Owen Meaney as Atonement Figure: How He Saves

Abstract

In Images of Redemption, Patrick Sherry displays the reciprocal relationship of literature and theology. The essay applies this complementary relationship in asking about an atonement motif reflected in the death of the eponymous Christ figure in John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany. The analysis reveals that Irving assumes a traditional satisfaction atonement image, which adds a new element to the literature on the novel, but also illuminates a characteristic of this atonement motif. These insights also explain two points of ambiguity raised by other interpreters, showing that in fact the questions are unanswerable within the theological framework assumed by Irving.