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In Novel Theology, Darren Middleton engages a conversation between literature and theology by using the narrative fiction of Kazantzakis and the process thought of Whitehead. Novel Theology reveals the common philosophy that shapes both Kazantzakis's and Whitehead's understanding of God. It acknowledges that the exercise of sustaining this conversation at times becomes demanding because literature and theology use dissimilar textual modes and forms of discourse. Literature and theology constantly (de)construct each other. Suggesting that this (de)constructive assignment is one that cannot but be "in process itself," Middleton returns to it throughout his study.
Middleton brings theology and literature into conversation by comparing specific themes in novels by Kazantzakis and in the works of particular Whiteheadian process theologians. Works explored include The Last Temptation; Christ in a Pluralistic Age; Saint Francis; Toward a Process Pneumatology; Zorba the Greek; and God and Religion in the Postmodern World: Essays in Postmodern Theology.
Novel Theology is indispensable reading for scholars of literature and theology, Kazantzakis, Whitehead, and process thought.
