Living Forms of the Imagination

319 Pages·2008·19.677 MB·English

by  Douglas Hedley

L F
I V I N G O R M S
I
M A G I N AT I O N

OF THE
Douglas Hedley
Living Forms of the ination

Living Forms of the
Imagination
Douglas Hedley
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Published by T&T Clark International
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Copyright © Douglas Hedley, 2008
Douglas Hedley has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act, 1988, to be identified as the Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Typeset by Data Standards Limited, Frome, Somerset, UK.
EISBN 9780567032959
For Clemens and Justin
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Prologue 1
1. Religion, Romanticism and Imagining Modernity 9
2. The Creative Imagination 39
3. The Experience of God: Poetry, Enchantment and the
Mood of Ecstatic Imagination 79
4. Religion: Fantasy or Legitimate Longing? 115
5. The Problem of Metaphysics 143
6. Myths, Dreams and Other Stories 173
7. Inspired Images, Angels and the Imaginal World 211
8. Social Imaginary 245
Epilogue 277
Bibliography 279
Index of Subjects 297
Index of Names 303
Acknowledgements
I am very grateful to the Arts and Humanities Research Board for
sabbatical leave during Easter term 2004. I am also very grateful to the
Theology Faculty of Durham University for electing me to the Alan
Richardson Lectureship in Lent term 2004 - special thanks to David
Brown and Ann Loades. Gratitude is also due to St John's College and
Stephen Sykes for accommodating me and providing such a stimulating
theological environment.
Part of Chapter three first appeared as 'La perception de cdieu et la
vision de L'invisible chez William Alston' in Revue de theologie et de
philosophie, 134 (2002), pp.175-185. A version of Chapter 4 appeared in
Ingolf U. Dalferth and Hans-Peter Grosshans, Kritik der Religion Zur
Aktualitat einer unerlidigten philosophischen und theologischen Aufgabe
(Tubingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2006), pp.187-217 and a version of Chapter 5
appeared in Hermann Deuser, Metaphysik und Religion (Miinchen:
Giitersloher Verlagshaus, 2007), pp. 60-88. I am grateful to the editors
of these works for permission to re-use these materials.
This book has its basis in lectures given at the Ecole Pratique des
hautes Etudes in Paris during March 2002. Thanks to my host Philippe
Hoffman, and to Denis O'Brien, Alain Segonds and Wayne Hankey. In
Munich I have continued to profit from Werner Beierwaltes and Jan
Rohls and in Athens from Sylvana Chrysakopolou. The members of
Natural Theology Group in London have cheerfully listened to parts of
the book and the Trialogue group in Bristol has provided great stimulus.
I am grateful to colleagues in the British Society for the History of
Philosophy, especially Sarah Hutton; the British Society for the
Philosophy of Religion and the European Society for the Philosophy of
Religion. I have particularly benefited from the insights and learning of
Anthony O' Hear, John Rist, Mark Wynn, John Cottingham, John Dillon,
Barry Fleet, Gordon Graham, Stephen Clark, Jane Heal, Raymond Geuss,
Charles Moseley Emile Perreau-Saussine, Michael Allen, Remi Brague,
Ingolf Dalferth, Wilhelm Dupre, Roger Trigg, Chris Insole and Ilona
Roth. Charles Taliaferro, Philip Clayton, David Leech, Russell Re
Manning, Chloe Starr and James Vigus read parts or the whole text.
David Grummet, Geoff Dumbreck, Chloe Cyrus-Kent, Russell Hillier and
Chris Ryan were an invaluable support in the final stages of the
preparation of the manuscript. Thanks to Thomas Kraft and his
impressive team at T&T Clark, especially Tim Bartel. None of the
above is responsible for any remaining errors, infelicities or asperities.
Thanks to the Master, Fellows and Staff of Clare College, The Divinity