'Y Wladfa: Settlement without colonisation?' Geraldine Lublin (2009)

In this article Myfanwy Miles Jones analyses Büchner’s portrayal of the central character’s developing psychosis in the light of R. D. Laing’s existential psychiatric theory. Observing the progressive nature of Büchner’s dramatisation of the depth and coplexity of the human mind in turn reveals the formal limitations of drama in the Nineteenth Century. Setting Woyczeck in the context of Szondi’s formal analysis of modern drama, the article argues that Büchner’s treatment of madness casts new light on the formal development of modernist drama and argues that the fact that the play is unfinished is an inevitable consequence of the project itself, given that the formal resolution of the dramatic situation required the existence of conditions which had not at that time come into being.

A version of this article appeared originally in The SCM Core Text on World Christianity in the 20th Century, co-authored with Dr Martin Conway (London: SCM Press 2008). Having set the debate between Science and Christianity in its historical context, it explores a range of contemporary scientific questions such as Quantum Theory and Relativity, Cosmology, The discovery of DNA, Genetic Manipulation and Advances in Medical Treatment. The final section examines Roman Catholic responses, Evangelical and fundamentalist approaches and ecumenical responses to some of these key issues. The article concludes by affirming that an engagement between Christian theology and contemporary developments in science is essential if the contemporary articulation of faith is to have meaning and coherence.