The Autism of Gxd: An Atheological Love Story is truly a love story—the story of Ruth Dunster’s autistic search for an authentic, personal, and theological “Gxd.” In this, it resembles Augustine’s Confessions, as a theological autobiography. It becomes atheological, however, as Dunster reckons with what Denys Turner terms “The Darkness of God.” This awareness leads her through the poetry of Medieval mystics to the mythic “death of God” theology of Thomas J. J. Altizer. The search for faith is nonetheless very real in this strange territory. Dunster hears her autistic Gxd speaking in art, poetry, novels, and music; and this further leads her into the territory of Literature, Theology, and the Arts, where, in Blanchot’s words, “the answer is the poem’s absence.” Indeed, Dunster calls the book “a strange poem, or even a hymn.” Weaving an autistic mythology out of a rigorous survey of clinical autism, this book abounds in challenge and paradox. It offers a fascinating view into how an autistic poet becomes a theologian; and what more mainstream theologies might learn from this “disabled Gxd.”
The Autism of Gxd: An Atheological Love Story is truly a love story--the story of Ruth Dunster's autistic search for an authentic, personal, and theological "Gxd." In this, it resembles Augustine's Confessions, as a theological autobiography. It becomes atheological, however, as Dunster reckons with what Denys Turner terms "The Darkness of God." This awareness leads her through the poetry of Medieval mystics to the mythic "death of God" theology of Thomas J. J. Altizer. The search for faith is nonetheless very real in this strange territory. Dunster hears her autistic Gxd speaking in art, poetry, novels, and music; and this further leads her into the territory of Literature, Theology, and the Arts, where, in Blanchot's words, "the answer is the poem's absence." Indeed, Dunster calls the book "a strange poem, or even a hymn." Weaving an autistic mythology out of a rigorous survey of clinical autism, this book abounds in challenge and paradox. It offers a fascinating view into how an autistic poet becomes a theologian; and what more mainstream theologies might learn from this "disabled Gxd.
Ruth Burrows is the pen name of Sister Rachel, OCD, a nun in the Carmelite monastery in Quidenham, England, and the author of more than a dozen books on prayer and the mystical life. Describing the central theme that runs throughout her work, she writes: "God offers himself in total love to each one of us. Our part is to open our hearts to receive the gift." That theme is reflected in the writings assembled here.
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