The Autism of Gxd: An Atheological Love Story
Ebook
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."
“This book is about two great mysteries—God and that human condition which we call autism—and how they are linked. As we read this extraordinary work, our narrow band of social normality and comprehension is expanded and we are called to be attentive to new, broader, and more profound ways of seeing and knowing.”
—David Jasper, University of Glasgow
“Ruth Dunster has written a profoundly rewarding and challenging book. . . . She crafts a contemporary hermeneutic to consider the question that if autism is an aspect of being human, and if humans are made in the image and likeness of God, what might this say about the nature of God? Dunster’s use of language will be unfamiliar to many, but for all it will open new and valuable insights.”
—Robert A. Gillies, University of Glasgow
“Ruth Dunster is a leading light within the growing area of theology and autism. This book is fascinating, deep, challenging, and revealing. When you put it down, you see both theology and autism in a different light. That is no small gift. This work is an important addition to the field.”
—John Swinton, King’s College University of Aberdeen
- Title: The Autism of Gxd: An Atheological Love Story
- Authors: David Jasper, Ruth M. Dunster
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2022
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781725268340, 9781725268333, 9781725268357, 1725268345, 1725268337, 1725268353
- Resource ID: LLS:9781725268340
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-01-18T21:49:37Z
Ruth M. Dunster, a poet, teacher, and theologian, was diagnosed with autism in her forties. Her theological journey has been, firstly, to liberate herself from theologies which have failed her, and secondly, to make sense of the hidden autism in her own work. She continues to research autism, theology, and the poetics of theology, and to suggest ways in which mainstream theologies can learn from marginal spaces. She is most comfortable describing herself as an atheologian. She lives in the Highlands of Scotland.