At least for some theological interpreters of his novels, Nikos Kazantzakis stands out as a spiritual frontiersman grappling in his own searchingly honest way with intense problems of the spirit. The main theological problem in his work is his assertion that we are "saviors of God." Insofar as he struggles to understand "God," a theological reading of his work is appropriate. Although many scholars claim that Kazantzakis was an atheist, it is possible to interpret his creative writing as the anguish of an "antitheist" in search of a credible ontology of God. This is evidenced in Kazantzakis's own theistic vision, which may be termed "relational," which means that deity and the world are striving ceaselessly to surpass earlier stages of their own development. In this view, salvation is understood as a dialogical process. God "panentheistically" embraces the creative advance, setting us free, and we, by plunging deep within ourselves, liberate the divine. This way of picturing God is strikingly similar to process-relational theology, a major trend in Christian theology over the past half century.

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RELIGION and the ARTS 9:1-2 (2005): 116-134.

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