Innocence Uncovered

"'What, then, is innocence?' The question echoes that of Augustine on time, and there are no quick and easy answers. Yet the essays in this book, as an exemplary exercise in the interdisciplinary study of literature and religion, offer a rich and challenging response to that question. Beginning with the Bible, they engage with the problem of innocence though a range of literary texts that recover or explore the scriptural and historical roots of the idea of innocence that are too often forgotten in Christian theology. Rooted in these literary texts the book is aglow with theological and imaginative insights." - David Jasper, Professor of Literature and Theology, University of Glasgow

"While the best work in theology, the arts, and the humanities has long recognized the complexity of innocence, there have been too many occasions in which the concept has been idealized, distorted or dismissed. The last of these responses has been especially common in recent years, with scholars seeming to fear that an interest in innocence might risk the accusation of academic naivety. But as this rich and insightful collection makes clear, innocence can be thought about in all sorts of fruitful ways and deserves our sustained attention. With a careful eye to matters of form, history and theology, the contributors assembled here do a wonderful job of helping us to realize why the concept of innocence has the rich history it does, and why it deserves to be thought about anew. This is an important and rewarding collection." - Mark Knight, Lancaster University