(2007)
Broken Hallelujah offers a unique perspective on one of the most prolific and celebrated twentieth-century European writers, Nikos Kazantzakis. Marking the fiftieth anniversary of Kazantzakis's death, Darren J. N. Middleton looks back on Kazantzakis's life and literary art to suggest that, contrary to popular belief, Kazantzakis and his views actually comport with the ideals of Christianity. As a theologian, Middleton approaches Kazantzakis as as a broadly sympathetic spiritual seeker rather than the traditional religious villain as he is routinely portrayed. Based on archival work conducted at the Kazantzakis library in Iraklion and at various monasteries on Mt. Athos, Middleton finds important connections between Kazantzakis's work and key themes in Eastern Orthodox theology, especially the "hesychastic" and "apophatic" traditions. This book advances modern Greek studies as well as general theological studies by acknowledging and celebrating Kazantzakis's clear if admittedly uneasy alliance with Christianity. Broken Hallelujah is a fascinating text that will interest scholars in Christianity and Literature studies, as well as those thinking through the faith in this era.
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journal of modern greek studies 28.1 (2010)
“Middleton’s studies are themselves full of subtle thinking that articulates specific theological questions with their own semantic structure. The reader can sense how Middleton himself struggles to reconcile traditional and postmodern theological thinking. The tension in his own work shows an active conscience in its systematic effort to take Christian tradition seriously, following Kazantzakis’s example. His book is a valuable and original contribution, not simply to the interpretation of Kazantzakis’s work, but to the overall postmodern condition of constructing arguments about the theological past and to the art of articulating statements about things that do not belong to the provenance of language.”