah''

55

(2)

Isaac Bashevis Singer

``The Bible and the Imagination''

57

(3)

Paul Ricoeur

Further Reading

58

(2)

The Language and Literature of Worship

60

(21)

Matthew 26:17-29; Luke 22:7-23

62

(1)

The Bacchae of Euripides: A Communion Rite

63

(3)

Wole Soyinka

Jewish and Christian Prayers

66

(3)

Prasna Upanishad

69

(1)

Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love

70

(2)

The Seven Storey Mountain

72

(2)

Thomas Merton

``Batter my heart, three-personed God''

74

(1)

John Donne

``Love''

75

(1)

George Herbert

Moby Dick: Or the Whale

76

(2)

Herman Melville

A Month of Sundays

78

(3)

John Updike

Further Reading

80

(1)

The Literary Structures of Religious Text Genres

81

(25)

The Book of Job

83

(1)

J. B.

84

(2)

Archibald MacLeish

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners

86

(3)

John Bunyan

The Book of Ezekiel

89

(1)

``And did those feet in ancient time''

90

(1)

William Blake

Riders in the Chariot

91

(2)

Patrick White

Susanna/The Book of Daniel

93

(3)

All's Well That Ends Well

96

(1)

William Shakespeare

The Parable of Simeon and Bar Kappara

97

(1)

The Trial

98

(2)

Franz Kafka

The Gospel of Mark

100

(1)

``The Gospel According to Mark''

100

(3)

Jorge Luis Borges

``The `Sacred' Text and the Community''

103

(3)

Paul Ricoeur

Further Reading

105

(1)

Religious Dimensions of Literary Text Genres

106

(21)

Intimations of Christianity among the Ancient Greeks

109

(2)

Simone Weil

Paradise Lost

111

(1)

John Milton

Faust

112

(3)

J. W. von Goethe

``The Garden of Love''

115

(1)

William Blake

Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

116

(2)

``Lady Lazarus''

118

(2)

Sylvia Plath

``Title divine---is mine!''

120

(1)

Emily Dickinson

``The Second Coming''

121

(1)

William Butler Yeats

Under the Volcano

122

(2)

Malcolm Lowry

``Liquid Paper,'' ``M3''

124

(3)

Peter Meinke

Further Reading

126

(1)

The Great Themes of Literature and Religion

127

(28)

Death

Metamorphoses

130

(2)

Ovid

``Because I could not stop for Death''

132

(1)

Emily Dickinson

Murder in the Cathedral

133

(3)

T. S. Eliot

Conversion and Ecstasy

The Acts of the Apostles

136

(1)

Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

137

(2)

Go Tell It on the Mountain

139

(2)

James Baldwin

Love and Evil

``Adam's Curse''

141

(1)

William Butler Yeats

Paradise Lost

142

(2)

John Milton

Night

144

(1)

Elie Wiesel

Visions of the End

The Book of Daniel

145

(3)

The Atrocity Exhibition

148

(2)

J. G. Ballard

``Kubla Khan''

150

(2)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Wise Blood

152

(3)

Flannery O'Connor

Further Reading

154

(1)

Interactions: New Challenges to and from Other Fields

155

(19)

Socio-Politics of the Body, Race, Sexually, and Age

The Wild Girl

157

(1)

Michele Roberts

Beloved

158

(1)

Toni Morrison

``Sister Outsider''

159

(1)

Audre Lorde

Life after God

160

(2)

Douglas Coupland

Science

``All at One Point''

162

(2)

Italo Calvino

``The Land of Heart's Desire''

164

(1)

Tamiki Hara

Nots

165

(2)

Mark C. Taylor

Intermediality

``Overpopulation and Art''

167

(2)

John Cage

The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion

169

(2)

Leo Steinberg

Postmodern Fiction and Literature

Malone Dies

171

(1)

Samuel Beckett

The Book of Margins

171

(3)

Edmond Jabes

Further Reading

172

(2)

Postscript: From Modernism to Postmodernism

174

(5)

Study Questions

179

(5)

Acknowledgments

184

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Religion and Literature

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials