Download or read book Tradition and Imagination:Revelation and Change written by David Brown and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2004-08-19 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tradition and revelation are often seen as opposites: tradition is viewed as secondary and reactionary in relation to revelation which is a one-off gift from God. Drawing on examples from Christian history, Judaism, Islam, and theclassical world this book challenges these definitions and presents a controversial examination of the effect history and cultural development has on religious belief: its narratives and art.David Brown pays close attention to the nature of the relationship between historical and imaginative truth, and focuses on the way stories from the Bible have not stood still but are subject to imaginative 'rewriting'. This rewriting is explained as a natural consequence of the interaction between religion and history: God speaks to humanity through the imagination, and human imagination is influenced by historical context. It is the imagination that ensures that religion continues to developin new and challenging ways.