{"product_id":"9780231209236-imagining-eden","title":"Imagining Eden","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBlack Theology and the Search for Paradise\u003cbr\u003eIn this deeply interdisciplinary and poetically written book, Jamall A. Calloway explores the presence of Eden and the aftermath of the Fall in works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Richard Wright, and Alice Walker.\u003cbr\u003eA number of Black writers have drawn inspiration from the biblical tale of the expulsion from paradise. In this deeply interdisciplinary and poetically written book, Jamall A. Calloway explores the presence of Eden and the aftermath of the Fall in works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Richard Wright, and Alice Walker. In reflecting on Eden, he contends, these writers rethought what paradise could mean in the face of the catastrophes of the Black experience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy placing key novels in conversation with major religious thinkers, Calloway shows how Black writers adopted Edenic motifs to rebut orthodox interpretations of Genesis, with striking theological implications. He argues that Baldwin’s \u003ci\u003eGiovanni’s Room\u003c\/i\u003e counters St. Paul’s proclamations on the mortification of the flesh, reads Morrison’s \u003ci\u003eParadise\u003c\/i\u003e against St. Augustine’s \u003ci\u003eCity of God\u003c\/i\u003e as a challenge to the exclusions of the Garden of Eden, investigates Wright’s use of Søren Kierkegaard’s interpretation of Adam in \u003ci\u003eThe Outsider\u003c\/i\u003e, and demonstrates how Walker’s \u003ci\u003eThe Color Purple \u003c\/i\u003eand Catholic theologian Ivone Gebara offer a radical reconceptualization of the serpent in Genesis. The book concludes with a reflection on Lucille Clifton’s poetry. Revealing the richness of Black writers’ engagement with theology, \u003ci\u003eImagining Eden\u003c\/i\u003e is a profoundly original consideration of literature and liberation, God and humanity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56434628788598,"sku":"9780231209236","price":28.86,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_39717052_b44e857f-5f3a-4ebd-b2fe-18100254b325.jpg?v=1769694379","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780231209236-imagining-eden","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}