Divining History: Prophetism, Messianism and the Development of the Spirit

Svenungsson, Jayne

ISBN 10: 1785331736 / ISBN 13: 9781785331732

Published by Berghahn Books, 2016

About this Item

1st edition. 240 pages. 9.00x6.25x0.75 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # x-1785331736

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Divining History: Prophetism, Messianism and the Development of the Spirit
• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1785331736
• ISBN 13: 9781785331732
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.48 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

For millennia, messianic visions of redemption have inspired men and women to turn against unjust and oppressive orders. Yet these very same traditions are regularly decried as antecedents to the violent and authoritarian ideologies of modernity. Informed in equal parts by theology and historical theory, this book offers a provocative exploration of this double-edged legacy. Author Jayne Svenungsson rigorously pursues a middle path between utopian arrogance and an enervated postmodernism, assessing the impact of Jewish and Christian theologies of history on subsequent thinkers, and in the process identifying a web of spiritual and intellectual motifs extending from ancient Jewish prophets to contemporary radicals such as Giorgio Agamben and Slavoj Zizek.
 

About the Author

Jayne Svenungsson is Professor of Systematic Theology at Lund University, Sweden. She is part of the interdisciplinary research program “Time, Memory and Representation: Transformations in Historical Consciousness.” Her recent publications include the books Jewish Thought, Utopia, and Revolution and Monument and Memory.