ABSTRACT
'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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |41 pages
Part I
chapter |9 pages
Speaking of God in the language of the imagination
chapter |8 pages
The fate of the imagination in modernity
chapter |6 pages
3 The fate of the imagination in postmodernity
part |37 pages
Part II
chapter |16 pages
The world of biblical imagination
chapter |9 pages
Creative theology and the making of doctrine
chapter |4 pages
Imagination and the adventure of faith
chapter |6 pages
Liturgy as literature
part |36 pages
Part IV