God and the creative imagination : metaphor, symbol, and myth in religion and theology / Paul Avis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Avis, Paul, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Imagination--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Imagination.

Metaphor--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Metaphor.

Christian art and symbolism.

Myth.

Apologetics.

Physical Description:

ix, 197 pages.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 1999.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

'A mere metaphor', 'only symbolic', 'just a myth' - these tell tale phrases reveal how figurative language has been cheapened and devalued in our modern and postmodern culture. In God and the Creative Imagination, Paul Avis argues the contrary: we see that actually, metaphor, symbol and myth, are the key to a real knowledge of God and the sacred. Avis examines what he calls an alternative tradition, stemming from the Romantic poets Blake, Wordsworth and Keats and drawing on the thought of Cleridge and Newman, and experience in both modern philosophy and science. God and the Creative Imagination intriguingly draws on a number of non-theological disciplines, from literature to philosophy of science, to show us that God is appropriately likened to an artist or poet and that the greatest truths are expressed in an imaginative form. Anyone wishing to further their understanding of God, belief and the imagination will find this an inspiring work.

Contents:

1. Speaking of God in the language of the imagination

2. The fate of the imagination in modernity

3. The fate of the imagination in postmodernity

4. Affirming the truth of imagination : the alternative tradition

5. The world of biblical imagination

6. Creative theology and the making of doctrine

7. Imagination and the adventure of faith

8. Liturgy as literature

9. Metaphor

10. Symbol

11. Myth

12. Critical realism

13. Symbolic realism

14. Mythic realism.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [175]-185) and indexes.

ISBN:

9780203165034

9780203279373

9780415215039

9780415215022

OCLC:

52809663