Faith and Narrative

by Yandell, Keith E.

• ISBN13: 9780195131451
• ISBN10: 0195131452
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-08-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

From epic to limerick, novel to anecdote, literary narratives engage andentertain us. From autobiography and biography to accounts of familialgenerations, narratives define communities. Myths and histories loom large inreligious traditions as well. Recently, the importance of narrative to ethicsand religion has become a pervasive theme in several scholarly disciplines. Inthe essays presented here, a distinguished roster of scholars addresses a rangeof issues associated with this theme, focussing especially on questionsconcerning narrative's contribution to knowledge.

Table of Contents

Contributors	vii
Introduction	3	(12)
PART I The Power of Narrative
``They Stooped to Conquer'': Cultural Vitality and the Narrative Impulse	15	(38)
Lamin Sanneh
Gnosis, Narrative, and the Occasion of Repentance	53	(15)
David L. Jeffrey
The Scandal of Revelation	68	(18)
George Steiner
Second-Person Accounts and the Problem of Evil	86	(21)
Eleonore Stump
PART II The Place of Narrative
Social Transformation as Return of Story Tradition	107	(9)
James Billington
Anecdote as the Essence of Historical Understanding	116	(22)
Robert E. Frykenberg
Hagiography and Hindu Historical Consciousness	138	(17)
John B. Carman
PART III The Promise of Narrative
Narrative and Theological Aspects of Freudian and Jungian Psychology	155	(12)
Paul Vitz
Words, Deeds, and Words about Deeds	167	(21)
Jon N. Moline
Narrative Theology from an Evangelical Perspective	188	(14)
Gabriel Fackre
Living within a Text	202	(15)
Nicholas Wolterstorff
PART IV The Problems of Narrative
The Limits of Narrative Theology	217	(20)
Paul Griffiths
Narrative Ethics and Normative Objectivity	237	(24)
Keith E. Yandell
Index	261