Imagination and sabbath in Wendell Berry's fiction

This thesis examines the intersection of sabbath and imagination in the fiction of Wendell Berry. The primary claim of this project is that imagination in Berry’s thought is a participation in divine vision grounded in love. The first part of this work explores the work of imagination in Berry’s thought, situating him within theological discourse on imagination then challenging a common approach to Berry’s imagination: sacramentality. I argue that participation is a more accurate framework for understanding imagination in Berry’s thought. Berry’s imagination is then set within a framework of sabbath, a doctrine that underpins much of his thought. Ultimately, Berry frames imagination as a loving participation in divine vision that manifests God’s peace within creation. This approach is then examined considering two critical dimensions of Berry’s fiction: time and place. In time, sabbath imagination is at work in storytelling. His fiction participates in this vision by revealing reality’s wholeness in an essentially imaginative register. Spatially, the sabbath imagination is expressed through placemaking: attentive and loving inhabitation of land and community. Storytelling and placemaking highlight Berry’s unique approach to imagination. For him, ethics and aesthetics are both grounded in imagination. Love, for Berry, thus grounds imaginative vision and orients perceivers towards attentive action. Ultimately, this thesis shows that Berry’s approach to imagination offers a theologically grounded and phenomenologically astute framework that expands conversations in theology, imagination, and Berry studies.