Theology, Aesthetics, and Culture

Responses to the Work of David Brown

Edited by Robert MacSwain and Taylor Worley

A volume with broad interdisciplinary appeal, drawing on theology, philosophy, literary and cultural studies.
Draws together essays from prominent scholars in these fields, creating the first sustained treatment of David Brown's contribution to the discussion of theology, aesthetics, and culture.
Includes in-depth discussion of popular culture.
Provides a response to the essays from David Brown.

Theology, Aesthetics, and Culture

Responses to the Work of David Brown

Edited by Robert MacSwain and Taylor Worley

Description

David Brown is a widely-respected British theologian who initially made his mark in analytic discussions of Christian doctrine, such as the Trinity. However, with the publication of Tradition and Imagination: Revelation and Change (1999) his career entered a distinctly new phase, focused on theology, imagination, and the arts. Four related volumes followed, dealing with biblical interpretation, Christian discipleship, art and icons, place and space, the body, music, metaphor, drama, liturgy, the sacraments, religious experience, and popular culture. According to Brown, the fundamental thesis underlying all five volumes is that both natural and revealed theology are in crisis, and the only way out is to give proper attention to the cultural embeddedness of both.

Theology, Aesthetics, and Culture is the first attempt to assess the significance of this remarkable series, and its contributors include some of the most prominent philosophers, theologians, historians, biblical scholars, literary scholars, and cultural critics writing today. Aside from its exceptional interdisciplinary range and ecumenical line-up, a distinctive feature is sustained consideration of Brown's analysis of popular culture. Given the stature of the contributors, this volume is not merely of interest as a commentary on Brown's work, but also makes an important original contribution to our understandings of theology, aesthetics, and culture as they relate to the life of the Church, academy, and human society.

Theology, Aesthetics, and Culture

Responses to the Work of David Brown

Edited by Robert MacSwain and Taylor Worley

Introduction: Theology, Aesthetics, and Culture, Robert MacSwain
I: Tradition and Imagination: Revelation and Change
1. Scripture, Tradition, and Revelation: An Appreciative Critique of David Brown, William J. Abraham
2. Revelation, Christ, and Fundamental Theology: David Brown and Karl Rahner in Dialogue, Richard Viladesau
3. The Resurrection of Body: Reimagining Human Personhood in Christian Tradition, Margaret R. Miles
II: Discipleship and Imagination: Christian Tradition and Truth
4. Saints Before and After Death, Richard Bauckham
5. From Ethics to Eschatology: The Continuing Validity of the New Eve for Christian Doctrine and Discipleship, Tina Beattie
6. Revelation Imagined: Fiction, Truth, and Transformation, Douglas Hedley
III: God and Enchantment of Place: Reclaiming Human Experience
7. Enchantment and Transcendence: David Brown on Art and Architecture, Gordon Graham
8. Transcending Place and Time: A Response to David Brown on Enchantment, Epistemology, and Experience, Charles Taliaferro
9. Re-enchanting the World: The Possibility of Materially-Mediated Religious Experience, Mark Wynn
IV: God and Grace of Body: Sacrament in Ordinary
10. I am the Dance : Towards an Earthed Christianity, Kimerer L. LaMothe
11. Openness and Specificity: A Conversation with David Brown on Theology and Classical Music, Jeremy S. Begbie
12. Infinite Hospitality and the Redemption of Kitsch, Gavin Hopps
13. Were We Ever Secular?: Interrogating David Brown on Gospel, Blues, and Pop Music, Judith S. Casselberry
14. What if David Brown Had Owned a Television? Clive Marsh
15. After Ascension: The Body of Christ, Kenosis, and Divine Impassiblity, Graham Ward
V: God and Mystery in Words: Experience Through Metaphor and Drama
16. "A sensibility for the infinite": Metaphor, Symbol, Form, and the Sublime, David Fuller
17. Lectio Divina, Trevor Hart
18. The Density of Divine Address: Liturgy, Drama, and Human Transformation, Ben Quash
19. The Liturgical Body and the Gift of Presence, Ann Loades and Bridget Nichols
Response: Experience, Symbol, and Revelation: Continuing the Conversation, David Brown
Postscript: On Theology's Ekphrastic Mode, Taylor Worley

Theology, Aesthetics, and Culture

Responses to the Work of David Brown

Edited by Robert MacSwain and Taylor Worley

Author Information

Robert MacSwain is Assistant Professor of Theology and Christian Ethics at The School of Theology of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.

Taylor Worley is Associate Dean for Spiritual Life and Assistant Professor of Christian Thought and Tradition at The School of Theology and Missions at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee.

Contributors:

William J. Abraham is Albert Cook Outler Professor of Theology and Wesley Studies and Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.

Richard Bauckham was Professor of New Testament at the University of St Andrews from 1992 to 2007, and Wardlaw Professor from his election to the British Academy in 1998. He is now Professor Emeritus at St Andrews and Senior Scholar at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.

Tina Beattie is Professor of Catholic Studies and Director of the Digby Stuart Research Centre for Catholic Studies at Roehampton University.

Jeremy S. Begbie is Thomas A. Langford Research Professor of Theology at Duke University and founding Director of Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts.

David Brown is Professor of Theology, Aesthetics, and Culture and Wardlaw Professor at the University of St Andrews, where he is also a Professorial Fellow in the Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts.

Judith S. Casselberry is Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at Bowdoin College.

David Fuller is Emeritus Professor of English and former Chair of the Department of English Studies at Durham University.

Gordon Graham is Henry Luce III Professor of Philosophy and the Arts at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he also directs the Center for the Study of Scottish Philosophy.

Trevor Hart is Professor of Divinity at the University of St Andrews and Director of the Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts.

Douglas Hedley is Reader in Hermeneutics and Metaphysics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Clare College.

Gavin Hopps is Lecturer in Literature and Theology in the School of Divinity at the University of St Andrews and Associate Director of the Institute for Imagination, Theology and the Arts.

Kimerer L. LaMothe is a philosopher, dancer, and scholar of religion who taught for six years at Brown and Harvard Universities.

Ann Loades is Professor Emerita of Divinity at Durham University, Honorary Professorial Fellow at St Chad's College, and Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews.

Robert MacSwain is Assistant Professor of Theology and Christian Ethics at The School of Theology of the University of the South.

Clive Marsh is Senior Lecturer and Director of Learning and Teaching at the Institute of Lifelong Learning at the University of Leicester.

Margaret R. Miles is Professor Emerita of Historical Theology at the Graduate Theological Union, where she also served as Dean and Vice-President of Academic Affairs.

Bridget Nichols is the Lay Chaplain to the Bishop of Ely in the Church of England.

Ben Quash is Professor of Christianity and the Arts at King's College London and Director of the Centre for the Arts and Sacred Traditions.

Charles Taliaferro is Professor of Philosophy at St Olaf College.

Richard Viladesau is Professor of Theology at Fordham University and a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York.

Graham Ward is the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford and a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral.

Taylor Worley is Associate Dean for Spiritual Life and Assistant Professor of Christian Thought and Tradition at The School of Theology and Missions at Union University.

Mark Wynn is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion at the University of Exeter.

Theology, Aesthetics, and Culture

Responses to the Work of David Brown

Edited by Robert MacSwain and Taylor Worley

Reviews and Awards

"[David Brown's] series stands as one of the most remarkable achievements of modern theology. Accordingly, Theology, Aesthetics, & Culture: Responses to the Work of David Brown deserves heed as an invaluable companion for anyone tackling Brown's magisterial theological synthesis." --Literature and Theology

"MacSwain and Worley have done a great tribute to Brown s work in their careful organization and editing, and have given a great gift to the rest of us in such a rich and provocative text that introduces and engages with [David Brown s] important work. Students, scholars, pastors, and lay readers interested in exploring the dialogue of theology and culture could hardly do better than to purchase this book." --Anglican Theological Review

"This collection of essays constitutes a rich and vigorous response to the recent work of David Brown, one of the most fruitful and suggestive Anglican theologians at work today...We have much to be grateful for in this rich and provocative assessment of Brown's work--the beginning, one hopes, of a widespread exploration, appropriation, and development of his immense contribution." -Sewanee Theological Review

"To read this book is an education in theology and the arts . We have much to be grateful for in this rich and provocative assessment of Brown's work-the beginning, one hopes, of a widespread exploration, appropriation, and development of his immense contribution." --Sewanee Theological Review

"This symposium reminds us of the many faceted importance of David Brown's work...It should encourage those who do not know it to engage with it, and for those who already do to continue the conversation and take the exploration further." --The International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church

"The volume must be commended for these scholars' genuine engagement with, reflection on, and response to Brown's work... This is an important book; it is relevant not only to exploring and appreciating central ideas in Brown's impressive oeuvre through the appreciative and critical lenses of fellow theologians, but also to the whole development of theology's dialogue with the arts into the future." --Art and Christianity