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The Promised End: Eschatology in Theology and Literature
This book brings Christian theology, creative literature, and literary critical theory into dialogue on the theme of 'the end'.
- GenresTheology
318 pages, Paperback
First published October 10, 2000
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About the author
Paul S. Fiddes
35 books9 followersPaul S. Fiddes is an English Baptist theologian and novelist. Fiddes is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology in the University of Oxford, Principal Emeritus and Senior Research Fellow of Regent's Park College, Oxford and a former Chairman of the Oxford Faculty of Theology. He holds a DPhil in Theology from Oxford (1975) and was awarded a DD from Oxford (2004). He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Bucharest, and a Fellow of the British Academy (2020).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 18, 2015
Fiddes reflects on themes and problems in the doctrines of eschatology using literature and literary theory. This goes beyond merely citing interesting illustrations of a certain doctrine in literature. And, thankfully, he does not discuss the Left Behind books!
The opening chapters he engages the literary theories of Kermode, Frye, Ricoeur, and Derrida to discuss how eschatology and apocalyptic literature organize and shape the language of faith. He states four things: (1) the end organizes and unifies the whole (Kermode); (2) the end expresses human desire (Frye); (3) the end defers meaning (Derrida); (4) and the end opens up future possibilities (Ricoeur).
Next he goes on to discuss important themes and problems. He uses King Lear to discuss mortality and the nature of life after death. We know that a kind of spiritual substance like the platonic soul does not appear in Christian theology or neuroscience, so Fiddes posits the idea of absolute death, complete cessation of existence as the precondition for the biblical notion of resurrection. God, God and nothing else, is the reason for hope after death, not something intrinsic to the person.
He goes on to talk about other issues. (1) the nature of resurrection using examples of replication in science fiction: is the resurrection mere replication of our bodies at death? What constitutes our identity if we are different? (2) The nature of eternality using T.S. Eliot's Ash Wednesday: Is the eternal merely timelessness or the simeuatanous whole of time or the healing of duration in time? (3) The unexpected time of the parousia (using Beckett's End Game and Waiting for Godot): HOw do we solve the problem of the delay of the parousia originally introduced by Schweitzer? How does freedom create open futures where God nevertheless will bring his purposes to conclusion? (4) The nature of the restoration of reality using the Time's Arrow: What will it look like to have all things restored? Will it be an undoing of the past, a rewind, or something different? ) (5) The millennium/utopian hope using dis-utopian literature like the work of Aldous Huxley: How has millennial thinking and utopian thinking caused violent politics and how can we hold to the hope of a millennial kingdom without such politics? Each one of these chapters he offers pointed insights into each problem.
If one looks over the work Fiddes has done, one will very quickly get the impression that he is true theologian of the highest caliber. He engages topics in literature and arts, specific doctrines (atonement, trinity, divine suffering), baptist history and ecclesiology, Judaism and Christianity, etc. Everything I read by him I am astounded at his ability to penetrate deeper into a topic and refuse simple regurgitation of past answers or merely siding with past personalities.
I read this book of Fiddes because of my work in narrative theology. This book is an underrated treasure. Narrative theology insisted that when we understand the nature of a theological statement, embedded in literary discourse, we can better apply its meaning. This makes dialogue with literary theory and, to a lesser extent, literature, to be a highly productive exercise, which Fiddes demonstrates.
As always, his work is very technical, quoting everything from poetry to process philosophy, but it is worth it.
The opening chapters he engages the literary theories of Kermode, Frye, Ricoeur, and Derrida to discuss how eschatology and apocalyptic literature organize and shape the language of faith. He states four things: (1) the end organizes and unifies the whole (Kermode); (2) the end expresses human desire (Frye); (3) the end defers meaning (Derrida); (4) and the end opens up future possibilities (Ricoeur).
Next he goes on to discuss important themes and problems. He uses King Lear to discuss mortality and the nature of life after death. We know that a kind of spiritual substance like the platonic soul does not appear in Christian theology or neuroscience, so Fiddes posits the idea of absolute death, complete cessation of existence as the precondition for the biblical notion of resurrection. God, God and nothing else, is the reason for hope after death, not something intrinsic to the person.
He goes on to talk about other issues. (1) the nature of resurrection using examples of replication in science fiction: is the resurrection mere replication of our bodies at death? What constitutes our identity if we are different? (2) The nature of eternality using T.S. Eliot's Ash Wednesday: Is the eternal merely timelessness or the simeuatanous whole of time or the healing of duration in time? (3) The unexpected time of the parousia (using Beckett's End Game and Waiting for Godot): HOw do we solve the problem of the delay of the parousia originally introduced by Schweitzer? How does freedom create open futures where God nevertheless will bring his purposes to conclusion? (4) The nature of the restoration of reality using the Time's Arrow: What will it look like to have all things restored? Will it be an undoing of the past, a rewind, or something different? ) (5) The millennium/utopian hope using dis-utopian literature like the work of Aldous Huxley: How has millennial thinking and utopian thinking caused violent politics and how can we hold to the hope of a millennial kingdom without such politics? Each one of these chapters he offers pointed insights into each problem.
If one looks over the work Fiddes has done, one will very quickly get the impression that he is true theologian of the highest caliber. He engages topics in literature and arts, specific doctrines (atonement, trinity, divine suffering), baptist history and ecclesiology, Judaism and Christianity, etc. Everything I read by him I am astounded at his ability to penetrate deeper into a topic and refuse simple regurgitation of past answers or merely siding with past personalities.
I read this book of Fiddes because of my work in narrative theology. This book is an underrated treasure. Narrative theology insisted that when we understand the nature of a theological statement, embedded in literary discourse, we can better apply its meaning. This makes dialogue with literary theory and, to a lesser extent, literature, to be a highly productive exercise, which Fiddes demonstrates.
As always, his work is very technical, quoting everything from poetry to process philosophy, but it is worth it.
February 24, 2012
Shakespeare and Pinter in the first chapter.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews