Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

worldviews in Western thought. The three worldviews are relational theology, transcendent theology, and
tragic theology. Relational theology is attributed to American writer and thinker William James that
suggests to find meaning in life a person relies on human relationships and community. Transcendental
theology is attributed to medieval philosopher and religious figure Saint Augustine and suggests for finding
meaning in life one must look outside the world to a transcendent being or belief system. Tragic theology is
attributed to notable Western theologian of the 20 th century Paul Tillich. Another way to think of tragic
theology is to think of the existential hero in Literature because the word „tragic‟ can be misleading. Tragic
theology suggests the human being has to have the courage to accept life‟s limitations and mysteries and
carry on in spite of them. I would like to mention here that these are the three dominant religious
worldviews in Western thought according to Ledbetter, and it is not my position to dispute these three
religious worldviews or assert their correctness, but rather to address how they apply to literary analysis.
Now I would like to take a little bit of time to explain some of Ernest Becker‟s work. Ernest
Becker is a notable social theorist who researched how human beings fear death because they know they will
die and as a result, human beings desperately want to grasp, and live the safe, secure, and meaningful life.
To have the secure and meaningful life, we struggle to symbolically transcend our finitude and limitations.
Culture can serve as a medium through which we can assure our lives count and even feel larger than life.
Our cultural symbols and ideologies present us with the schemes to which we can build up an immortality
strategy. As Becker explains in Escape from Evil,
Man transcends death not only by continuing to feed his appetites, but especially by finding a
meaning for his life, some kind of larger scheme into which he fits … This is how man assures the
expansive meaning to his life in the face of the real limitations of his body; the “immortal self” can
take very spiritual forms, and spirituality is not a simple reflex of hunger and fear. It is an
expression of the will to live, the burning desire of the creature to count, to make a difference on
the planet because he has lived, has emerged on it, and has worked, suffered and died. (3)
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