Product Description

Theologians have responded in many different ways to the challenges posed by theories of postmodernity. Kevin J. Vanhoozer addresses the issue directly in an introductory survey of what "talk about God" might mean in a postmodern age. The book offers examples of different types of contemporary theology in relation to postmodernity, and examines the key Christian doctrines in postmodern perspective. Leading theologians contribute to this informative Companion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #340246 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 312 pages

Review
"This is essential reading for those interested in philosophy, theology, and religious and cultural studies. This is an ideal introduction to the key issues for theology in its encounter with post-modernity." Catholic Library World

"This much-needed volume is a valuable guide through the often-murky waters of postmodern theology." Calvin Theological Journal, Jerry Stutzman

"this is a welcome addition to the growing body of literature on the relationship between Christian theology and what, in his introduction, Vanhoozer helpfully calls the 'postmodern condition'" - Philip D. Kenneson, Milligan College

About the Author
KEVIN J. VANHOOZER is Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Illinois. Before that he taught for eight years at New College, University of Edinburgh, where he was Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies. He is the author of Biblical Narrative in the Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur (1990), Is There a Meaning in this Text? The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge (1998), First Theology: God, Scripture, and Hermeneutics (2002) and The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Theology (2003). He was also the co-founder and co-chair for many years of the Systematic Theology group in the American Academy of Religion.

Customer Reviews

A great postmodern primer
According to the introduction, 'Postmodernity allows for no absolutes and no essence. Yet theology is concerned with the absolute, the essential.' Not meaning to be postmodern to the extreme, this statement can hardly be taken as an absolute, either in regard to postmodernity or in terms of theological development. So, where does one start?

The definition of postmodernity is difficult to formulate. The modern is more easy to situate, in that it occurs in or after the Enlightenment, and the different developments in intellectual and philosophical areas that that entails. Postmodern, as the name implies, is defined in relation to (and in contrast to) the project of modernity. 'Postmodernity is upsetting, intentionally so. Postmodern thinkers have overturned the table of the knowledge-changers in the university, the temple of modernity, and have driven out the foundationalists,' according to editor Kevin J. Vanhoozer.

The book is divided into two primary parts. In the first part, there are essays by theologians such as Kevin Vanhoozer, Nancey Murphy and Brad Kallenberg, George Hunsinger, Thomas A. Carlson, Graham Ward, David Ray Griffin, Mary McClintock Fulkerson, and D. Stephen Long. These look at different types of theology that might be classified as postmodern - postliberal theology, postmetaphysical theology, deconstructive theology, reconstructive theology, feminist theology, and radical orthodoxy. No one form of theology in this list holds a monopoly on the term postmodern; no one form of theology in this list fully qualifies under all the parameters by which one might judge something to be postmodern. (Vanhoozer playfully comments that there are eight chapters, a sort of eightfold-path to enlightenment.)

In the second part of the book, various aspects of the traditional structure of systematic theology receive a 'postmodern' treatment. Most systematic theologies are divided broadly into sections that look at scripture, tradition, the Trinity, method, God, creation, humanity, Christology, soteriology (salvation), ecclesiology (church), and pneumatology (Holy Spirit). These are drawn together in essays by Vanhoozer, Dan Stiver, David Cunningham, Philip Clayton, John Webster, Walter Lowe, Stanley Grenz, and David Ford.

Prior to this collection, I was very familiar with many of the theologians (Ward, Griffin, Cunningham, Grenz, Ford), and had fleeting acquaintance with the work of many others. They constitute an interesting and diverse group to approach this particular topic - postmodernity as an enterprise eschews the idea of conformity and lock-step methods, and these writers approach their subjects from vastly different areas. For example, David Ray Griffin has been one of the leading lights in the school of process theology, but here writes on reconstructive theology, stating that 'not all process theology is properly called postmodern.' Graham Ward is known to me more as a writer in the area of radical orthodoxy topics, but here is developing the idea of deconstruction a la Derrida as applied to the theological task. Stanley Grenz is on the more conservative side of writers here; I was surprised (in a pleasant way) to see him dealing with the issue of ecclesiology through the lens of narrative theology.

This is a really interesting text, one of the most interesting theology books I've read in a long while. It is a good text for introducing many of the strands of modern, er, I mean postmodern (okay, contemporary) theology in a brief but systematic, clear and accessible manner.

wonderful book
This book is strong meat for anyone interested in the postmodern interfaces with theology. It is balanced, constructive and contains ideas that are 'dynamite' in every chapter. Particulary good are Vanhoozer's own chapters and the chapter by Walter Lowe on Christ and Salvation. It is certainly among my top five best buys on Amazon.

Good read for seminary students
In my unending search to discover a way in which the sacramental life of the church, LCMS, may be used to intersect post-modernism, I ran across this collection of essays. The collection is very good, however it tends to lean heavily toward the philosophical; I am much more concerned with the practical day to day life of the church. The work contains essays that deal with a range of theologies in the post-modern world. There are several that I thought were quite helpful to my own thesis: D. Stephen Long's Essay on "Radical Orthodoxy," and both of Vanhoozer's. The work also includes a "for further reading" section at the end of each essay that I also found helpful.