The late Jean-Louis Chrétien’s responsorial and polyphonic style of thinking is nothing less than a performance of gratitude, which manifests the many ways and manners that our wounded finitude is graced and blessed along the peregrine path of human existence. Finitude’s Wounded Praise: Responses to Jean-Louis Chrétien is a receptive celebratory response to the immense fecundity and potential of Chrétien’s “thank you” of gratitude. This volume gathers leading Chrétien scholars and thinkers to explicate, explore, think with, and commemorate his thought. The essays in the volume engage Chrétien’s work from three primary fields: phenomenological, literary/poetic, and theological. Finitude’s Wounded Praise is a diverse, exploratory, and impressive testament to the expansive and enduring richness of Chrétien’s oeuvre.

“Jean-Louis Chrétien is a uniquely important Catholic philosopher whose work is a profound response to the giftedness of the world. This collection of essays leads us into the great fecundity of Chrétien’s Christian phenomenology and poetry—an outstanding and original set of meditations on a philosopher of prayer, gratitude, and contemplation.”
—Simon Oliver, professor of divinity, Durham University

“The voice of Jean-Louis Chrétien resounds unceasingly and still awaits its response. Finitude’s Wounded Praise pays homage to the man who left us too soon and whose work remains at once phenomenological, poetic, and literary, as well as theological. There is a particular way of thinking and speaking in line with Chrétien. Each contribution included here bears witness to it, with the word ‘gratitude’ as the right attitude and key to the understanding.”
—Emmanuel Falque, honorary dean, Catholic University of Paris

“I have always respected Jean-Louis Chrétien as a man and scholar. Later, I could admire the philosopher and poet. Recently, I noticed that he had said many things I too have tried to say, though he had said them earlier and better. This book is a fitting tribute to his memory and a testimony to his presence.”
—Jean-Yves Lacoste, life member, Clare Hall

Book Details

The problem of freedom has been a central theme of Christian theology from the very beginning. The interrelation of internal (e.g. freedom from sin, Jn 8:31-36) and external freedom, often neglected by the church; liberation theology emphasising social sin; freedom of God and man; the ontology of freedom: these and other questions continue to concern many theologians, philosophers, and thinkers. This book contains articles by leading contemporary authors – Jürgen Moltmann, Gerald O’Collins, George Pattison, Innokenty Pavlov, Ivana Noble, Conor Cunningham, Svetlana Konacheva, and others – who reflect on the philosophical and theological foundations of freedom, dignity and human rights, historical and contemporary aspects of the theology of freedom in a global context. This book is a Festschrift honouring the 60th birthday of Dr. Alexei Bodrov, founder and rector of St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute. All authors sent their articles specifically for this volume.

Table of contents

Philosophical-Theological Foundations

• Jürgen Moltmann, Dimensions of Human Freedom in the Presence of God
• Gerald O’Collins, The Freedom of Easter Faith
• Paul S. Fiddes, Creation in Freedom and Love
• Ivana Noble, Transfiguration and Freedom in the Theology of Light
• Светлана Коначева, Само-бытие, небытие и свобода: онтология свободы Пауля Тиллиха и постмодерная теология
• George Pattison, Existential Freedom: Sartre or Berdyaev?
• Conor Cunningham, HOMO EX MACHINA: The Nightmare Dreams
• Michael Kirwan, Ecclesiastical Action: Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Last Words on Evil and Freedom
• Олег Давыдов, Благо и выбор: что первично?
• Pavlo Smytsnyuk, Theology of Freedom: Can a Frightened Church Heal a Frightened World?
• Romilo Knežević, Outside of God: A Theanthropic Scrutiny of Nietzsche’s Concept of Chaos and Berdyaev’s Notion of the Ungrund
• Франсуа Эве, Богословие свободы
• Frederick Lauritzen, The Byzantine Ontology of Freedom from Plotinus (6,8) to Maximus the Confessor (Opusculum 7)
• Giandomenico Boffi, Divine Creation and Freedom of Mathematical Models
• Александр Закуренко, Свобода и точка

Ecumenical and Global Issues

• Dagmar Heller, Baptism and Reconciliation
• Massimo Faggioli, The Sex Abuse Crisis in the Catholic Church and the Global Context of Challenges to Religious Freedom
• David A. Hoekema, What Does Freedom Mean in the Ethics of Development?
• Dietrich Werner, Freedom for Diaconia – Social Witness and Christian Care in Church History and in the Ecumenical Movement – Potentials for a German-Russian Diaconia Learning and Exchange Process
• Christian Krieger, Religion Engaging with Liberalism
• Adalberto Mainardi, The Riddle of Freedom. The Task of Theology in a Postmodern Context

Human Dignity and Rights

• Стефано Каприо, Свобода и потребность в истине у Августина и Фомы
• Aristotle Papanikolaou, The Unfreedom of War and the Freedom of Virtue
• Hans Thoolen, Human Rights a Basis for a Peaceful Coexistence of Religions?
• Елена Степанова, Богословие свободы Льва Толстого
• Hans Ulrich Gerber, Freedom, Justice and Faith. Impulses from Three Francophone, Thinkers over Three Centuries
• Edward J. Mahoney, Radical Freedom. Saint Paul and the Modern Autonomous Subject
• Антон Тихомиров, Сложность, слабость, свобода. Политическая проповедь: основные принципы и их применение в российском контексте
• Antoine Fleyfel, Christians of the Middle East and Liberalism
• Hugh Wybrew, Christ Has Set Us Free
• Антуан Аржаковский, Необходима реформа православного богословия
• Augustinos Bairachtaris, Jesus as Liberator: Towards the Spiritual Modification of the Church in Latin America

Past and Present

• Edward Kessler, Religion and the Nation State: Standing at the Crossroads
• Вячеслав Океанский, Жанна Океанская, «Il dit de l’Eglise est tres liberal…»: экклезиологический космизм А.С.Хомякова
• Иннокентий Павлов, «Свидетельство Флавия» об Иисусе. Опыт историко-критического рассмотрения
• Ирина Языкова, Свобода и канон в иконе: есть ли противоречие

Full table of contents also available here.

In order to purchase, please write directly to Vladimyr Andreev here: bookman.andreev@gmail.com.

This volume collects an international body of voices, as a timely response to a rapidly advancing field of the natural sciences. The contributors explore how the disciplines of theology, earth and space sciences contribute to the debate on constantly expanding ethical challenges, and the prospect of humanity’s future.

The discussions offered in this volume see the ‘community’ as central to a sustainable and ethical approach to earth and space sciences, examining the role of theology in this communal approach, but also recognizing theology itself as part of a community of humanity disciplines. Examining the necessity for interaction between disciplines, this collection draws on voices from biodiversity studies, geology, aesthetics, literature, astrophysics, and others, to illustrate precisely why a constructive and sustainable dialogue is needed within the current scientific climate.

Table of Contents

Tim Winter: Introduction

Part I: Created in the Image: Human Wholeness
Christoph Schwöbel: ‘Theology … defines the whole and complete and perfect human being.’ Being Human in the Dispute between Theology and Philosophy: Variations on a Christian, Muslim and Jewish Theme – Recep Şentürk: Multiplex Human Ontology and Multiplex Self: An Alternative Understanding of Human Behaviour

Part II: Death and Human Becoming
Ivana Noble: Created to Be and to Become Human: A Christian Perspective – Lejla Demiri: ‘He Who has created death and life’ (Q 67:2): Death in Islamic Theology and Spirituality

Part III: Belief and Devotion
Ruggero Vimercati Sanseverino: ‘The Prophet is closer to the believers than they are to themselves’ (Q 33:6): A Scriptural Inquiry into the Anthropological Foundation of the Ittibā ʿ al-Nabī (Sequela Prophetae) – Amina Nawaz: Mutual Influences of Christian and Muslim Anthropologies in History: A Case Study of Sixteenth-Century Morisco Devotions

Part IV: The Child in Human Becoming
Friedrich Schweitzer: The Anthropology of the Child: Opportunities and Challenges for a Neglected Topic in Christian-Muslim Dialogue – Mujadad Zaman: Children in the Medieval Islamic Imagination: A Path Towards Pedagogic Dialogue

Part V: Dignity and Sinfulness
Daniel A. Madigan SJ: ‘These people have no grasp of God’s true measure’ (Q 39:67): Does the Doctrine of Original Sin do Justice to God and to Humanity? – Ralf K. Wüstenberg: The ‘Fall’ of Mankind: Structural Parallels between the Narratives of Sin in Christianity and Islam

Part VI: Limits to Being, Limits to Naming God
Simone Dario Nardella: God, Man, Being: ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī’s Explanation of the Intellect’s Capacity to Know God in al-Wujūd al-Ḥaqq – Paul-A. Hardy: On Naming and Silencing – Conor Cunningham: Thomas Aquinas’ Anthropology: Stuck in the Middle with You

Part VII: Futures
Michael Kirwan SJ/Ahmad Achtar: ‘The wound where light enters’: A ‘Common Word’ for Being Human in Islam and Christianity

St. Patrick’s Pontifical University is proud to host an international symposium which brings to Maynooth a talented group of Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant theologians to present their latest research in Systematic Theology. This event is ideal for postgraduate and doctoral students in Systematic Theology seeking new research pathways and potential supervisors at the top of the field.

Conference fee reduced to €175 – Two and half day conference including all catering and conference dinner

If you require on site accommodation please contact https://www.maynoothcampus.com/

Postgraduate students please contact specialevents@spcm.ie for a reduced conference fee.

For tickets, see https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-future-of-systematic-theology-tickets-517426646027