From This Broken Hill I Sing to You

Marcia Pally is Professor in Multilingual Multicultural Studies at New York University, USA, and held the Mercator Guest Professorship in the Theology Faculty at Humboldt University-Berlin (Germany), where she is now a regular Guest Professor.

Marcia Pally offers here an immensely rich theological interpretation of the work of legendary Canadian poet-musician Leonard Cohen. The key theological theme I see is Cohen's claim that we human beings were made for covenant with God and one another and yet the way we were made – or the way we have turned out – makes it immensely difficult for us to keep the very covenants that we need. So the human condition is tragic, and the tragedy may ultimately be traceable to the very God who alone is our source and our destiny. This book makes me want to marinate in the music and poetry, though not the lifestyle, of Leonard Cohen. It also deepens my immense appreciation for the impressive intellectual range of Marcia Pally. This is a tour de force.

• Introduction and Biographical SketchChapter One: Theodicy: Arguments With God about Evil, Suffering, and God HimselfChapter Two: Covenantal Theology and its Place in Cohen’s WorkChapter Three: From Covenantal Theology to Theodicy: Failing Covenant with God and Persons Chapter Four: Failing Covenant with God and Persons: Doubled Imagery in Cohen’s WorkChapter Five: Those who did not fail covenant: Moses and Jesus—Cohen’s Jewish and Christian ImageryChapter Six: The Double Bind That Is Not a Bond: Cohen and WomenChapter Seven: Betrayal of God, Betrayal of Persons, Political Betrayals—Cohen’s TrinityConcluding Remarks: You Want It Darker and Thanks for the Dance—Cohen’s Last CreedBibliographyIndex