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This thesis compares and contrasts the writings of Clarence Jordan and Flannery O'Connor, two twentieth century public figures from the state of Georgia who were contemporaries of each other, and who wrote from a religious perspective. This thesis will use a historical-biographical approach to examine the many similarities in their critiques of the culture of the American South, especially their shared criticism of racial segregation, while also highlighting differences in their respective approaches. In examining these differences of approach, this thesis will pay special attention to the differences in their theology (Jordan being a Baptist, O'Connor a Catholic) and in their public roles (Jordan being primarily an activist, O'Connor a literary artist). Finally, this thesis will use close readings of the two author's published texts to make a broad, general argument about the state of the religious culture of the American South of their time, as well as the nature of Jordan's and O'Connor's own dissent from that prevailing consensus. Namely, the case will be made that their own emphasis on two different, but equally robust interpretations of Christian eschatology and teleology led them both into conflict with the prevailing culture's emphasis on a more rigid adherence to established social and cultural norms.
Advisor: | Rieger, Christopher |
Commitee: | Gentry, Bruce W., Pflueger, Pennie, Rieger, Christopher |
School: | Southeast Missouri State University |
Department: | College of Liberal Arts |
School Location: | United States -- Missouri |
Source: | MAI 58/06M(E), Masters Abstracts International |
Source Type: | DISSERTATION |
Subjects: | Comparative literature, Religion, American literature |
Keywords: | American South, Jordan, Clarence, O'Connor, Flannery, Race, Religion |
Publication Number: | 13814913 |
ISBN: | 978-1-392-27724-9 |