A Subversive Gospel: Flannery O'Connor and the Reimagining of Beauty, Goodness, and Truth

by Michael Bruner

Overview

The good news of Jesus Christ is a subversive gospel, and following Jesus is a subversive act. These notions were embodied in the literary work of American author Flannery O'Connor, whose writing was deeply informed by both her Southern context and her Christian faith. In this volume in IVP Academic's Studies in Theology and the Arts series, theologian Michael Bruner explores O’Connor's theological aesthetic and argues that she reveals what discipleship to Christ entails by subverting the traditional understandings of beauty, truth, and goodness through her fiction. In addition, Bruner challenges recent scholarship by exploring the little-known influence of Baron Friedrich von Hügel, a twentieth-century Roman Catholic theologian, on her work. Bruner's study thus serves as a guide for those who enjoy reading O'Connor and—even more so—those who, like O'Connor herself, follow the subversive path of the crucified and risen one.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780830890361
Publisher:	InterVarsity Press
Publication date:	09/04/2017
Series:	Studies in Theology and the Arts
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	260
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Michael Bruner (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is associate professor of practical theology at Azusa Pacific University. Born and raised in the Philippines as the son of missionaries, he is currently a resident scholar at the Huntington Library, an ordained minister in the PC(USA), and a recent recipient of a Lilly Endowment in theology and the arts.

Table of Contents

List of Excursuses xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Abbreviations xv

Introduction: A Medieval Modern 1

1 The Baron: O'Connor's Theological Turn 21

2 The Liminal Frame: O'Connor's Moral Vision 67

3 Artistic Habitus: O'Connor's Dramatic Vision 108

4 The Subverted Transcendentals in Selected Short Stories 139

5 The Violent Bear It Away: A Case Study in Subversion 158

Conclusion: O'Connor's Cathedral of Fire 217

Addendum: Literature as Liturgy 221

Bibliography 229

Name Index 239

Scripture Index 245