Between Truth and Fiction

This brilliant reader—texts, the introduction, the questions—is exactly the kind of reader that reminds us all anew how to read theological texts in literary terms and literary texts in theological terms.

~David Tracy, Distinguished Service Professor of Roman Catholic Studies and Professor of Theology, University of Chicago

... heartily recommended for readers interested in intellectual and spiritual exploration.

~Eugene Webb, University of Washington, Christianity and Literature

Between Truth and Fiction locates itself on the very best edge of creativity: between texts and lived experience. Today’s reader could not ask for more: brilliantly chosen extracts from ancient, medieval, modern, post-modern and even, post-post-modern texts by women and men who call us once again to see reality differently. This interdisciplinary collection of readings includes a running historical and critical commentary, as well as prompts for reflection on literary expression and those truths of theology which are frequently stranger than fiction. A sense of genius is captured in authorial musings which come together to challenge any doubt that history and literature have not been replaced by our contemporary multi-media and global culture. Nothing can compare to good critical thinking with texts that encourage each of us, student and professor alike, to explore the many forms of writing that generate a reality truer than any single fact.

~Pamela Sue Anderson, Regent’s Park College, Oxford

Between Truth and Fiction embodies a genuinely fresh and attractive approach to the teaching of hermeneutics through practice and participation in the problematics of textual interpretation. I particularly value the attention to genre as itself an interpretive mode.

~Alison Milbank, University of Nottingham

Between Truth and Fiction offers a carefully thought through selection of texts in theology and literature. But it provides much more than this. The often wholly unexpected texts illustrate vividly the ever changing shape of the literature and theology canon, while the powerful extended essays and the accompanying comments are themselves a provocative invitation to hermeneutical challenges which should surprise and delight the reader.

~George Newlands, Professor Emeritus of Divinity, University of Glasgow