Flannery O'Connor: The Gospel and the Imagination

Speaker(s): Ralph Wood
Date: July 9-20, 2012
Length: 18h49min
Product ID: RGDL4214S

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Description

This is an intensive study of the life and work of Flannery O'Connor, who is arguably the most important Christian literary artist thus far produced by either the United States or Canada. By examining her essays, letters, and fiction, Ralph Wood tries to determine the character of such a singular achievement. He seeks thus to discover why her work, precisely because of its angularity and grotesqueness, has had such a lasting impact on our churches and our culture. This requires an examination of her mastery of both literary craft and theological learning. The overall aim of this course is thus not only to understand O'Connor as a powerful witness to the Gospel, but also to prompt our own imaginative apprehension and expression of the good news. Lectures include:

Introduction to O'Connor's Life and Work
Discussion of Central Concerns
Various O'Connor Writings
"A Good Man is Hard to Find", "The River", and "A Temple of the Holy Ghost"
"The Artificial Nigger", "Good Country People", and "The Displaced Person"
"Everything that Rises Must Converge", "Greenleaf", and "The Enduring Chill"
"Greenleaf" and "The Enduring Chill"
"Revelation" and "Parker's Back"
"Wise Blood"
"The Violent Bear It Away"

See All Audio by Ralph Wood

Ralph C. Wood is University Professsor of Theology and Literature at Baylor University. There he has taught award-winning courses that are devoted to the relation of Christian faith to imaginitive literature. He is the author of The Comedy of Redemption: Christian Faith and Comic Vision in Four American Novelists., Contending for the Faith: The Church's Engagement with Culture, The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth and Flannery O'Connor and the Christ-Haunted South.