{"product_id":"9780813236650-acts-of-faith-and-imagination","title":"Acts of Faith and Imagination","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTheological Patterns in Catholic Fiction\u003cbr\u003eThrough an exploration of more than a dozen Catholic authors' novels and short stories, Brent Little argues that Catholic fiction encourages the reader to reflect upon their faith holistically, that is, the way faith informs one's affections, and how a person conceives and interacts with the world as embodied beings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eActs of Faith and Imagination\u003c\/i\u003e wagers that fiction written by Catholic authors assists readers to reflect critically on the question: \"what is faith?\" To speak of a person's \"faith-life\" is to speak of change and development. As a narrative form, literature can illustrate the dynamics of faith, which remains in flux over the course of one's life. Because human beings must possess faith in something (whether religious or not), it inevitably has a narrative structure—faith ebbs and flows, flourishes and decays, develops and stagnates.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThrough an exploration of more than a dozen Catholic authors' novels and short stories, Brent Little argues that Catholic fiction encourages the reader to reflect upon their faith holistically, that is, the way faith informs one's affections, and how a person conceives and interacts with the world as embodied beings. Amidst the diverse stories of modern and contemporary fiction, a consistent pattern emerges: Catholic fiction portrays faith—at its most fundamental, often unconscious, level—as an act of the imagination. Faith is the way one imagines themselves, others, and creation. A person's primary faith conditions how they live in the world, regardless of the level of conscious reflection, and regardless of whether this is a \"religious\" faith.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eActs of Faith and Imagination\u003c\/i\u003e investigates the creative depth and vitality of the Catholic literary imagination by bringing late modern Catholic authors into dialogue with more contemporary ones. Readers will then consider well-known works, such as those by Grahame Greene, Flannery O'Connor, and Muriel Spark in the fresh light of contemporary stories by Toni Morrison, Alice McDermott, Uwem Akpan, and several others.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54845448323446,"sku":"9780813236650","price":22.21,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_36018126.jpg?v=1757557763","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780813236650-acts-of-faith-and-imagination","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}