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List of contents
Introduction. What Kind of Dialogue?
Chapter 1
Iris Murdoch and Love of the Truth
Chapter 2
On ‘God’ and ‘Good’: Murdoch’s Dialogue with Modern Theologians
Chapter 3
The Sublime and the Beautiful: Bringing Murdoch into conversation with Gerard Manley Hopkins
Chapter 4
The Sublime, The Conflicted Self, and Attention to the Other: Bringing Murdoch into Conversation with Julia Kristeva
Chapter 5
Language and Writing: Murdoch in Dialogue with Jacques Derrida
Chapter 6
The Void and the Passion: Murdoch in Dialogue with Simon Weil
Coda. With and Beyond Simone Weil: the Dialogue between Murdoch and Theology
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Paul S. Fiddes is Professor of Systematic Theology in the University of Oxford, and is Director of Research at Regent's Park College, Oxford, UK.
Summary
The 'others' examined by Fiddes are mainly those with whom Murdoch entered into explicit dialogue in her novels and philosophical writing - including Immanuel Kant, Simone Weil, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Rudolph Bultmann, Paul Tillich, Don Cupitt, Donald Mackinnon and Jacques Derrida. This 'historic' dialogue is, however, placed within a wider dialogue between literature and theology being conducted by the author, and 'others' are brought into relation with Murdoch in order to illuminate this more extensive conversation - notably the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins and the feminist philosopher Julia Kristeva.
The book demonstrates that characteristic themes in Murdoch’s novels and philosophy - the love of the Good, the death of the ego, illusory consolations, the death of God, the modifying of the will by 'waiting', the sublime and the beautiful, and attention to other things and persons - all take on a greater meaning when placed in the context of her life-long conversation with theology. The exploration of this context is deepened in this volume by reference to annotations and notes that Murdoch made in a number of theological books in her personal library.
Foreword
An extensive and expert exploration of the theological dimension of Iris Murdoch’s novels and philosophical writings written in engaging dialogue with a range of contemporary theologians and theorists
Additional text
Fiddles reminds that theological literature can take many forms... It reminds us that literature can also be a way into a deeper relationship with God and to greater insight into ourselves and the human condition.
