The Word in the English Classroom: Best Practices of Faith Integration ed. by Jamie Dessart, Brad Gambill (review)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: 684 CHRISTIANITY AND LITERATURE attended to not only by Christian believers, because the critical position he suggests for theology is at many points not incompatible with aspects of the dominant theoretical approaches of the past fifty years. There seems to be much room for Marxist and psychoanalytic critics to find common ground with Christian theology, and theology can learn much about modern culture from these experienced modes ofcultural critique. Ofcourse critical thinkers like SlavojZizek and Giorgio Agamben and theologians like John Milbank and Graham Ward have been exploring just such connections in their work. There remains, however, a fairly Widespread level of discomfort on all sides about such dialogue-theologians who take this step are often criticized for having conceded too much to modern philosophy, and critics who engage theology are still few and their work remains relatively marginal. Theology has yet to recognize and admit the salutary influence secular literary forms can have on its modern formulations, and literary criticism has always been nervous about its obvious sources in practices like religious reading and hermeneutics. Hunter's book is a welcome intervention in the cultural discourse on Christianity because it opens space to talk more openly about the connections between, among many other things, Christianity and literature. In Hunter's call for a reimagining of the Christian public presence, there lies an opportunity to recognize anew the way that literature provides a unique public imaginary space where agreements and disagreements, and even new and unexpected syntheses can be worked out, especially in terms ofthe relationship of religious modes ofbeing to the larger culture. This is a space where secular writers can dabble in and explore the sense of transcendence that sometimes haunts their thinking-and it's a space as well of freedom for religious thinkers to explore the implications of their faith outside the rigorous confines of systematic thought. Particularly in its relation to religion, the ambiguity ofliterature enables it to create a public imaginary space where an unusual kind of dialogue can thrive-a dialogue that has potential, perhaps not to change the world, but to enable fresh forms of conversation, from opposed perspectives, on many of the things that are most important to us all. Note: The reviewer is a former fellow of Hunter's Institute for