Tradition and Imagination - Revelation and Change

Zusatztext Brown's hard critical eye forces us all to reconsider how firm the basis of our position really is, but the deftness with which he moves his argument and the breadth of his erudition are hugely fruitful for our understanding of the biblical witness, the continuing self-revelation of God, the tradition, the imagination, the arts and truth. Zusammenfassung Tradition and revelation are often seen as opposites: tradition is viewed as being secondary and reactionary to revelation which is a one-off gift from God. Drawing on examples from Christian history, Judaism, Islam, and the classical world, this book challenges these definitions and presents a controversial examination of the effect history and cultural development has on religious belief: its narratives and art. David Brown pays close attention to the nature of the relationship between historical and imaginative truth, and focuses on the way stories from the Bible have not stood still but are subject to imaginative 'rewriting'. This rewriting is explained as a natural consequence of the interaction between religion and history: God speaks to humanity through the imagination, and human imagination is influenced by historical context. It is the imagination that ensures that religion continues to develop in new and challenging ways.

Product details

• Authors: David Brown, Brown David
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.09.1999
• EAN: 9780198269915
• ISBN: 978-0-19-826991-5
• No. of pages: 410
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > General, dictionaries; RELIGION / Spirituality, PHILOSOPHY / Religious, RELIGION / Christian Theology / General, RELIGION / Philosophy, RELIGION / Christianity / General, Theology, Christianity, Christian theology, Spirituality & religious experience, Philosophy of religion, Christian spirituality & religious experience, Spirituality and religious experience