Author: David Rosenberg

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 564

ISBN-13: 9780385474849

Bestselling author David Rosenberg ("The Book of J, written with Harold Bloom) has used his penetrating insight and ecumenical scholarship to bring together a spirited congregation of our most interesting, provocative and beloved literary writers to explore the Christian bible--the Old and New Testaments--in their lives. In a dazzling collection of original essays that are by turns illuminating, reflective, deeply personal and always revealing, writers as diverse as Joyce Carol Oates and Kathleen Norris, David Bradley and Michael Dorris, search out the literary traditions and spiritual meanings of specific books of the Bible-from Genesis to Ecclesiastes, from the Gospel According to Saint Matthew to the Gospel According to John-and examine how they conflict with, challenge, contradict or elucidate their work, their inner lives and the world around them. Entitled "Communion, the collection embraces writers from a wide variety of (primarily) Christian backgrounds; some remain deeply religious, while others have fallen away from the traditions and spirit of organized religion. But for each, the Bible has had a lasting and often pivotal influence on their writing and their thought. A bold and imaginative examination of the Bible in contemporary life, "Communion is nothing less than a literary and intellectual feast."