Since the recent success of the TV series The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood—who has always enjoyed an enthusiastic “fan base” and coterie of admiring readers—has gained a renewed prominence and her work has entered into a kind of renaissance as readers (re)discover her extensive catalogue of writings, including novels, essays, short stories, poetry, and other edited pieces.  

This call is for abstracts of proposed chapters in an edited volume dedicated broadly to the examination of Atwood’s writings through a theological/ religious/ spiritual lens.  The edited collection will be volume in the Theology and Pop Culture series and is now under contract.

Whether the author claims (or not) any religious affiliation, Atwood’s works are replete with explorations of theological topics, including:

~~ meaning and order in the universe

~~ what does it mean to be human and what characterizes human nature

~~ the matter of evil (dystopian theodicy)

~~ free will/ fate/ destiny

~~ anthropocentricism and the animal kingdom

~~ eco-spirituality

~~ gender and matters of identity (and meaning)

~~ death and rebirth

~~ the mortal and the divine

~~ theologies of time, space/place, prophecy

This call encourages submissions from a range of theoretical models and modalities and will welcome inquiries from newly-minted and independent scholars as well as faculty researchers. Particular attention will be accorded to those proposals that focus on Atwood writings other than The Handmaid’s Tale although abstracts about the novel and TV show will of course be considered. A current CV must accompany an abstract of no less than 300 words and all documentation should be sent as a pdf file or Word doc to greeleyj@sacredheart.edu by August 10, 2021.