Sublime Virtue

'Andrew Shanks is one of the most radically original theologians I know: his writing is invariably a summons to greater integrity and bolder imagination. This book examines what the idea of holiness does and doesn't mean, and is a model of depth, engagement and insight. A wonderful book.'

Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury

‘All too often the Church has used sainthood as a propaganda device to market its wares. What if saints – rather like the God they reveal – are simply too strange and too unruly to be used as marketing tools for “authorised” holiness? That’s just one of the questions Andrew Shanks addresses in this wonderfully troubling and original study of literature’s genius for exposing the inner workings of grace, of human failure, and our capacity for the sublime. These bracing, witty and perceptive readings of what Shanks calls “sacramental novels” will lead you not only to see them with fresh eyes, but to reconsider your conception of sainthood.’

Rachel Mann, Archdeacon of Salford and Bolton

‘Andrew Shanks is as bracing and prophetic as always in this deft and original analysis of the nature of sainthood as exemplified in the modern novel from George Eliot’s Middlemarch to the horrors of Yiyum Li’s The Vagrants. We are called to recognise a sublime virtue combining the disruptive energy of Amos, with the accepting compassion of Isaiah’s suffering servant. Those of us within institutions need to listen to his uncompromising voice.’

Alison Milbank, Professor of Theology and Literature, University of Nottingham