Book: Theological Interpretation of Culture in Post-Communist Context

Just published: Ivana Noble, "Theological Interpretation of Culture in Post-Communist Context: Central and East European Search for Roots" (Ashgate, April 2010):

http://ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calcTitle=1&title_id=9936&edition_id=12659

Publisher's description: "Twenty years after the fall of Communism in Central and East Europe is an ocassion [sic] to reevaluate the cultural and theological contribution from that region to the secularization-post-secularization debate. Czech theologian Ivana Noble develops a Trinitarian theology through a close dialogue with literature, music and film, which formed not only alternatives to totalitarian ideologies, but also followed the loss and reappeareance [sic] of belief in God. Noble explains that, by listening to the artists, the churches and theologians can deal with questions about the nature of the world, memory and ultimate fulfilment in a more nuanced way. Then, as partakers in the search undertaken by their secular and post-secular contemporaries, theologians can penetrate a new depth of meaning, sending out shoots from the stump of Christian symbolism. Drawing on the rich cultures of Central and East Europe and both Western and Eastern theological traditions, this book presents a theological reading of contemporary culture which is important not just for post-Communist countries but for all who are engaged in the debate on the boundaries between theology, politics and arts."

Endorsement: "Noble offers us in the West an encounter with the Other that cannot but give much food for thought about religion in our own increasingly post-institutional religious situations. Original not only in content but also methodology, her text promises numerous insights for political theology, liturgical studies, theological aesthetics, indeed, for all seeking to construct theologies at once fundamental and practical in this postmodern age." (Bruce T. Morrill, SJ, Boston College)

Ivana Noble is Associate Professor of Ecumenical Theology at Charles University and a Senior Research Fellow at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague.