The Autism of Gxd

The Autism of Gxd: An Atheological Love Story is truly a love story--the story of Ruth Dunster's autistic search for an authentic, personal, and theological "Gxd." In this, it resembles Augustine's Confessions, as a theological autobiography. It becomes atheological, however, as Dunster reckons with what Denys Turner terms "The Darkness of God." This awareness leads her through the poetry of Medieval mystics to the mythic "death of God" theology of Thomas J. J. Altizer. The search for faith is nonetheless very real in this strange territory. Dunster hears her autistic Gxd speaking in art, poetry, novels, and music; and this further leads her into the territory of Literature, Theology, and the Arts, where, in Blanchot's words, "the answer is the poem's absence." Indeed, Dunster calls the book "a strange poem, or even a hymn." Weaving an autistic mythology out of a rigorous survey of clinical autism, this book abounds in challenge and paradox. It offers a fascinating view into how an autistic poet becomes a theologian; and what more mainstream theologies might learn from this "disabled Gxd."

Ruth M. Dunster, a poet, teacher, and theologian, was diagnosed with autism in her forties. Her theological journey has been, firstly, to liberate herself from theologies which have failed her, and secondly, to make sense of the hidden autism in her own work. She continues to research autism, theology, and the poetics of theology, and to suggest ways in which mainstream theologies can learn from marginal spaces. She is most comfortable describing herself as an atheologian. She lives in the Highlands of Scotland.

David Jasper is Changjing Chair Professor at Renmin University of China