David Foster Wallace and Religion

Michael McGowan is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Florida Southwestern State College, USA. He is the author of The Bridge: Revelation and Its Implications (2015).Martin Brick is Associate Professor of English at Ohio Dominican University, USA.

David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) was bored by religion. That he eventually hanged himself speaks to either his lack of concern about the afterlife or severe mental illness, or perhaps both. Wallace's readers find much evidence of spirituality in his work, particularly in Infinite Jest, his grand book, which throughout refers to AA, Wallace's spiritual guide. In his talks and throughout his writing, Wallace took the philosophical view that those who worship stuff, money, or sex will eventually come up empty, but those who worship a higher power will find themselves with something real. Wallace was forced into AA in a halfway house, but he continued to participate through much of his life. And through his study of philosophy he developed the idea that humans, as humans, must have a God to ask for help-because they cannot help themselves. This is a conversation with Christianity one rarely sees from deep intellectuals, other than Marilynne Robinson, and the subject has been given too little attention in Wallace's work. Summing Up: Recommended.

• Notes on ContributorsPrefaceAcknowledgementsAbbreviationsUnderstanding Seeking Faith: An Introduction to Religion in David Foster Wallace's Life (Martin Brick, Ohio Dominican University, USA) 1. Came to Believe: The Religion of Alcoholics Anonymous in Infinite Jest (Rob Short, University of Florida, USA)2. A Less "Bullshitty" Way to Live: The Pragmatic Spirituality of David Foster Wallace (Robert K. Bolger, Independent Scholar, USA) 3. “Not Another Word”: Nietzsche and Wallace on Overcoming Nihilism (Michael McGowan, Florida Southwestern State College, USA) 4. In G.O.D. We Trust: The Desert of the Religious in The Broom of the System (Vernon W. Cisney, Gettysburg College, USA)5. “Saying God with a Straight Face”: Towards an Understanding of Christian Soteriology in Infinite Jest (Dave Laird, Independent Scholar, Canada)6. Infinite Jest, C.S. Lewis's Tao, and Religious Community (Peter Spaulding, Marquette University, USA) 7. “Somewhat Lost and Desolate Inside”: Overcoming Acedia in The Pale King (Michael O'Connell, Siena Heights University, USA)8. “The Moral Equivalent of War”: Fungible Transcendentals in The Pale King (Robert Hamilton, Temple College, USA)9. A Spoon, Some Eskimos, and the Wise Old Fish: Religion and the Evolution of Wallace's Kenyon Commencement Address (Matt Bucher, Independent Scholar, USA, and Martin Brick, Ohio Dominican University, USA) 10. David Foster Wallace and Postsecularism (Ryan Lackey, University of California, Berkeley, USA) 11. “There's Always a Mormon Around When You Don't Want One”: What Wallace Can Teach the Church Media Machine (Jessica E. Sagers, Harvard University, USA)12. Zen Buddhist Philosophy Lurking in the Work of David Foster Wallace (Krzysztof Piekarski, University of Texas at Austin, USA) Conclusion: The Religious Worlds of David Foster Wallace--Both Fiction and Not (Michael McGowan, Florida Southwestern State College, USA)Index