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In the face of religious and cultural diversity, some doubt whether Christian faith remains possible today. Critics claim that religion is irrational and violent, and the loudest defenders of Christianity are equally strident. In response, Desire, Faith, and the Darkness of God: Essays in Honor of Denys Turner explores the uncertainty essential to Christian commitment; it suggests that faith is moved by a desire for that which cannot be known.
This approach is inspired by the tradition of Christian apophatic theology, which argues that language cannot capture divine transcendence. From this perspective, contemporary debates over God’s existence represent a dead end: if God is not simply another object in the world, then faith begins not in abstract certainty but in a love that exceeds the limits of knowledge.
The essays engage classic Christian thought alongside literary and philosophical sources ranging from Pseudo-Dionysius and Dante to Karl Marx and Jacques Derrida. Building on the work of Denys Turner, they indicate that the boundary between atheism and Christian thought is productively blurry. Instead of settling the stale dispute over whether religion is rationally justified, their work suggests instead that Christian life is an ethical and political practice impassioned by a God who transcends understanding.
”Turner ends the volume with one of the most inspired essays one will ever come across: “How to Fail, or ‘The fine delight that fathers thought’.” Characteristically eloquent of speech and elegant of mind, this remarkable little essay begins by ruminating on the travails, often self-imposed, of the academy and then shows how the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins shows both the cost of those travails and the possibilities that always remain insofar as the desire for more goes on.” —The Anglican Theological Review
“Instead of settling the stale dispute over whether religion is rationally justified, their work suggests instead that Christian life is an ethical and political practice impassioned by a God who transcends understanding.” —Studies in Spirituality
“This is the most distinguished collection of essays in honour of Denys Turner. . . [A] detailed and concentrated reading of the essays in this splendid collection should provide refreshment for considerable time to come.” —Theology
"A darkly sparkling set of essays, diverse in discipline and in desire, each affirming some intense potentia of negative theology for contemporary conversation. That its stimulation of new exchanges between theism and atheism, cosmology and history, mysticism and Marxism, language and silence, will succeed seems assured by Turner’s concluding performance of an apophatic art of failure." —Catherine Keller, The Theological School, Drew University
"Denys Turner is a rare intellectual witness to philosophies of love and justice from mysticism to marxism and beyond. This rich and engaging volume is fitting testament to his extraordinary influence on new generations of thinkers and scholars. Tackling such crucial questions as theodicy, divine eros, and the perennial struggle between faith and reason, philosophy and theology, the contributors shed new light on ancient problems. The exchange between Turner and Eagleton is a very special gem to be treasured." —Richard Kearney, The Charles Seelig Professor in Philosophy, Boston College
"No scholar could wish for a finer tribute to his success as a teacher as this book provides. Students of Denys Turner, and experts in his field, come together in this volume to provide fascinating contributions to the theological and philosophical topics that have engaged him throughout his academic life. And, like Turner, they all show how thoughtfulness and argument can trump rhetoric." —Brian Davies, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University
"Desire, Faith, and the Darkness of God: Essays in Honor of Denys Turner is a testament to the range of Denys Turner's influence and the varieties of modes of argumentation with which his work is conversant. The volume will be read with pleasure by scholars in the history of Christianity, particularly of Christian mysticism, Christian theologians, and philosophers of religion, as well as scholars across a range of subdisciplines." —Amy Hollywood, Elizabeth H. Monrad Professor of Christian Studies, Harvard Divinity School
David Newheiser is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Australian Catholic University.
Eric Bugyis is lecturer in religious studies at the University of Washington at Tacoma.
Acknowledgments
Preface by Eric Bugyis
Introduction: The Trials of Desire by David Newheiser
IMMANENCE AND TRANSCENDENCE
1. End without End: Cosmology and Infinity in Nicholas of Cusa by Mary-Jane Rubenstein
2. The Darkness of God and the Light of Life: Augustine, Pseudo-Denys, and Eckhart by Karl Hefty
3.. Mysterious Reasons: The Rationality and Ineffability of Divine Beauty by A. N. Williams
4.. Using Reason to Derive Mutual Illumination from Diverse Traditions by David Burrell, C.S.C.
DISCOURSE AND AUTHORITY
5. Assent to Thinking by Karmen MacKendrick
6. Apian Transformations and the Paradoxes of Women’s Authorial Personae in Late Medieval England by Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis
7.. Academics and Mystics: The Case of Jean Gerson by Bernard McGinn
8.. How Wrong Could Dante Be? Authority and Error in Paradiso Cantos 26 to 29 by Robin Kirkpatrick
MARXISM AND NEGATIVE THEOLOGY
9. The Turning of Discourse: Generous Grammar or Analogy in Ecstasy by Cyril O’Regan
10. “Love was his meaning”: On Learning from Medieval Texts by Oliver Davies
11. Ideology and Religion, Yet Again by Ludger Viefhues-Bailey
12. Is Marxism a Theodicy? by Terry Eagleton
13. “If you do love, you’ll certainly be killed”: A Conversation by Denys Turner and Terry Eagleton
14. As We Were Saying: Marxism and Christianity Revisited by Eric Bugyis
REVELATIONS OF LOVE
15. How to Say “Thank You”: Reflecting on the Work of Primo Levi by Vittorio Montemaggi
16. Sitit Sitiri: Apophatic Christologics of Desire by Philip McCosker
17. Our Love and Our Knowledge of God by John Hare
18. Eckhart, Derrida, and the Gift of Love by David Newheiser
Afterword: How to Fail, or “The fine delight that fathers thought” by Denys Turner
List of Contributors
Index