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Theology of Marilynne Robinson in a Postsecular Age
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Theology of Marilynne Robinson in a Postsecular Age

A special issue of Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (2 August 2019) | Viewed by 9516

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Haein Park

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of English, Biola University, 13800 Biola Ave. La Mirada, CA 90639, USA
Interests: religion in American literature; representations of suffering in American literature; critical theory

Special Issue Information

“What end is served in abstracting the glimmer of numinosity, the summons to awe…from its particular histories, institutions, communities, struggles?”

—Tracy Fessenden, “The Problem of the Postsecular”

Dear Colleagues:

Marilynne Robinson has written widely-acclaimed novels and essays that explore the relationship between religion and culture.  For this special issue, we examine how recent developments in post-secular studies illuminate Robinson’s religious vision both in her fiction and essays.  Jurgen Habermas, Talal Asad, Charles Taylor, Jared Hickman, Tracy Fessensden, among other scholars, have led us to reconsider the secularization thesis and the ways in which it has shaped narratives of modernity.  We ask how Robinson’s investigation of faith is especially relevant to the growing field of postsecular studies. 

The following are some of the questions that this special issue seeks to address: How might we assess Robinson’s body of work, one deeply informed by a particular theological tradition, in light of the ideas emerging from postsecular studies? In what ways do we see the influence of theologians such as John Calvin, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Jonathan Edwards in her fiction?  How do the Christian intellectual tradition and American Puritanism, in particular, offer Robinson a rich source for understanding human identity, social justice, and the relevance of beauty in our world?  How do these traditions shape her narratives of suffering and theodicy?  Robinson’s novels and essays also focus on historical memory, examining the intricate and complex relationship between past and present.  How does the author’s theology influence the way she engages with history? What are the pressures of contemporary moment that impel her to return to the past?  How does Robinson’s historical memory enrich her aesthetic vision?  

Please submit a 350-word proposal with a brief bio.

Dr. Haein Park
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Humanities is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Marilynne Robinson
  • religion and literature
  • postsecular studies

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 222 KiB  
Article
“In the Way of the Gift”: The Postsecular Conditions of Grace in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead
by Tae Sung
Humanities 2020, 9(2), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/h9020032 - 10 Apr 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2671
Abstract
In Robinson’s Gilead, one of Ames’ greatest hopes is for his son to place himself “in the way of the gift.” What is this gift, and what does it mean to place oneself in its way? The gift, I will argue, is [...] Read more.
In Robinson’s Gilead, one of Ames’ greatest hopes is for his son to place himself “in the way of the gift.” What is this gift, and what does it mean to place oneself in its way? The gift, I will argue, is what Charles Taylor has described as a moral source that is mediated by interpretive frameworks, and empowers us toward ideals otherwise difficult or impossible to sustain. Gilead enacts the necessary condition of having narratives of the gift, of having been in its way, in order to mediate its reception again. But if restoration is the great potential of the gift’s reception for Ames, it also points to the condition of impossibility for Jack, who is never given such a gift, despite having always been in its way. Although there is no guarantee the gift will be given, what Gilead explores are the postsecular conditions necessary for the gift to be received. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Theology of Marilynne Robinson in a Postsecular Age)
18 pages, 285 KiB  
Article
Marilynne Robinson, Wallace Stevens, and Louis Althusser in the Post/Secular Wilderness: Generosity, Jérémiade, and the Aesthetic Effect
by Daniel Muhlestein
Humanities 2020, 9(2), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/h9020030 - 7 Apr 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2823
Abstract
In Restless Secularism (2017), Matthew Mutter points out that Wallace Stevens described three related techniques that could be used to attempt to purge secular life of its religious residue: adaptation, substitution, and elimination. Marilynne Robinson pushes back against such secularizing strategies by employing [...] Read more.
In Restless Secularism (2017), Matthew Mutter points out that Wallace Stevens described three related techniques that could be used to attempt to purge secular life of its religious residue: adaptation, substitution, and elimination. Marilynne Robinson pushes back against such secularizing strategies by employing three related techniques of her own: negotiation, grafting, and invitation. She does so to attempt to bridge the gap between religious and humanistic perspectives and—in the process—mounts a spirited defense of religious faith and practice. Robinson uses a fourth technique as well: jérémiade. In its usual sacred form, jérémiade is a lamentation that denounces self-righteousness, religious hypocrisy, and social injustice. Much of what Robinson says about the Christian Right is essentially jérémiade. Robinson’s critique of parascientists is jérémiade as well, although its grounding assumptions are secular rather than sacred. While Robinson’s jérémiades against the Christian Right and against parascientists are effective in isolation, in aggregate they sometimes undercut her more generous and inclusive attempts at negotiation, grafting, and invitation. This may be because Robinson’s essays do not undergo the moderating influence of what Louis Althusser called the aesthetic effect of art, which in Housekeeping (1980), Gilead (2004), Home (2008), and Lila (2014) helps counterbalance the flashes of anger and tendencies toward judgement that periodically surface elsewhere in Robinson’s work. Taking into account the presence—or absence—of the aesthetic effect in Robinson’s work helps explain the sometimes startling differences between Robinson’s fiction and nonfiction and helps provides a new perspective from which to rethink two of the most influential postsecular readings of Robinson’s work to date: Amy Hungerford’s Postmodern Belief (2010) and Christopher Douglas’s If God Meant to Interfere (2016). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Theology of Marilynne Robinson in a Postsecular Age)
15 pages, 252 KiB  
Article
To Dwell in Grace: Physical and Spiritual Situatedness in Marilynne Robinson’s Lila
by Kathryn Ludwig
Humanities 2019, 8(4), 163; https://doi.org/10.3390/h8040163 - 16 Oct 2019
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3202
Abstract
This article explores Marilynne Robinson’s use of space in her 2014 novel Lila to illustrate a dynamic relationship between the religious and the secular. The titular character’s movement among a variety of physical spaces raises questions about the possibility of “dwelling” in the [...] Read more.
This article explores Marilynne Robinson’s use of space in her 2014 novel Lila to illustrate a dynamic relationship between the religious and the secular. The titular character’s movement among a variety of physical spaces raises questions about the possibility of “dwelling” in the sense of belonging to a place or community. Characters’ earthly situatedness points to larger questions of spiritual situatedness and identity. Robinson’s novel is posited as a valuable point of reference for postsecular studies, a critical perspective through which the role of the religious in literary studies is being redefined. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Theology of Marilynne Robinson in a Postsecular Age)
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