The Sacred Body: Asceticism in Religion, Literature, Art, and Culture

by Jasper, David

• ISBN13: 9781602581418
• ISBN10: 160258141X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-08-01
• Publisher: Baylor Univ Pr

Summary

Continuing the work began inThe Sacred Desert, David Jasper here turns his attention to the body, seeking a profound understanding of what it means to be in the flesh. A deeply autobiographical journey through disparate written texts (in literature, philosophy, theology and religion), art, and cinema,The Sacred Bodyrigorously and artfully pursues the body of the Christian tradition of the Word made flesh”—a body torn and crucified, resurrected, and divinized, embracing both deep suffering and profound joy. Engaging ascetic traditions that began among fourth-century desert monastics, as well as George Herbert, Simone Weil, Meister Eckhart, James Joyce and others, David Jasper once again provides a bold, learned, and original theological exploration.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xxi
A Sunlit Landscape Amid the Night of Nonbeing	p. 1
The Soul as Sacred Space	p. 15
The Body, Sacred and Profane	p. 31
The Word and the Body	p. 47
Asceticism as a Way of Love, with a Modern Excursus	p. 63
Asceticism, Imposed and Recovered: Velázquez, Martha, and the Eyes of Faith	p. 87
The Eucharistic Body in Literature and Modern Experience: George Herbert and Simone Weil	p. 109
Holiness and the Resurrection Body: Meister Eckhart and James Joyce	p. 135
Romanticism and the Recovery of the Sacred in Language	p. 157
The Possibility of a Contemporary Theology	p. 171
Notes	p. 187
Bibliography	p. 219
Index	p. 227
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.