The Sacred Desert: Religion, Literature, Art and Culture

by David Jasper (Glasgow University)

• ISBN13: 9780470777220
• ISBN10: 0470777222
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2008-04-01
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The Sacred Desert is a reflection on the role of the desert in theology, history, literature, art and film. An original reflection on the role of the desert in theology, history, literature, art and film. Discusses figures as diverse as Jesus, the early Christian Desert Fathers, T.E. Lawrence, T.S. Eliot, Georgia O'Keeffe, Wim Wenders and Jim Crace. Makes connections across millennia of desert literature. Deepens the reader's understanding of the desert as a real place, as an interior space, and as a textual site, Concludes with comments on the recent conflicts in Iraq. Written in a readable and engaging style.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

List of illustrations

Introduction: Meeting Points

The Bible, Schoenberg, and Heidegger

The Desert Fathers: Wandering and Miracles

Time and Memory, Wind and Space: The Desert and Mysticism

Mysticism and Modernity: Thomas Merton meets Don Cupitt

The Literature of the Desert: Travellers and Poets

The Literature of the Desert: Novelists

Artists: Georgia O'Keefe, Bill Viola and Abstract Expressionism

Films of the Desert: Pier Paolo Pasolini, Wim Wenders, Claire Dennis

Desert Theology and Total Presence: Poets William Blake, T.S. Eliot and Yves Bonnefoy meet Hegel and Altizer

Conclusion: Meeting Point

Postscript: The Desert and the Recent Wars in Iraq

Bibliography

Index

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