Full Description
Wagner's Ring addresses fundamental concerns that have faced humanity down the centuries, such as power and violence, love and death, freedom and fate. Further, the work seems particularly relevant today, addressing as it does the fresh debates around the created order, politics, gender, and sexuality. In this second of two volumes on the theology of the Ring, Richard Bell argues that Wagner's approach to these issues may open up new ways forward and offer a fresh perspective on some of the traditional questions of theology, such as sacrifice, redemption, and fundamental questions about God. A linchpin for Bell's approach is viewing the Ring in the light of the Jesus of Nazareth sketches, which, he argues, confirms that the artwork does indeed address questions of Christian theology, for those inside and outside the church.
Contents
List of Musical Examples | viii
List of Figures | viii
Preface | ix
Acknowledgements | xi
Abbreviations | xiii
1 Introduction to the Theology of the Ring | 1
2 Jesus of Nazareth Sketches | 3
3 God and the Gods | 19
4 Nature | 52
5 Fall, Power, Desecration of Nature, and Capitalism | 89
6 Love | 113
7 Sexual Ethics and Law | 172
8 Death and Immortality | 189
9 Freedom, Necessity, and Providence | 207
10 Siegfried and Brünnhilde | 219
11 Redemption | 245
12 Aesthetics, Allegory, and Myth | 277
Bibliography | 289
Index of Authors | 307
Index of Biblical Texts | 313
Index of Wagner's Works | 317
Index of Subjects and Names | 321
