Through the Dark Field: The Incarnation through an Aesthetics of Vulnerability

by Susie Paulik Babka

Overview

Theological discourse in the West has consistently valued the word over the image. Aesthetics, which discerns the criteria and value of the beautiful and what "pleases the senses," is the discipline that prioritizes sensual intelligence over the rational; this book advocates a reconsideration of the doctrine of the incarnation through an aesthetics of vulnerability, in which the ethical optics of attention to the vulnerable other becomes the standpoint in which to ponder the significance of "God became human." Relying on such diverse thinkers as Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Blanchot, Karl Rahner, and Masao Abe, Susie Paulik Babka explores visual art, images, and poetry as theological sources, designating what Blanchot called "a region where impossibility is no longer deprivation, but affirmation."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814680988
Publisher:	Liturgical Press
Publication date:	01/13/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	338
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Susie Paulik Babka received the PhD from the University of Notre Dame and is an associate professor in theology and religious studies at the University of San Diego. She has published several articles exploring a range of subjects concerning theological aesthetics, which include the relationship between Christology and popular culture and suffering and art in feminist theology, as well as Buddhist-Christian conversations on kenosis and emptiness.  

Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction: The Landscape of the New
Chapter One: Theology, Vulnerability, and Art as the Consciousness of Grief
Chapter Two: Christology Positive and Im-positive
Chapter Three: Sensibility to Vulnerability in the Form of Art
Chapter Four: Visual Art as a Resource for Theology of the Incarnation
Chapter Five: Beyond Language, Beyond Reason: Vulnerability, Art, and the Problem of Catastrophic Suffering
Chapter Six: The Presence of the Absent God: Incarnation and Abstract Expressionism
Select Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Through the Dark Field is a grace-filled indictment of any easy answer to catastrophic suffering. Susie Paulik Babka's call for each one of us to open to an absurd sort of excess, an overflowing of not knowing, of disorienting vulnerability, the abyss between me and you, is poetic and haunting. In the end, Babka creates a theology of the incarnation that witnesses to the suffering other. Even in our failures, and there are many, we are called to witness to the incarnation by witnessing to all others' suffering, ultimately emptied for the other. This witness is made urgent by Babka's passion for the promise of the visual arts and her sophisticated command of continental theory."
Michele Saracino, Professor and Chair of the Religious Studies Department, Manhattan College



"Beautifully written, Through the Dark Field draws the reader in and calls to conversion. Susie Paulik Babka effortlessly weaves together diverse sources—phenomenology, expressionist art, and Christian theology—in a way that disrupts privileged certainty with compassionate vulnerability. Echoing the artists she engages, her constructive retrieval of the doctrine of the incarnation refuses easy answers to life's difficult questions, challenging the comfortable to do more than look at suffering. This is truly a stunning example of interdisciplinary Christian theological scholarship! Don't miss it!"
Elisabeth T. Vasko, Associate Professor of Theology, Director of Undergraduate Studies in Theology, Duquesne University



"The doctrine about incarnation is not the real thing. How, then, do we approach the presence of a God so self-emptied as to appear absent? The way must involve encounter, engage the muscle of the mind that makes images, and transcend the images. Susie Paulik Babka leads us on this way, accompanied by Masaccio's bringing God into our space, by Chagall's association of Jesus with ravaged Jews throughout history, by Rothko's mystical negation of representation itself. This meditative, analytical, affective, personal, penetrating, philosophically learned, aesthetically astute, dialectical, and elegantly written approach to God through the visual arts breaks new ground and should inspire the whole field of constructive theology in our present age."
Roger Haight, SJ, Union Theological Seminary



"A truly profound and thought-provoking study that probes the meaning and existential significance of the incarnation via a gripping engagement with systematic, philosophical, and comparative theology, drawn together via the medium of aesthetics. A highly original work that will prove an invaluable addition to any class in such fields. This stunning monograph will transform how you think and feel alike."
Gerard Mannion, Amaturo Chair in Catholic Studies, Georgetown University


"Babka has produced a beautifully written book on the complex relationship between art, theology, and vulnerability, which also offers a commentary on recent religious extremism and violence. Recommended for college and university libraries."
Terry Maksymowych, Catholic Library World


"This work is a call for theology to risk being vulnerable, to step into the void in order to witness and respond to the stranger, the infinite Other, and the "God past all grasp.' A relevant addition to university and seminary libraries."
Anglican Theological Review


"Through the Dark Field is an original and insightful work in constructive theology. Babka's language and style of writing lead the reader to spaces of unknowing, to voids where certainty falls away and only questions remain. This book makes a valuable contribution to interdisciplinary Christian theological scholarship and will provide both theologians and artists with valuable insight for their work."
Horizons

From the Publisher