Modernism and Theology

This is the first book-length study to examine the interface between literary andtheological modernisms. It provides a comprehensive account of literaryresponses to the modernist crisis in Christian theology from a transnational andinterdenominational perspective. It offers a cultural history of the period,considering a wide range of literary and historical sources, including novels,drama, poetry, literary criticism, encyclicals, theological and philosophicaltreatises, periodical publications, and wartime propaganda. By contextualisingliterary modernism within the cultural, religious, and political landscape, thebook reveals fundamental yet largely forgotten connections between literary andtheological modernisms. It shows that early-twentieth-century authors, poets,and critics, including Rainer Maria Rilke, T. S. Eliot, and Czes?aw Mi?osz, activelyengaged with the debates between modernist and neo-scholastic theologiansraging across Europe. These debates contributed to developing new ways of thinking about the relationship between religion and literature, and informedcontemporary critical writings on aesthetics and poetics.