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" Misty Transcendence and the Irony of (Dis)belief "
Nick Barrett
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AL
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| Record Number
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1073312
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| Doc. No
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LA116941
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| Call No
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10.1163/15697312-01302017
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Main Entry
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Nick Barrett
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| Title & Author
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Misty Transcendence and the Irony of (Dis)belief [Article]\ Nick Barrett
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| Publication Statement
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Leiden: Brill
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| Title of Periodical
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Journal of Reformed Theology
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| Date
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2019
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| Volume/ Issue Number
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13/2
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| Page No
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135–148
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| Abstract
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In the late 1970s and ’80s, a new generation of Chinese poets emerged with a powerful critique of the state’s aggressive political reforms. After the 1976 Tiananmen Square incident, the Bejing poet Zaho Zhenkai (known as Bei Dao) wrote a startling poem titled “The Answer” about his refusal to believe in the unquestioned ultimacy of China’s worldview. Bei Dao’s unique style of poetry helped readers make new associations that were otherwise inaccessible to them. This article examines Bei Dao’s use of metaphor in “The Answer” through the lens of the aesthetic philosopher Lambert Zuidervaart and suggests that the poet’s use of self-controverting metaphors makes an absent reality graspable and present. The article then considers the role of public theology as it listens to the witness of the poet’s bewildering evocation of accessing “the real” through disbelief. In consideration of Herman Bavinck’s essay On Contemporary Ethics, this article suggests that theologians (and religious practitioners) should resist the temptation to control the artist’s expression even when it limps with narcissism and moral deficiency. Instead, the theologian (and the church) should fight alongside the artist in helping them to share their staggering vision or, in Bei Dao’s case, the transcendent power of resiliency sustained by the shadows of the dead. This article aims to generate a fruitful dialogue between Bei Dao and the Reformed theological tradition that underscores the uncanny importance of disbelief as an alternative strategy for cultural transformation and faithful proclamation. In the late 1970s and ’80s, a new generation of Chinese poets emerged with a powerful critique of the state’s aggressive political reforms. After the 1976 Tiananmen Square incident, the Bejing poet Zaho Zhenkai (known as Bei Dao) wrote a startling poem titled “The Answer” about his refusal to believe in the unquestioned ultimacy of China’s worldview. Bei Dao’s unique style of poetry helped readers make new associations that were otherwise inaccessible to them. This article examines Bei Dao’s use of metaphor in “The Answer” through the lens of the aesthetic philosopher Lambert Zuidervaart and suggests that the poet’s use of self-controverting metaphors makes an absent reality graspable and present. The article then considers the role of public theology as it listens to the witness of the poet’s bewildering evocation of accessing “the real” through disbelief. In consideration of Herman Bavinck’s essay On Contemporary Ethics, this article suggests that theologians (and religious practitioners) should resist the temptation to control the artist’s expression even when it limps with narcissism and moral deficiency. Instead, the theologian (and the church) should fight alongside the artist in helping them to share their staggering vision or, in Bei Dao’s case, the transcendent power of resiliency sustained by the shadows of the dead. This article aims to generate a fruitful dialogue between Bei Dao and the Reformed theological tradition that underscores the uncanny importance of disbelief as an alternative strategy for cultural transformation and faithful proclamation.
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| Descriptor
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aesthetics
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disbelief
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irony
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poetry
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Reformed theology
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theology
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transcendence
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| Location & Call number
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10.1163/15697312-01302017
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