Toward A Theology of Eros: Transfiguring Passion at the Limits of Discipline

Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquia

by Virginia Burrus (Editor), Catherine Keller (Editor)

What might it mean, at this particular moment, to theologize eros, to eroticize theology? The ascetic, the mystical, the seductive, the ecstatic-such are the places where the divine and the erotic may be seen to converge and love and desire to commingle. Such too are the shared interests that bring philosophers, historians, biblical scholars, and theologians into spirited conversation in a multi-vocal volume that traverses the limits of conventional orthodoxies, both disciplinary and theological. The eighteen chapters move fluidly across and between premodern and postmodern textual traditions-from Plato to Emerson, Augustine to Kristeva, Mechthild to Mattoso, the Shulammite to Molly Bloom, the Zohar to the Da Vinci Code. In so doing, they also link the sublime reaches of theory with the gritty realities of politics, the boundless transcendence of God with the poignant transience of materiality.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, Philosophy

469 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2006

About the author

A native of Texas, Virginia Burrus received her B.A. (1981) in Classical Civilization from Yale College, and her M.A. (1984) and Ph.D. (1991) in History of Christianity from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. Currently the the Bishop W. Earl Ledden Professor of Religion at Syracuse University, she had previously taught in Drew University's Theological School and Graduate Division of Religion.

Dr. Burrus's teaching and research interests in the field of ancient Christianity include: gender, sexuality, and the body; martyrdom and asceticism; ancient novels and hagiography; constructions of orthodoxy and heresy; histories of theology and historical theologies. She is past President of the North American Patristics Society, Associate Editor of the Journal of Early Christian Studies, and co-editor of the University of Pennsylvania Press series "Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion."

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Academic commentary is the worst kind of writing, often pompous and nearly unreadable; thus my low rating for this book. If you can cut through those obstacles, many of these essays contain glimmers of insight that any serious thinker will be grateful for, if for no reason besides the apparent dearth of material on the subject.