Includes bibliographical references and index.

Literary theology. Colossians 1.15-20 ; On Christian teaching / Augustine of Hippo ; The interior castle / Teresa of Avila ; An essay on the development of Christian doctrine / John Henry Newman ; The seven storey mountain / Thomas Merton --Fiction. Luke 10.29-37 (The parable of the good Samaritan) ; The golden legend : readings on the saints / Jacobus de Voragine ; Moby-Dick, or The white whale / Herman Melville ; Monsignor Quixote / Graham Greene ; The handmaid's tale / Margaret Atwood -- Autobiography. 2 Corinthians 11.22-31 ; The confessions / Augustine of Hippo ; Vita brevis : a letter to St. Augustine / Jostein Gaarder ; Revelations of divine love / Julian of Norwich ; A heartbreaking work of staggering genius / Dave Eggers -- Lyric, poetry and songs. Song of songs 8.6-7, 10-14 ; 1 Corinthians 13 ; 'Love (III)' / George Herbert ; 'The joy of church fellowship rightly attended' / Edward Taylor ; 'Poetry' / Marianne Moore -- Drama. 1 Corinthians 11.20-26 ; An Easter resurrection play / Ethelwold ; Henry V / William Shakespeare ; Uncle Vania / Anton Chekhov ; Our town / Thornton Wilder ; Waiting for Godot / Samuel Beckett -- Essays and aphorisms. Ecclesiastes 1.1-11 ; 'The translators to the reader' : The King James Bible ; 'Of truth' / Francis, Lord Bacon ; 'Solitude' / Henry David Thoreau ; 'Parable of Cervantes and the Quixote' / Jorge Luis Borges -- Sermons. Acts of the apostles 2.14-38 ; 'Funeral oration for his sister Gorgonia' / Gregory of Nazianzus ; 'Sinners in the hands of an angry God' / Jonathan Edwards ; 'A grasp of the hand' / Austin Farrer ; 'I have a dream' / Martin Luther King Jr -- Post-colonial literature. Psalm 137 ; The curse of Cain : the violent legacy of monotheism / Regina M. Schwartz ; Midnight's children / Salman Rushdie ; 'Oral history' / Nadine Gordimer ; Devil on the cross / Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong'o ; 'Arrival of the snake woman' / Olive Senior -- Feminist literature. John 20.1-18 ; The wild girl / Michèle Roberts ; The woman's Bible part II / Phebe A. Hanaford ; A room of one's own / Virginia Woolf ; 'Song' / Adrienne Rich -- The postmodern text. Revelation 5.1-5, 1.9-10 ; The life and opinions of Tristam Shandy / Laurence Sterne ; Erring : a postmodern a/theology / Mark C. Taylor ; A brief history of time / Stephen Hawking ; Landscape painted with tea / Milorad Pavić

""This brilliant reader--texts, the introduction, the questions--is exactly the kind of reader that reminds us all anew how to read theological texts in literary terms and literary texts in theological terms. It would be difficult to find better authors and editors for their splendid selections."--David Tracy, Distinguished Service Professor of Roman Catholic Studies and Professor of Theology, University of Chicago" ""An invaluable starting point for those embarking on explorations in the interdisciplinary field of literature and theology. Weaving theory deftly together with practice, the editors encourage readers to engage the texts and discover for themselves the ways in which truth and fiction so often stand and fall together."--Trevor Hart, Director of the Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts, University of St. Andrews" ""Today's reader could not ask for more: brilliantly chosen extracts from generations of women and men who call us once again to see reality differently. Between Truth and Fiction challenges any fear that history and literature have been replaced by our contemporary multi-media and global culture."--Pamela Sue Anderson, Director of Studies in Philosophy & Ethics, Regent's Park College, Oxford" ""These often unexpected texts offer a provocative invitation to the hermeneutical challenges of the ever changing shape of the literature and theology canon. Students will be surprised and delighted by these carefully selected and powerful readings."--George Newlands, Professor Emeritus of Divinity, University of Glasgow" "Providing students with an array of original texts spanning from the Bible into the present, Between Truth and Fiction guides the reader through exercises in interpretation and reflection. With each reading chosen to introduce different forms of theological thinking, this volume raises questions about how we read--and how that affects theological thinking and practice."

"Intentionally blurring the hard distinctions between "truth" and "fiction," the book is divided into genres and includes excerpts from the works of Augustine of Hippo, Anselm of Canterbury, Karl Barth, Dostoevsky, lan McEwan, Julian of Norwich, C.S. Lewis, T.S. Eliot, William Shakespeare, Meister Eckhart, Graham Greene, Margaret Atwood, Jonathan Edwards, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Thornton Wilder, Martin Luther King Jr., Salman Rushdie, Virginia Woolf, and Dave Eggers, among others."--BOOK JACKET.