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"The Vietnam War and Theologies of Memory" develops a theological analysis of the American war in Vietnam and constructs a Christian account of memory in relation to this tragic conflict.
An elegantly written reflection of memory and forgiveness, this unique work explores the ecclesial practice of memory in relation to the American war in VietnamQuestions how and why we choose to remember atrocity, and asks whether it is ever ethical to simply forgetExplores the theological categories of time and eternity, and the ideas of thinkers including Aquinas, Augustine, and BarthReveals broader insights about history, memory, and redemptionResonates beyond the field of theological inquiry by offering a broader analysis of war entirely relevant to our time
List of contents
Preface. Acknowledgments. Introduction. Part I Time and Its Discontents. 1 Our Time in Vietnam. The Divine Kenosis and Being-Toward-Death. "Our Time" in Vietnam. "When Time Is Nothing but Speed". 2 Killing Time. Boredom and Atrocity. God and the Ordinary. Part II Created Time. 3 Christological Time. "The Detemporalization of Time". Being and Time. The Goodness of Death. The Spiritual Life of the Age. A Time of Idols. The Fragility of Time. 4 The Sorrow of the Exile: Trinity, Memory, and Return. Trinity and Mind. Trinity and Forgetting. Forgetting God. Desire and Return. The Witness of the Martyrs. Authentic Temporality. Part III Memory and the Americans in Vietnam. 5 Saving Our Lives with a Story: Memory and Narrative. The Case for Forgetting. Realism and Narrative. From Paradox to Mimesis. From Mimesis to Forgiveness. Trinity, Forgiveness, and Gift. Forgiveness as Gift Exchange. The Gift of New Stories. 6 Re-performing the Dark Night of the Soul: Memory and Liturgy. Two Views of Liturgical Memory. Liturgies of War. Incomplete Killers. Rival Liturgies. God's Acting on Time. "Out of the Night". 7 Eucharistic Re-membering: Memory and Politics. National Memory. Suspending Time. Walling Memory. Resurrection as National Mythos. Depoliticizing Memory. Superpower Biopolitics and the Possibility of Fugitive Bodies. Spectral Others in Beloved. Ghosts and the Moreness of Time: Lillian Smith's Killers of the Dream. Tending Memory: Listening, Traveling, and Tabling. Eucharistic Memory. Eucharist as Traveling Table. The Politics of Re-membering. Soundings. Index.
About the author
Jonathan Tran is Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics in the Department of Religion, Baylor University. He has published widely in academic journals and is the author of Theology and Foucault (forthcoming).
Summary
This unique work develops a theological analysis of the American war in Vietnam, constructing a Christian account of memory in relation to the events that unfolded during the course of this long and tragic conflict. In doing so, it reveals broader insights about history, memory, and redemption.
