People of the Book: Christian Identity and Literary Culture (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780802841773)

This astute and challenging work by David Lyle Jeffrey seeks to characterize illustratively the historic commitment of Christianity to the literacy and literature of Western culture.

Against postmodernist tendencies to divide the historical commitment to meaning in Western art and literature as a regressive "logocentrism," Jeffrey argues that the biblical tradition -- the cultural and literary identity forged among Western Christians by virtue of being a "People of the Book" -- has in fact given rise to Western literacy. Jeffrey here offers a fresh and generous look at the Christian "grand narrative" as it is reflected in Western literature, making apt use of the visual arts by incorporating a series of twenty-eight black-and-white illustrations that serves to enrich and fortify the story it tells.

Author: David Lyle Jeffrey
ISBN-10: 0802841775
ISBN-13: 9780802841773
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Language: English
Published: 08/08/1996
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.20d

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 09/01/1996 pg. 38
Books & Culture 01/01/2002 pg. 34