Unimaginable Variations: Christian Responsibility in the Cinema of Broken Identity

This paper addresses the combination of theology and humanism by reflecting on Christian identity. Beginning with Paul Ricoeur's theory of fiction as a laboratory of ‘imaginative variations’ on the possibilities of ethical selfhood, I ask: if the world projected by the Christian scriptures over...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Literature and theology
Main Author: Whitehouse, Glenn (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Oxford University Press 2004
In: Literature and theology
Year: 2004, Volume: 18, Issue: 3, Pages: 321-350
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
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Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
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Summary:This paper addresses the combination of theology and humanism by reflecting on Christian identity. Beginning with Paul Ricoeur's theory of fiction as a laboratory of ‘imaginative variations’ on the possibilities of ethical selfhood, I ask: if the world projected by the Christian scriptures overturns human possibilities, what happens to the Christian self's ethical responsibility' I analyse the motion pictures Fight Club, Memento, and The Matrix to interpret extreme cases or ‘unimaginable variations’ on the theme of conversion among broken, fragmented, and manipulated selves. I argue that The Matrix presents a form of conversion most conducive to fulfilling ethical responsibility.
ISSN:1477-4623
Contains:Enthalten in: Literature and theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/litthe/18.3.321