this issue
previous article in this issuenext article in this issue

Document Details :

Title: In Defence of Imaginative Apologetics
Author(s): MURPHY, Francesca Aran
Journal: Louvain Studies
Volume: 34    Issue: 2-3   Date: 2010   
Pages: 146-168
DOI: 10.2143/LS.34.2.2118198

Abstract :
The past half century has involved a renewed interest in the role of imagination in Christian theology. During this period, several thinkers have mistakenly subjugated imagination to systematic theology. This article develops a more adequate understanding of the relationship between imagination and systematic theology on the basis of an analysis of thinkers who reflected on this relationship in the past and by drawing upon the example provided by writers of imaginative apologetics. The article first illustrates how imaginative apologetics and systematic theology have more in common with each other than with Theology-and-Imagination. Then it illustrates and defends the distinction drawn between imaginative apologetics and systematic theology. Finally, it argues that, although distinct, imaginative apologetics and systematics strengthen one another and even coincide in the discernment of God’s objective self-expression.

Download article