ABSTRACT

If the whole of the Christian life is to be governed by the "law of love"—the twofold love of God and one's neighbor—what might it mean to read lovingly? That is the question that drives this unique book. Through theological reflection interspersed with readings of literary texts (Shakespeare and Cervantes, Nabokov and Nicholson Baker, George Eliot and W. H. Auden and Dickens), Jacobs pursues an elusive quarry: the charitable reader.

chapter |8 pages

Prelude

chapter 1|27 pages

Contexts and Obstacles

part A|5 pages

The Illuminati

chapter 2|25 pages

Love and Knowledge

part B|7 pages

Transfer of Charisma

chapter 3|14 pages

Love and the Suspicious Spirit

part C|10 pages

Quixotic Reading

chapter 4|12 pages

Kenosis

part D|12 pages

Two Charitable Readers

chapter 5|20 pages

Justice

chapter |7 pages

Postlude