The Wizard’s Illusion

Book excerpt: In a world of increasingly strident identity politics, a theological approach, claiming no more than the outworking of subjectivist sentiment, offers no remedy. What if a key factor in this predicament is a misrepresentation of the operation of metaphor? This acknowledged building-block of language looks set to become a mere component of the wearer's spectacles. The consequences for theology, philosophy, literature, and even the sciences are yet to be charted. This book takes readers on a journey to the Land of Oz and asks whether our culture, while discarding past errors, can reconnect with the spiritual bonds that underpin language, truth in its various forms, and identity. Companions on the road are Dorothy and her friends, Sallie McFague and the Wizard, Paul Ricœur and C. S. Lewis, and others.