Theological Interpretation of Culture in Post-Communist Context: Central and East European Search for Roots

Twenty years after the fall of communism in Central and East Europe is an ocassion to reevaluate the cultural and theological contribution from that region to the secularisation - post-secularisation debate. Czech theologian Ivana Noble develops a Trinitarian theology through a close dialogue with literature, music and film, which formed not only alternatives to totalitarian ideologies, but also followed the loss and reappeareance of belief in God. Noble explains that, by listening to the artists, the churches and theologians can deal with questions about the nature of the world, memory and ultimate fulfilment in a more nuanced way. Then, as partakers in the search undertaken by their secular and post-secular contemporaries, theologians can penetrate a new depth of meaning, sending out shoots from the stump of Christian symbolism. Drawing on the rich cultures of Central and East Europe and both Western and Eastern theological traditions, this book presents a theological reading of contemporary culture which is important not just for post-Communist countries but for all who are engaged in the debate on the boundaries between theology, politics and arts.

About the Author

Ivana Noble (DolejÅ¡ovà) is a Czech theologian, a graduate of the Hussite Theological Faculty in Prague, where she finished her Masters degree just after the fall of Communism. She completed her doctoral studies at Heythrop College in London with a thesis Account of Hope: A Problem of Method in Postmodern Apologia (published in 2001). In 1994-2000 she was Director of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies in Prague, which she co-founded. During that time she wrote also her habilitation work, published in Czech as Po BozÃ-ch stopàch: Teologie jako interpretace nàbozenské zkuÅ¡enosti (in 2004), which has now been published in English under the title Tracking God: Ecumenical Fundamental Theology (2010). She is a former president of Societas Oecumenica, the European association for ecumenical theology and author of numerous articles on the hermeneutics of Christian tradition, the dialogue between philosophy, theology and arts, as well as on theological responses to totalitarian thinking and the secularization - post-secularization debate. Currently she works as an associate professor of Ecumenical Theology at the Protestant Theological Faculty of Charles University and is also a Senior Research Fellow at the International Baptist Seminary in Prague, Czech Republic.