True Religion

Graham Ward is Professor of Contextual Theology and Ethics at the University of Manchester. He has been called ‘the most visionary theologian of the generation’.

"True Religion is a magical book that forces us to see the world in which we now live. Ward combines extraordinary erudition and an equally extraordinary imagination that results in a book of rare intelligence and beauty. His fresh readings of familiar texts makes the book exciting and profound. Hopefully the book will attract the interest of non-theologians as well as theologians" Stanley Hauerwas "Graham Ward is Professor of Contextual Theology and Ethics at Manhester University, and in this short but stimulating book he provides abundant evidence that he lives up to his title." Church Times "Ward is an imaginative theologian whom I suspect of having an essentially literary sensibility. But in True Religion he deploys that sensibility in brilliant analyses of novels, plays, poems, buildings and films for a stated project in cultural history...It is the changing social construction of "true religion" over five centuries of "Western" history." Times Literary Supplement "The Blackwell Manifesto series is designed to "engage and challenge" readers, and Ward, the eminent Manchester University theologian, does precisely that. In graceful prose, he charts the changing views of "True Religion" from Shakespeare to the present in a study that combines piercing insights with evocative analyses of Romeo and Juliet, Robinson Crusoe, and Moby Dick, as well as various films." Choice "True Religion is playful, erudite and wise. Its prose is spare, its meanings extravagant and more thrilling than a 'pendulum boat' ride. It is the best attempt I've read to show that 'postmodern theology' is not an oxymoron." Theology

• Acknowledgements. Introduction.1. Religion Before and After Secularism.2. True Religion and Temporal Gods.3. True Religion and Consumption.4. True Religion and Special Effect.Afterword.Notes.Index.