Theological and Philosophical Explorations of the Call of Literature

Regular price €192.20
Quantity:
In stock with our UK publisher. 14-28 days
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days
14 days return policy Shipping & Delivery
Category=DSB
Category=QDTN
Category=QRAB
Category=QRM
Category=QRVG
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Gerard Manley Hopkins
hermeneutics theory
interdisciplinary theology literature research
Literary greats
literary vocation studies
Philosophy
Poetry
Prophetic call
prophetic literature analysis
Religious belief
Religious imagination
religious poetics
sacred scripture interpretation
Scripture
spiritual aesthetics
William Blake

Product details

  • ISBN 9781032387161
  • Weight: 690g
  • Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
  • Publication Date: 23 May 2025
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Hardback
Secure checkout Fast Shipping Easy returns
This book explores the ‘call’ of literature, for both writers and their audiences, and reflects on how literary works have informed and drawn from – and continue to inform and draw from – theology, philosophy and sacred scripture. Key questions addressed include the following: How do creative writers and critics conceive this call? What does it mean to speak of a ‘vocation’ to write and what have theologians and philosophers got to say on the matter? Is the spirit of literature always or necessarily an ‘angel of light’? Or is the call of literature a siren song? The essays by an international and interdisciplinary range of contributors discuss the work and testimony of writers from William Blake, Gerard Manley Hopkins and R.S. Thomas to James Joyce, Virginia Woolf and Michel Houellebecq. Also examined are the ideas and influence of figures such as John Henry Newman, who wrote that the importance of literature stems from our very nature and God-given powers as human beings, especially language. This latest volume from The Power of the Word Project will be of interest to scholars from theology, philosophy and literature.

David Lonsdale is a retired senior lecturer at Heythrop College, University of London, and a research associate at Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, Cambridge, UK.

Emilia Di Rocco is a professor of Comparative Literature at Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy.

Brett H. Speakman completed his PhD at the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts at the University of St Andrews, UK. He teaches literature and theology at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, TN, USA.