Providence,irony and belief

Abstract

Abstract

This paper compares views of purposiveness and providence in Thomas Hardy's literary world (as influenced by Darwin) with the theology of Karl Barth. Although this brings different kinds of texts and very different readings of reality into relation with each other, the comparison demonstrates common concerns: the high value given to particularity, and a similar use of irony and absence to convey transcendent meaning. In the light of this exploration it is possible to suggest some ways in which theistic belief in divine action has been displaced, rather than eliminated, in late modernity.