The Forsaken Son

“Serious, illuminating, and provocative, The Forsaken Son offers a thought-provoking examination of a vexed issue in Christian theology—the understanding of Christ’s atonement through death on the cross and resurrection—and a cogent reading of six novels that, explicitly or implicitly, engage this theological theme.”
—Paul J. Contino, coauthor of Bakhtin and Religion: A Feeling for Faith
 

"Pederson’s study makes a significant contribution to the growing field of post secular literary studies. Contrary to formerly dominant narratives purporting that modernity was characterized by the thoroughgoing disenchantment of American culture, Pederson adeptly demonstrates that theological concerns were, and remain, a central and consistent preoccupation of the nation’s leading novelists. Pederson also commendably eschews critical concerns about the intentional fallacy and a discourse beholden to the death of the author. Instead, he ably returns to a form of biographical criticism that shows how each author’s upbringing and complicated personal relationship with Christianity fundamentally influences the content of their art and their take on American culture." —Christianity and Literature 

“Intriguing, original, persuasive. Critical writing at its highest pitch.” —Joyce Carol Oates 

"In this interrogation of child murder in six great American writers, Pederson finds theological critiques of Christian redemptive violence, and, in those critiques, a profound affirmation of life. It is a passionate, sophisticated, and compassionate wedding of literary art to theology." —Rita Nakashima Brock, co-author of Saving Paradise

"This study is ambitious and full of conviction; its research is thorough, and its central argument convincing and stimulating." —ALH Online Review