Literature and Religion

David Jasper is Emeritus Professor of Literature and Theology at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and was for many years a Chang Jiang Chair Professor at Renmin University of China, Beijing. Ou Guang-an is Professor of English Literature and Comparative Literature at the College of Foreign Languages, Shihezi University, China.

This remarkably adventurous book has become possible because two longstanding friends learned to trust one another. Its readers will find themselves indebted to both the authors for their courtesy to one another and the expectations of care and insight they generate in those willing to embark on comparable studies!Ann Loades, Professor Emerita of Divinity, University of Durham, and Honorary Professor in the School of Divinity, University of St AndrewsTo read this fascinating book is to overhear a gracious, informed, and honest conversation between friends whose life experiences could scarcely be more different. But in that difference, and in the quality of that friendship and the willingness to seek out new understandings, there is profound revelation which we are privileged to share. Through the translation of literature in its widest sense, the cultures and religions of China and 'the West' are mutually illuminated.Alison Jack, Senior Lecturer in Bible and Literature, Assistant Principal of New College, University of EdinburghDavid Jasper's fascinating dialogue with Ou Guang-an vividly materializes the dialogic space between literature and religion, East and West. It would be difficult to find one who has contributed more to stimulate the interdisciplinary studies of theology and literature.Yang Huilin, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and Religious Studies, Renmin University of ChinaSpiritual values connect religion and literature as manifestations of what is at the core of our humanity, even though the forms of manifestation and the emphases in different cultures may differ from one to the other. Through a series of dialogues and exchanges, David Jasper and Ou Guang-an explore those spiritual values in this fascinating book, Literature and Religion, and offer us much to learn, contemplate, and celebrate.Zhang Longxi, author of Allegoresis: Reading Canonical Literature East and West

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction (David Jasper and Ou Guang-an)From East to West1. Literary Similarities and Cultural Differences: A Comparative Study of Zhuangzi and the Book of Job (Ou Guang-an)2. The Book of Job and Zhuangzi: A Response (David Jasper)3. A Textual and Cross-Cultural Investigation of "Fate" in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Ou Guang-an)4. Thomas Hardy and the Conflict of Cultures: A Response (David Jasper)5. Religious Perspectives in Yeats's Poetry (Ou Guang-an)6. Response to Yeats: Sinking in on Truth (David Jasper)From West to East7. Issues in Sino-Christian Theology (David Jasper)8. Response to Issues in Sino-Christian Theology (Ou Guang-an)9. Towards a Reading of Lu Xun (David Jasper)10. Response to the Reading of Lu Xun (Ou Guang-an)11. Seeking Christian Theology in Modern Chinese Fiction: An Exercise for Sino-Christian Theology (David Jasper)12. Response to Seeking Christian Theology in Modern Chinese Fiction (Ou Guang-an)Concluding Conversations13. Concluding Reflections (David Jasper)14. Final Remarks (Ou Guang-an)15. Suggested Further ReadingBibliographyIndex