Hells & Holy Ghosts

by Miller, David LeRoy

• ISBN13: 9781882670970
• ISBN10: 1882670973
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-01
• Publisher: Spring Journal

Summary

Offers a learned and yet playful post-modern re-appropriation and reanimation of two central Christian themes: Christ's descent into hell and the resurrection of the dead. The move from a theological to a theo-poetical perspective reveals the pervasive archetypal anxieties and hopes that underlie the traditional dogmas and enables us to recognise how central these same motifs are in Greek mythology and in some of the most powerful twentieth-century poetry. We may be amazed to discover how these seemingly obsolete notions, if understood metaphorically rather than literally, can illuminate and deepen our own experiences of despair and of living with "ghosts" from our past that seemingly will not let us go.

Author Biography

DAVID L. MILLER, Ph.D., is Watson-Ledden Professor of Religion, Emeritus at Syracuse University and served as a core faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara from 1991 until 2004. Since 1963, Dr. Miller has worked at the intersection

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION On Not Giving Up the Ghost	1	(12)
PART ONE: DESCENTS
CHAPTER ONE History Is Hell	13	(6)
CHAPTER TWO A Descent into History: The Story of the Descent Motif	19	(16)
CHAPTER THREE A Descent into Imagination: Images of the Descent in the Ideas of Theology	35	(14)
CHAPTER FOUR A Descent into the Middle: Between Death and Resurrection	49	(8)
PART TWO: HELLS
CHAPTER FIVE A Descent into Laughter: The Abominable Fancy	57	(12)
CHAPTER SIX A Descent into Psychopathology: Archetypal Sadomasochism	69	(8)
CHAPTER SEVEN A Descent into the Hells of Modern Literature: The Dark Inference and Negative Theology	77	(12)
CHAPTER EIGHT History As Hell	89	(6)
PART THREE: HOLY GHOSTS
CHAPTER NINE The Death of Ghosts	95	(6)
CHAPTER TEN Ghastly, Guest, Host: The Ghosts in Language	101	(10)
CHAPTER ELEVEN The Ghost of Old Mrs. Leakey: The Ghosts of History	111	(10)
CHAPTER TWELVE The Grateful Dead: The Ghosts of Folklore	121	(12)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN The Paraclete: Ghosts of Scripture	133	(12)
PART FOUR: RESURRECTIONS OF THE DEAD
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Proper Burial: Ghosts of Depth Psychology	145	(12)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Our Dark Alphabet: Ghosts of Modern Literature	157	(24)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN Conclusion: Wimsey or Whimsy?	181	(6)
NOTES	187	(36)
INDEX OF PERSONAL NAMES	223