عنوان

Misty Transcendence and the Irony of (Dis)belief

Number

LA116941

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Misty Transcendence and the Irony of (Dis)belief

General Material Designation

[Article]

First Statement of Responsibility

Nick Barrett

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

In the late 1970s and '80s, a new generation of Chinese poets emerged with a powerful critique of the state's aggressive political reforms. After the 1976 Tiananmen Square incident, the Bejing poet Zaho Zhenkai (known as Bei Dao) wrote a startling poem titled "The Answer" about his refusal to believe in the unquestioned ultimacy of China's worldview. Bei Dao's unique style of poetry helped readers make new associations that were otherwise inaccessible to them. This article examines Bei Dao's use of metaphor in "The Answer" through the lens of the aesthetic philosopher Lambert Zuidervaart and suggests that the poet's use of self-controverting metaphors makes an absent reality graspable and present. The article then considers the role of public theology as it listens to the witness of the poet's bewildering evocation of accessing "the real" through disbelief. In consideration of Herman Bavinck's essay On Contemporary Ethics, this article suggests that theologians (and religious practitioners) should resist the temptation to control the artist's expression even when it limps with narcissism and moral deficiency. Instead, the theologian (and the church) should fight alongside the artist in helping them to share their staggering vision or, in Bei Dao's case, the transcendent power of resiliency sustained by the shadows of the dead. This article aims to generate a fruitful dialogue between Bei Dao and the Reformed theological tradition that underscores the uncanny importance of disbelief as an alternative strategy for cultural transformation and faithful proclamation. In the late 1970s and '80s, a new generation of Chinese poets emerged with a powerful critique of the state's aggressive political reforms. After the 1976 Tiananmen Square incident, the Bejing poet Zaho Zhenkai (known as Bei Dao) wrote a startling poem titled "The Answer" about his refusal to believe in the unquestioned ultimacy of China's worldview. Bei Dao's unique style of poetry helped readers make new associations that were otherwise inaccessible to them. This article examines Bei Dao's use of metaphor in "The Answer" through the lens of the aesthetic philosopher Lambert Zuidervaart and suggests that the poet's use of self-controverting metaphors makes an absent reality graspable and present. The article then considers the role of public theology as it listens to the witness of the poet's bewildering evocation of accessing "the real" through disbelief. In consideration of Herman Bavinck's essay On Contemporary Ethics, this article suggests that theologians (and religious practitioners) should resist the temptation to control the artist's expression even when it limps with narcissism and moral deficiency. Instead, the theologian (and the church) should fight alongside the artist in helping them to share their staggering vision or, in Bei Dao's case, the transcendent power of resiliency sustained by the shadows of the dead. This article aims to generate a fruitful dialogue between Bei Dao and the Reformed theological tradition that underscores the uncanny importance of disbelief as an alternative strategy for cultural transformation and faithful proclamation.

Date of Publication

2019

Physical description

135-148

Title

Journal of Reformed Theology

Volume Number

13/2

International Standard Serial Number

1569-7312

Subject Term

aesthetics

Subject Term

disbelief

Subject Term

irony

Subject Term

poetry

Subject Term

Reformed theology

Subject Term

theology

Subject Term

transcendence

Nick Barrett

Call Number

10.1163/15697312-01302017

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y