Ebook228 pages8 hours
Transfiguring Transcendence in Harry Potter, His Dark Materials and Left Behind: Fantasy Rhetorics and Contemporary Visions of Religious Identity
By Mike Gray
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this ebook
Three recent and commercially successful series of novels employ and adapt the resources of popular fantasy fiction to create visions of religious identity: J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' Left Behind series. The act of creating fantasy counter-worlds naturally involves all three stories in the creation of what Mike Gray terms "transfigurations of transcendence": hopeful albeit paradoxical encodings of the ambiguous, non-observable reality whose primary locus in modern society is the societally extra-systemic human individual. Popular fantasy fiction turns out to involve acts of world-creation that are inherently religious and inherently paradoxical.A substantive examination shows that all three are involved in more or less intentional re-narrations of traditional Christian beliefs and narratives. The »atheist« His Dark Materials series does not deny but re-imagines the Christian visions of selfhood; the »traditionalist« Left Behind series does not simply replicate but modifies its own declared values; the apparent secularity of the Harry Potter series is shaped by its creative reception of Christian patterns and narratives. While the stories' visions of selfhood clearly clash, the basic paradoxes involved in their struggle to articulate transcendence expose significant parallels and a productive conversation with the Christian tradition.It is not simply that popular fantasy fiction is theologically relevant – the Christian Heilsgeschichte, too, proves to be highly relevant in popular culture. However, while far from obsolescent, models of religious identity in contemporary society require criticism and creativity – and, as evinced most powerfully in the Harry Potter stories, a flair for constructive engagement with paradox.
Read more from Mike Gray
101 Interesting Facts on Ronnie Biggs and the Great Train Robbery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings101 Interesting Facts on Britain's True Life Crimes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great Train Robbery Quiz Book Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Transfiguring Transcendence in Harry Potter, His Dark Materials and Left Behind
Titles in the series (15)
Dance as Third Space: Interreligious, Intercultural, and Interdisciplinary Debates on Dance and Religion(s) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDance To My Ministry: Exploring Hip-Hop Spirituality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeconversion: Qualitative and Quantitative Results from Cross-Cultural Research in Germany and the United States of America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProtestantism and Protestantization Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCalling Bodies in Lived Spaces: Spatial Explorations on the Concept of Calling in a Public Urban Space Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeaning and Melancholy in the Thought of Emmanuel Levinas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIntercultural Theology: Exploring World Christianity after the Cultural Turn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMore than a Provocation: Sexuality, Media and Theology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaking Sadza With Deaf Zimbabwean Women: A Missiological Reorientation of Practical Theological Method Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReligion and Difference: Contested Contemporary Issues Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSecular and Sacred?: The Scandinavian Case of Religion in Human Rights, Law and Public Space Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRobinson Crusoe tries again: Missiology and European Constructions of "Self" and "Other" in a Global World 1789–2010 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Between: The Holy Beyond Modern Dichotomies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related ebooks
Dance To My Ministry: Exploring Hip-Hop Spirituality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMore than a Provocation: Sexuality, Media and Theology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIntercultural Theology: Exploring World Christianity after the Cultural Turn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdventist Interchurch Relations: A Study in Ecumenics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Christian in Toga: Boethius: Interpreter of Antiquity and Christian Theologian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVying for Truth – Theology and the Natural Sciences: From the 17th Century to the Present Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEarly Stuart Polemical Hermeneutics: Andrew Willet's 1611 Hexapla on Romans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fracture Of An Illusion: Science And The Dissolution Of Religion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeitmotifs in Life Stories: Developments and Stabilities of Religiosity and Narrative Identity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Controversy over the Lord's Supper in Danzig 1561–1567: Presence and Practice – Theology and Confessional Policy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Story of the Soul's Journey in the Nag Hammadi Library: A Study of Authentikos Logos (NHC VI,3) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Irenic Calvinism of Daniel Kalaj (d. 1681): A Study in the History and Theology of the Polish-Lithuanian Reformation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJerome Zanchi (1516–90) and the Analysis of Reformed Scholastic Christology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEdward Schillebeeckx and Hans Frei: A Conversation on Method and Christology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPastoral, Identity, and Memory in the Works of John Banville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorld Peace through Christian-Muslim Understanding: The Genesis and Fruits of the Open Letter "A Common Word Between Us and You" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTheurgy in Late Antiquity: The Invention of a Ritual Tradition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Making Fiction: Frankenstein and the Life of Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeaning and Melancholy in the Thought of Emmanuel Levinas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Heavenly Directory: Trinitarian Piety, Public Worship and a Reassessment of John Owen's Theology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArs et methodus: Philipp Melanchthon's Humanist concept of philosophy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDenying Her Voice: The Figure of Miriam in Ancient Jewish Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMigration and Faith: The Migrations of the Schwenkfelders from Germany to America – Risks and Opportunities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Purity and Sanctuary of the Body in Second Temple Judaism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Religion & Spirituality For You
The Love Dare Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Course In Miracles: (Original Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gospel of Mary Magdalene Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Upon Waking: 60 Daily Reflections to Discover Ourselves and the God We Were Made For Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5NRSV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations For Working Through Grief Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Buddha's Guide to Gratitude: The Life-changing Power of Everyday Mindfulness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mere Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We've Made Up Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Se Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5UnClobber: Rethinking Our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing to Wake the Soul: Opening the Sacred Conversation Within Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hindu View Of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gospel of Thomas: The Gnostic Wisdom of Jesus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer: Summary and Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Weight of Glory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Transfiguring Transcendence in Harry Potter, His Dark Materials and Left Behind
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Transfiguring Transcendence in Harry Potter, His Dark Materials and Left Behind - Mike Gray
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1