Mother Tongue Theologies: Poets, Novelists, Non-Western ChristianityDarren J. N. Middleton Recognizing that one-third of the world's Christians practice their faith outside Europe and North America, the fourteen essays in Mother Tongue Theologies explore how international fiction depicts Christianity's dramatic movement South and East of Jerusalem as well as North and West. Structured by geographical region, this collection captures the many ways in which people around the globe receive Christianity. It also celebrates postcolonial literature's diversity. And it highlights non-Western authors' biblical literacy, addressing how and why locally rooted Christians invoke Scripture in their pursuit of personal as well as social transformation. Featured authors include Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constantine Cavafy, Scott Cairns, Chinua Achebe, Madam Afua Kuma, Earl Lovelace, V. S. Reid, Ernesto Cardenal, Helena Parente Cunha, Arundhati Roy, Mary Martha Sherwood, Marguerite Butler, R. M. Ballantyne, Rudyard Kipling, Nora Okja Keller, Amy Tan, Albert Wendt, and Louise Erdrich. Individual essayists rightly come to different conclusions about Christianity's global character. Some connect missionary work with colonialism as well as cultural imperialism, for example, and yet others accentuate how indigenous cultures amalgamate with Christianity's foreignness to produce mesmerizing, multiple identities. Differences notwithstanding, Mother Tongue Theologies delves into the moral and spiritual issues that arise out of the cut and thrust of native responses to Western Christian presence and pressure. Ultimately, this anthology suggests the reward of listening for and to such responses, particularly in literary art, will be a wider and deeper discernment of the merits and demerits of post-Western Christianity, especially for Christians living in the so-called post-Christian West. |
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Mother Tongue Theologies: Poets, Novelists, Non-Western Christianity Darren J. N. Middleton No preview available - 2010 |
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Achebe Achebe’s African Afro-Brazilian Afua Kuma American Ammu Amy Tan Ayemenem House become beliefs body British Cairns Cairns’s Candomblé Catholic Catholicism Cavafy Cavafy’s century Chinese Christianity’s church colonial context convert cross-cultural translation death Deep Forest deities divine Dostoevsky editors Empire English Ephrem the Syrian Erdrich Ernesto Cardenal evangelical experience faith Faleasa Father Damien female fiction gender Global God’s gods human Hundred Secret Senses Hyo’s Ibid Igbo imperial incarnation India indigenous Island Jesus’s Joy Luck Club Kerala Korean Kuma’s Laaumatua language Last Report literature Louise Erdrich main character Mbiti mission missionaries Moo/Kwan moral mother native Nicaragua Nicaraguan Nigerian novel Ojibway Okonkwo one’s Orisa orixás Orthodox poem poetry political Pouliuli prayer religion religious resurrection Rick Rick’s role Russian Samoan Sandino Sanneh social society Soon Hyo Spiritual Baptist suffering symbols syncretism Syrian Christians Tan’s theology tradition Trinidad and Tobago University Press Velutha village Wendt women York