Tradition and Imagination: Revelation and Change

Tradition and revelation are often seen as opposites: tradition is viewed as secondary and reactionary in relation 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.

Table of Contents:
One: Tradition as Revelation 1: Narrative and Enlightenment: The Challenge of Postmodernism 2: The Hermeneutics of Pentecost and Crib 3: Continuing Revelation: Learning from Judaism and Islam Two: The Moving Text 4: Heroic Transformations in the Classical World 5: Victim into Saint: Patriarchal Retellings Three: Christ: Change and Imagination 6: Divine Accommodation 7: Art as Revelation Conclusion: Post/modernism and Engagement

About the Author :
David Brown is Van Mildert Professor of Divinity in the University of Durham.

Review :
`Review from previous edition one of the most exciting books that I have read recently ... Again and again a sentence or a paragraph opens up new vistas and invites the reader to view the Christian faith in fresh perspective, while the working out of the overarching scheme is most impressive.' The Expository Times `we can be sure that this book and its sequel will play a hugely significant role in the debates of the decades ahead.' Theology `This is a major achievement, the fruit of long and extraordinarily varied study, written with Brown's characteristic clarity, opening doors into all sorts of fresh insights.' Theology `Brown is excellent on how and why we need the different stresses of the different Gospels, and resists the temptation to give the moral high ground to one perspective only.' Theology `David Brown has not only brought Anglican theology to a whole new level of achievement but also proposed a new role for imagination in a way that will mark a turning point in Christian esthetics.' Theological Studies `This is the most impressive theological book I have read in quite a long time. It is packed with erudition along with careful thinking ... Professor Brown has given us a first-class book that is both illuminating in itself and that challenges the reader to think further on matters that are central to Christian faith.' John Macquarrie, Journal of Theological Studies `Brown's scholarship is massive without ever becoming tedious, and the range of subjects covered - art, philosophy, literature, and the history and writings of three major world religions - is awesome.' Anthony Freeman, THES `No one could read these two books [Tradition and Imagination and Discipleship and Imagination] without being grateful to Brown for his many rich insights and the challenge laid down by his refusal to embrace exclusively any one approach.' Anthony Freeman, THES `This is a very significant book ... and it offers a creative and liberating approach to revelation which could help in the resolution of many of the doctrinal and ethical problems which divide Christians now.' Mervyn Willshaw, Methodist Recorder `We can be sure that this book and its sequel will play a hugely significant role in the debates of the decades ahead.' Theology `This is a major achievement, the fruit of long and extraordinarily varied study, written with Brown's characteristic clarity, opening doors into all sorts of fresh insights.' Theology `Quite magnificent.' James Barr, previously Professor of Hebrew, Oxford University, now Professor of the Hebrew Bible, Vanderbilt University `Together they [the two volumes - of which this is the first] constitute an achievement unmatched by any British theologian for a long time. The range of erudition (biblical, historical, philosophical; in art, poetry and fiction) is remarkable ... it is likely to make a considerable impact in changing for the better the way in which the nature of doctrinal theology is conceived.' Maurice Wiles, Emeritus Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford