The Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming [Paperback]

Catherine Keller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0415256496 | ISBN-13: 978-0415256490 | Edition: 1

This is a groundbreaking, highly original work of postmodern feminist theology from one of the most important authors in the field. The Face of the Deep deconstructs the Christian doctrine of creation which claims that a transcendent Lord unilaterally created the universe out of nothing. Catherine Keller's impassioned, graceful meditation develops an alternative representation of the cosmic creative process, drawing upon Hebrew myths of creation, from chaos, and engaging with the political and the mystical, the literary and the scientific, the sexual and the racial.
As a landmark work of immense significance for Jewish and Christian theology, gender studies, literature, philosophy and ecology, The Face of the Deep takes our originary story to a new horizon, rewriting the starting point for Western spiritual discourse.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Keller offers a challenging contribution to a wide range of contemporary thinkers and concerns ... this book succeeds in articulating a spirited return for the becoming of theology.' - Reviews in Religion and Theology

'Face of the deep is a tour de force. Written in her own inimitable style ... Keller's profound meditations lure the reader toward a creative transformation of self and society.' - Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter

About the Author

Catherine Keller is Professor of Constructive Theology at Drew University and Executive Director of the Drew Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquim. She is the author of numerous works in philosophical theology, including From a Broken Web, Apocalypse Now and Then; and co-editor of Process and Difference.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (March 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415256496
• ISBN-13: 978-0415256490
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #377,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant example of constructive theology, December 10, 2003

By 

Marion S. Grau "holy_fool" (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming (Paperback)

Catherine Keller is one of the most powerful theologians to write in our time. Her thorough, creative, brilliant and intensely attentive reexamination of the most common and traditional assumptions and dogmatic formations regarding creation is one of the most important contributions to contemporary theology.
She has read widely and deeply to bring into deep and effective conversation with theology recent developments in chaos and complexity science, literary theory, race and gender studies as well as issues concerning ecology and economy. For anybody who is interested in how science and religion might communicate today around issues of the universe as creation, this is one of the important books to consider. Keller effectively makes the case that what most of 'orthodox' theology has assumed as 'fact', a 'creaton out of nothing,' is in fact a later development and not supported in the biblical text. Rather, the biblical text, as well as a fair number of theologians in early Christianity and Judaism knew of a different account, where God's spirit hovers over the watery, resonant, responsive Deep. Keller argues further that a theology that must affirm a 'creation out of nothing' where God is the only, unilateral agent, whether found in conservative or liberal/liberationist circles ends up reinscribing a unilaterally acting God, a macho bully, perhaps even, that in the end does not allow creation to respond and interact in a way that affirms God's profound, inviting love to all creation.
Keller argues that this erection of the masculine God is performed over the dismembered body of a female goddess, as well as the suppression of women and femininity in the deep, the sea that was inscribed as squishy, wet, squirmy, hiding abominable monsters. Futhermore, Keller describes how racism as in the case of 'light supremacism' of Christianity often has linked light and dark with skincolor, moral valor, and goodness. Keller encourages us to 'face the deep' in our own selves, so we can repent of forms of racism and sexism, internalized and externalized, and embrace, more deeply our own and others' multifaceted selves. This, she suggests, will allow us to more fully hear, respond and engage God's consistent lure, God's complex invitation to live and love our lives to the fullest, and to heal and be healed in the process.

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating Chaos!, April 2, 2003

By 

Michael Lodahl (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming (Paperback)

No one writing in contemporary theology writes like Catherine Keller writes. Her often dense prose always rewards the careful reader with creative insights lodged in clever puns, subtle humor and deft literary, philosophical and psychological references.

Having tackled the "end of the world" in her previous book, Apocalypse Now and Then, Keller has in this volume shifted her acute attention to the story and mythology of beginnings as narrated in Genesis 1, and as richly, diversely interpreted in both the Jewish and Christian traditions.

I know of no one who can read (and write) a text with more wit, theological acumen and love of language than Catherine Keller. You must be willing to read carefully, slowly, allowing her dense imagery to soak into your head. But if you do, you will emerge from the swirling chaos a better, more profound human being.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Each page is teeming with so many stunning and wonder-inducing insights, February 11, 2007

By 

Hector Lasala (USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming (Paperback)

I want to concur with the previous reviewers: reading this book is to experience an avalanche of awe!

Each page is teeming with so many stunning and wonder-inducing insights that one has to remind oneself to breath.

Keller has here unshackled theology from the sterile mis-reading of the second verse of the first chapter of Genesis:

one that has blinded generations upon generations to the maternal dimension of the creation dance.

May this lucidity incite us all to plunge deep into baptizing waters that are at once chaotic and life-giving,

and thus, the matrix of all becoming.