Redemption in Poetry and Philosophy highlights the ways in which prose allegedly serves as a redemptive agent for nonbelievers in the modern age, but engenders dangerous notions of self-redemption in contemporary Christians.

In doing so, it argues that Christians may have more to learn from the unbelieving world than is often supposed.

George MacDonald delivers a balanced reading of its subject that ultimately lends a new theological and literary weight to whimsy.

Linking these literary conceptions with scholarship on the genesis of the historical conception of the Devil and recent work on the role of "othernessin creativity, Parker insightfully suggests how creative literature can feel its way back along the processes--both theological and psychological--that lie behind such constructions of the Adversary.

The Novel as Church analyzes the context and intent behind these messages, uncovers the dissonance between "noveland traditional preaching, and illuminates how readers' attitudes toward preaching (and those who preach) may be influenced--or not--by the sermon writers themselves.

Any reader who enters the rich and insightful world of Williams' Dostoevsky will emerge a more thoughtful and appreciative reader for it.

In this master study of his writings, Gardner deems Betjeman to be the poet of the Church of England--and demonstrates his works to be a vital part of Anglicanism's living traditions.

Yet, the spiritual life he experienced is even more real today as well: commitment, hope, and faith among the poor.