The Gift of Difference:

The Gift of Difference: Radical Orthodoxy, Radical Reformation is a collection of essays in which leading theologians consider the strengths and weaknesses of Radical Orthodoxy in dialogue with the Radical Reformation tradition. Writers in this volume engage topics such as ecclesiology, martyrdom, worship, oath-taking, peace and violence.

Table of Contents:

• Foreword: John Milbank
• Introduction: Tripp York and Chris K. Huebner
• “Two Cheers for an Ontology of Violence: Reflections on Im/possibility”, Peter C. Blum
• “Milbank and Violence: Against a Derridean Pacifism”, Kevin Derksen
• “The Ballad of John and Anneken”, Tripp York
• “The Word Made Silent: Reflections on Christian Identity and Scripture”, C. Rosalee Velloso Ewell
• “Narrative Proclamation and Gospel Truthfulness: Why Christian Testimony Needs Speakers”, Craig Hovey
• “Fugitive Ecclesia”, Peter Dula
• “Desire and Theological Politics”, D. Stephen Long
• “Harmony in Exile: Rest in its Embers”, Cheryl Pauls
• “Participation, Peace, and Forgiveness: Milbank and Yoder in Dialogue”, Harry J. Huebner
• “Radical Orthodoxy, Radical Reformation: What Might Milbank and Mennonites Learn from Each Other?”, Chris K. Huebner

Click here for more information from the publisher.

Unsettling Arguments:
A Festschrift on the Occasion of Stanley Hauerwas’s 70th Birthday
Edited by Charles R. Pinches, Kelly S. Johnson, Charles M. Collier

Contributors: Scott Bader-Saye, Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt, Michael Baxter, Daniel M. Bell Jr., Jana Marguerite Bennett, Michael G. Cartwright, William T. Cavanaugh, Peter Dula, Chris K. Huebner, Kelly S. Johnson, D. Stephen Long, M. Therese Lysaught, David Matzko McCarthy, Joel James Shuman, J. Alexander Sider, Jonathan Tran, Paul J. Wadell, Theodore Walker Jr.

Click here for more information and to purchase from Wipf & Stock.

The Metaphysical Presuppositions of Being-in-the-world:
A Confrontation Between St. Thomas Aquinas and Martin Heidegger
by Caitlin Smith Gilson

The Metaphysical Presuppositions of Being-in-the-World brings St. Thomas Aquinas and Martin Heidegger into dialogue and argues for the necessity of Christian philosophy. Through the confrontation of Heideggerian and Thomist thought, it offers an original and comprehensive rethinking of the nature of temporality and the origins of metaphysical inquiry. The book is a careful treatment of the inception and deterioration of the four-fold presuppositions of Thomistic metaphysics: intentionality, causality, finitude, ananke stenai. The analysis of the four-fold has never before been done and it is a central and original contribution of Gilson’s book. The four-fold penetrates the issues between the phenomenological approach and the metaphysical vision to arrive at their core and irreconcilable difference. Heidegger’s attempt to utilize the fourfold to extrude theology from ontology provides the necessary interpretive impetus to revisit the radical and often misunderstood metaphysics of St. Thomas, through such problems as aeviternity, non-being and tragedy.
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Robert Spaemann’s Philosophy of the Human Person:
Nature, Freedom, and the Critique of Modernity
by Holger Zaborowski

The German philosopher Robert Spaemann provides an important contribution to a number of contemporary debates in philosophy and theology, opening up possibilities for conversation between these disciplines. He engages in a dialogue with classical and contemporary positions and often formulates important and original insights which lie beyond common alternatives. In this study Holger Zaborowski provides an analysis of the most important features of Spaemann’s philosophy and shows the unity of his thought. The question ‘Who is a person?’ is of increasing significance: Are all human beings persons? Are there animals that can be considered persons? What does it mean to speak of personal identity and of the dignity of the person? Spaemann provides an answer to these questions: Every human being, he argues, is a person and, therefore, ‘has’ his nature in freedom. In order to understand the person, Spaemann explains, we have to think about the relation between nature and freedom and avoid the reductive accounts of this relation prevalent in important strands of modern thought. Spaemann develops a challenging critique of modernity, incorporating analysis of modern anti-modernisms and showing that these are also subject to a dialectical development, perpetuating the problematic shortcomings of many features of modern reasoning. If we do not want to abolish ourselves as persons, Spaemann reasons, we need to find a way of understanding ourselves that evades the dialectic of modernity. Thus, he reminds his readers of ‘self-evident’ knowledge: insights that we have once already known, but tend to forget.
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After the Postsecular and the Postmodern:
New Essays in Continental Philosophy of Religion
edited by Anthony Paul Smith and Daniel Whistler

Continental philosophy of religion has been dominated for two decades by ‘postsecular’ and ‘postmodern’ thought. This volume brings together a vanguard of scholars to ask what comes after the postsecular and the postmodern – that is, what is Continental philosophy of religion now? Against the subjugation of philosophy to theology, After the Postsecular and the Postmodern: New Essays in Continental Philosophy of Religion argues that philosophy of religion must either liberate itself from theological norms or mutate into a new practice of thinking in order to confront the challenges religion presents for our time. The essays do not propose a new orthodoxy but set the stage for new debates by reclaiming a practice of philosophy of religion that recovers and draws on the insights of a distinctly modern tradition of Continental philosophy, confronts the challenge of rethinking the secular in the light of the postsecular event, and calls for a move from strictly critical to speculative thought in order to experiment with what philosophy can do. This collection of essays is indispensable for anyone interested in the relationship between philosophy and theology, political questions regarding religion and in what contemporary speculative Continental philosophy has to add to philosophy of religion.
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Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self (Terry Lectures)
by Marilynne Robinson

In this ambitious book, acclaimed writer Marilynne Robinson applies her astute intellect to some of the most vexing topics in the history of human thought – science, religion, and consciousness. Crafted with the same care and insight as her award-winning novels, Absence of Mind challenges postmodern atheists who crusade against religion under the banner of science. In Robinson’s view, scientific reasoning does not denote a sense of logical infallibility, as thinkers like Richard Dawkins might suggest. Instead, in its purest form, science represents a search for answers. It engages the problem of knowledge, an aspect of the mystery of consciousness, rather than providing a simple and final model of reality. By defending the importance of individual reflection, Robinson celebrates the power and variety of human consciousness in the tradition of William James. She explores the nature of subjectivity and considers the culture in which Sigmund Freud was situated and its influence on his model of self and civilization. Through keen interpretations of language, emotion, science, and poetry, Absence of Mind restores human consciousness to its central place in the religion-science debate.
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Bendict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed
by Tracey Rowland

This title presents an upper-level introduction to the thought and theology of Pope Benedict XVI. This Guide provides students of theology with a guide around the theoretical axes upon which the theology of Joseph Ratzinger revolves. It begins with a presentation of the key ideas in the works of his intellectual antecedents and contemporary interlocutors and then moves to an account of Ratzinger’s responses to a number of theological crises. The work then moves to an account of Ratzinger’s understanding of Christianity as an encounter with the Person of Christ and his placement of Christianity within the context of world religions in general. This theme is spread throughout his publications and recurs in the first encyclical of his papacy, Deus Caritas Est. This first encyclical will be treated in depth along with the second and third encyclicals which form a trilogy on the theological virtues (love, hope and faith). The work concludes with an assessment of the primacy of the transcendental of beauty in the theology of Ratzinger, his affinity with Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Augustinian motif of the relationship between love and reason. “Continuum’s Guides for the Perplexed” are clear, concise and accessible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging – or indeed downright bewildering. Concentrating specifically on what it is that makes the subject difficult to grasp, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a thorough understanding of demanding material.
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Spinoza and the Specters of Modernity: The Hidden Enlightenment of Diversity from Spinoza to Freud
by Michael Mack

Spinoza and the Specters of Modernity draws new theoretical conclusions from a study of Spinoza’s legacy in the age of Goethe and beyond, largely transmitted through the writings of Herder, that will have implications for the study of German intellectual history and, more broadly, the study of religion and literature. Michael Mack describes how a line of writers and thinkers re-configured Spinoza’s ideas and how these ideas thus became effective in society at large. Mack shows that the legacy of Spinoza is important because he was the first thinker to theorize narrative as the constitutive fabric of politics, identity, society, religion and the larger sphere of culture. Indeed, Mack argues for Spinoza’s writings on politics and ethics as an alternative to a Kantian conception of modernity.
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Romano Guardini: Reform from the Source
by Hans Urs von Balthasar
translated by Albert K. Wimmer and D. C. Schindler

Romano Guardini (1885-1968) was one of the greatest Catholic minds of the twentieth century. He helped shape Catholic theology between the two world wars and after, as well as the thinking of many non-Catholics of the period. His influence contributed to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and it continues to be felt through Pope Benedict, who, as a theologian, a cardinal and now as Pope, has drawn extensively on Guardini for inspiration. Indeed, Guardini was a major theological mentor of Benedict XVI, influencing the Pope from his understanding of Jesus to his writings on the sacred Liturgy, from his view of faith to his perspective on the modern world.

Romano Guardini: Reform from the Source, written by another great theological mind, Hans urs von Balthasar, presents a kind of “roadmap” to Guardini’s thought. As an introduction to Guardini, von Balthasar’s study is intended to challenge readers to take up Guardini’s own writings and to find in him the wisdom that has inspired so many others. Many of Guardini’s influential works are still in print today, works that cover a wide range of important spiritual, theological and moral issues.
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Forthcoming Titles:

Future Christ: A Lesson in Heresy
by François Laruelle
translated by Anthony Paul Smith
(forthcoming 16 Dec 2010)

In this work Laruelle draws on material from the traditions of Christianity, Judaism and Gnosticism, but he does so by suspending their authority. This adventure in non-philosophy does not claim to think for religion, but from it as material and with disinterest towards its self-given status as ultimate authority. This provocative, yet remarkably accessible book introduces philosophy to the lessons of heresy and makes use of them in a non-philosophical “dualysis” of messianism and apocalypticism. Laruelle investigates the “heretic question”, analogous to but historically distinguished from the “Jewish question”, to develop a “non-Christian science” that struggles against and for our World. Future Christ thus opens up novel ways of thinking within existing religious and philosophical thought and marks an incisive and wide-ranging non-philosophical engagement with key contemporary debates in philosophy and theology.
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Paul’s New Moment: Continental Philosophy and the Future of Christian Theology
by John Milbank, Slavoj Žižek, and Creston Davis, with a contribution from Catherine Pickstock
(forthcoming 1 December 2010)

The rediscovery of the Apostle Paul by atheistic or agnostic European philosophers is one of the most striking developments in recent philosophy–and certainly one of keen interest to the church. These philosophers view Paul as having a revolutionary understanding of authority and politics. Bringing together Radical Orthodox theologian John Milbank, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, and Creston Davis, who has been a student of both, this book reflects on Paul’s new moment in secular philosophy. In a debate format, Žižek brings Marxist and post-Marxist ideas into a discussion with Milbank about the influence of Paul. The book also includes a contribution from Catherine Pickstock.
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The Truth is the Way: Kierkegaard’s Theologia Viatorum (Veritas)
by Christopher Ben Simpson
(forthcoming 31 August 2010)

“SCM Veritas” engages in critical and original questions of pressing concern to both philosophers and theologians. The major concern of all books in this series is to display a rigorous theological critique of categories not often thought to be theological in character, such as phenomenology or metaphysics which are mainly considered as philosophical categories. All the books in this series aim to illustrate that without theology, something essential is lost in our accounts of such categories – not only in the abstract but in the way in which we inhabit the world. The Danish existentialist philosopher Søren Kierkegaard is one of the most influential thinkers for of the 19th century. His work crosses the boundaries of theology, philosophy, psychology and literature. This book presents another way of reading Kierkegaard – as a robustly theological , even metaphysical, thinker – as post-postmodern, even Radically Orthodox.
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From the author’s website:

What is the relationship between Martin Heidegger’s critique of metaphysical theology and Karl Barth’s? Or, more broadly, what is the relationship between the Greek metaphysical tradition and Protestant Christianity? My research challenges both an oversimplified conflation of Barth and Heidegger’s thought as well as the pretense that an (a)theist philosopher and dogmatic theologian have nothing to say to each other. The result of this juxtaposition of philosophical and theological aspects of Barth and Heidegger’s work is a clear articulation of two different Protestant attitudes towards metaphysics. Whereas Heidegger interpreted Luther in a way which ultimately led to a divorce between metaphysics and theology, Barth saw Luther as the progenitor of a non-foundationalist affirmation of the being of God. In either case the boundaries between theology and philosophy were radically reconfigured in a way which continues to dominate both disciplines to this day.

Below are the blurbs for Stanley’s book:

‘This is an impressive work. Stanley not only forges new ways of thinking about Protestant ontology in relation to Postmodernism, but advances the discussion of Heidegger’s relation to Luther and Barth’s use of Anselm to develop a truly theological ontology. Highly recommended, especially, for courses in twentieth-century theology.’

— William Dyrness, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA

‘Elegantly written and argued, this book by Timothy Stanley offers us a bold and exciting re-reading of the heritage of Karl Barth, who is here proposed a profound countervalence to the ‘postmodern’ realization of Protestant metaphysics in Martin Heidegger. In so doing Stanley unsettles more than a few of our settled lucidities concerning not least the status of ‘ontology’ in Barth’s thought. This book proves the vitality of Barth beyond the old pro et contra that would squeeze the great Swiss theologian into the confines of some predetermined ‘Barthianism’.’

— Aaron Riches, Centre of Theology and Philosophy, University of Nottingham, UK

‘In this crisply written, thought-provoking book Timothy Stanley offers the reader a penetrating study of the problem of theological ontology and onto-theology in the thought of Barth and Heidegger, as well as an insightful discussion of the significance of these two thinkers’ insights for Protestant theology today. Particularly impressive is the way Stanley uncovers the Protestant elements of Heidegger’s thought and his exploration of how Barth attempts to root metaphysics in the being of the Trinitarian God. This impressive and imaginative book will be essential reading for anyone engaged in thinking through the possibility of a post-ontological, postmodern theology after Barth and Heidegger.’

— David R. Law, University of Manchester, UK

‘For better or worse twentieth century Continental philosophy and Protestant theology were dominated by Heidegger and Barth respectively, and each remains the focus of lively discussion: admirers and adversaries have always been wary of relating these two apparently incompatible narratives of human destiny to one another until now: providing compact and very fair accounts of each, Timothy Stanley goes on to make comparisons between the two which cast unexpected new light on Heidegger’s atheism and Barth’s Christian faith.’

— Fergus Kerr, Honorary Fellow in Divinity, University of Edinburgh

Timothy Stanley is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Christianity and Contemporary Culture at the University of Manchester, UK. Protestant Metaphysics after Karl Barth and Martin Heidegger may be purchased here.

Below is a sampling of endorsements. (Remaining blurbs can be found here.)

“This work of stunning scientific erudition and critical insight differs from the common polemics with Dawkins’ and Dennett’s theories which, while accepting their extreme Neo-Darwinist thesis, isolate it from their atheist conclusions. Professor Cunningham shows on a wealth of scientific and philosophical evidence how vulnerable the thesis is that lies at the root of those conclusions and how its genetic one-sidedness undermines the ground of Darwin’s evolutionary biology.”

Louis Dupré — Yale University

“Writing with engaging humor that betrays an extraordinary energetic intelligence, Conor Cunningham shows us why, given the Christian God, an evolutionary account of life is necessary. In the process he negotiates the philosophical controversies intrinsic to evolutionary science in a manner that illumines how some of the implications of that science mimic Christian heresies. This theological account of creation, I believe, will become a classic.”

Stanley Hauerwas — Duke University

“This is an excellent book! Very well informed and written in an accessible style, it will be easily understood by lay readers, especially thanks to the beautiful, simple examples, stories, and quotations that Cunningham employs. In addition, his interpretation of genetic science is faultless. I learned a great deal from this book!”

Michel Morange — Center for the Study of the History of Science, École Normale Supérieure, Paris

“Conor Cunningham established his reputation with the original and profound Genealogy of Nihilism. In recent years a handful of ‘sand-box’ atheists, prominent in the media, have invoked Darwin and evolution when defending their positions. In this sparkling yet rigorous book Cunningham deals with the philosophical dimensions and theological implications of evolutionary theory. Anyone who longs for this debate to be taken to a proper, intellectually challenging level needs to read Cunningham.”

Ken Surin — Duke University

“The last couple of decades have witnessed a dismal and hopelessly polarized confrontation between literalist Christians and equally fundamentalist ultra-Darwinians. Darwin would have been appalled. Here at last is a judicious and fascinating book that elegantly shows the artificiality of this mutually debilitating conflict, and tells us a lot about both evolution and belief in the bargain.”

Ian Tattersall — American Museum of Natural History, New York

“This book attempts to connect the debate about the nature of Darwinian evolution to the Christian theology of creation. The latter is often implicitly invoked — as, for instance, when the claim is made that Darwin has shown that God cannot exist — but rarely clearly discussed. Cunningham shows that the picture of God as the great Designer of artifacts, espoused by Paley and common to both ultra-Darwinians and Creationists, is profoundly at odds with Christianity. The battle between these last two is another of those incidents foreseen by Arnold in his ‘Dover Beach,’ where ‘ignorant armies clash by night.’ ”

Charles Taylor — McGill University, author of A Secular Age

“Even those sympathetic to the recent wave of evolutionary attacks on religion cannot help feeling that something is missing there: Dawkins and company lack a minimum of understanding of what religion is about, of how it works. Cunningham’s book is thus obligatory reading for all interested in this topic: while fully endorsing the scientific validity of Darwinism, it clearly brings to light its limitations in understanding not only religion but also our human predicament. A book like Cunningham’s is needed like simple bread in our confused times.”

Slavoj Žižek

“In this magnum opus Cunningham steadily pushes ultra-Darwinism and reductionist materialism for their self-undermining inconsistencies, in extremes neither permitting enough logic for understanding life. Exposing these sciences turned into scientism, he then embraces, complementary to the sciences, a deeply Christian account of creation, of both nature and human life enriched in encounter with Christ. A provocative, moving, and stimulating account.”

Holmes Rolston III — Colorado State University

Click on the following links to to see the book description, remaining blurbs, and author description.

This volume contains essays by Stanley Hauerwas, Oliver O’Donovan, Alessandra Gerolin, John Milbank, Joan Lockwood O’Donovan, Adrian Pabst, Johannes Hoff, Richard H. Bell, Christopher Ben Simpson, Graham Ward, Cyril O’Regan, James Williams, François Laruelle, Stratford Caldecott, Tracey Rowland, Phil Gorski, Fergus Kerr, Jeff Olsen Biebighauser, Lydia Schumacher, Alison Milbank, Quentin Meillassoux, and Peter M. Candler, Jr.

Link to purchase in the U.K. | Link to purchase in the U.S.A.

Five new books are forthcoming in the Veritas series in 2010, to be published by SCM Press in association with the Centre of Theology and Philosophy:

1. The Grandeur of Reason: Religion, Tradition and Universalism, edited by Peter M. Candler Jr. and Conor Cunningham
2. Phenomenology and the Holy: Religious Experience after Husserl, by Espen Dahl
3. Languishing Perfection: The Emergence and Distortion of the Christian Telos, by Anthony D. Baker
4. Protestant Metaphysics after Karl Barth and Martin Heidegger, by Timothy Stanley
5. The Truth is the Way: Kierkegaard’s Theologia Viatorum, by Christopher Ben Simpson (cover not yet pictured)

Click the book covers pictured above to see larger versions of each.

Publisher’s description:

French philosopher Maurice Blondel (1861–1949) had a tremendous impact on both philosophy and religion over the first half of the twentieth century. He was at once a postmodern critical philosopher and a devout traditional Catholic who strove to keep these two sides of his life in unison, neither separating nor confusing them.

In this first-ever critical examination of Blondel’s entire life and work, Oliva Blanchette tells of Blondel’s stormy confrontation with an academy dismissive of religion and a religion uncomfortable with rational philosophy. The book not only recounts Blondel’s biographical history but also presents his systematic philosophy, from the beginning of his journey to its culmination in Philosophical Exigencies of Christianity, the book for which he signed the publishing contract the day before he died. Blanchette avoids footnotes but includes an extensive bibliography, making this both a readable and a useful resource.

Also forthcoming is Stanley Hauerwas’ memoir entitled Hannah’s Child: A Theologian’s Memoir (Eerdmans, 29 April 2010, 288 pp).

Publisher’s description:

A loving, hard-working, godly couple has long been denied a family of their own. Finally, the wife makes a deal with God: if he blesses her with a child, she will dedicate that child to God’s service. The result of that prayer was the birth of an influential — some say prophetic — voice. This is the story of Stanley Hauerwas, once named by Time magazine as the “best theologian in America.” In this compelling memoir he gives a frank account of his own life interwoven with the development of his thought.

The story of Hauerwas’s journey into Christian discipleship is captivating and inspiring. With genuine humility, he describes his intellectual struggles with faith, how he has dealt with the complex reality of marriage to a mentally ill partner, and the gift of friendships that have influenced his character. Throughout the narrative shines Hauerwas’s conviction that the tale of his life is worth telling only because of the greater Christian story providing foundation and direction for his own.

Book description:

Relations between religious and political spheres continue to stir passionate debates on both sides of the Atlantic. Through a combination of theological reflection and empirical case studies, Bretherton succeeds in offering timely and invaluable insights into these crucial issues facing 21^st century societies.

• Explores the relationship between Christianity and contemporary politics through case studies of faith-based organizations, Christian political activism and welfare provision in the West; these case studies assess initiatives including community organizing, fair trade, and the sanctuary movement
• Offers an insightful, informative account of how Christians can engage politically in a multi-faith, liberal democracy
• Integrates debates in political theology with inter-disciplinary analysis of policy and practice regarding religious social, political and economic engagement in the USA, UK, and continental Europe
• Reveals how Christians can help prevent the subversion of the church – and even of politics itself – by legal, bureaucratic, and market mechanisms, rather than advocating withdrawal or assimilation
• Engages with the intricacies of contemporary politics whilst integrating systematic and historical theological reflection on political and economic life

Blurbs:

“I confess I did not think this book could be written. But it can be done because Bretherton has done it. He has written this marvelous book that engages the complex theoretical issues necessary to develop a constructive theological politics without losing sight of concrete social challenges associated with community organizing, immigration, and consumerism. Bretherton has set a new standard in Christian political reflection.” —Stanley Hauerwas, Duke Divinity School

“Sophisticated, erudite, deeply insightful, and written with a passion born out of political engagement. Bretherton pushes the field of political theology into fresh pastures … This book will serve many, not just political theorists and theologians.” —Gaving D’Costa, University of Bristol

“Luke Bretherton has provided us with the first fully-fledged theological theory of community-organising. It is a sparkling performance and heralds a new era in which communitarianism, virtue-ethics and faith-based social reflection are likely to make a real social, economic and political impact. Judging from the intellectual and practical energy displayed by this treatise, this new global phase may well have its fulcrum in London.” —John Milbank, University of Nottingham

Book description:

Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species has changed the landscape of religious thought in many ways. There is a widespread assumption that before Darwin, all Christians believed that the world was created some 6,000 years ago over a period of 6 days. After Darwin, the first chapters of Genesis were either rejected totally by skeptics or defended vehemently in scientific creationism. This book tells a very different story. Bringing together contributions from biblical scholars, historians and contemporary theologians, it is demonstrated that both Jewish and Christian scholars read Genesis in a non-literal way long before Darwin. Even during the nineteenth century, there was a wide range of responses from religious believers towards evolution, many of them very positive. Stephen C. Barton and David Wilkinson argue that being receptive to the continuing relevance of Genesis today regarding questions of gender, cosmology, and the environment is a lively option.

Contains essays by Walter Moberly, Francis Watson, Andrew Louth, Richard S. Briggs, John Rogerson, John Hedley Brooke, David Brown, David Wilkinson, David Clough, Jeff Astley, Stephen C. Barton, Ellen F. Davis, and Mathew Guest.

Book description:

Internationally acclaimed theologian Graham Ward is well known for his thoughtful engagement with postmodernism. This volume, the fourth in The Church and Postmodern Culture series, offers an engaging look at the political nature of the postmodern world. In the first section, “The World,” Ward considers “the signs of the times” and the political nature of contemporary postmodernism. It is imperative, he suggests, that the church understand the world to be able to address it thoughtfully. In the second section, “The Church,” he turns to practical application, examining what faithful discipleship looks like within this political context. Clergy and those interested in the emerging church will find this work particularly thought provoking.

Graham Ward is known for his thoughtful engagement with postmodernism and with contemporary critical theology. Here he provides an engaging account of the inherently political nature of postmodernity and thoughts on what it means to live the Christian faith within that setting. The Politics of Discipleship not only provides an accessible guide to contemporary postmodernism and its wide-ranging implications but also elaborates a discipleship that informs a faith seeking understanding, which Ward describes as “the substance of the church’s political life.”

Blurbs:

“For some time now, Graham Ward has blended orthodox theology, biblical study, and cultural theory with an independent originality. Now he has added politics to this mix. The result is simultaneously a greater edge to his own theology and an imbuing of contemporary political theology with more realistic depth and practical prescience than it usually exhibits. An extremely significant volume in the present time.”—John Milbank, professor of religion, politics, and ethics, University of Nottingham

“Extraordinary! Ward does nothing less than help us see how ‘world’ and ‘church’ implicate each other by providing an insightful and learned account of the transformation of democracy, the perversities of globalization, and the ambiguities of secularization. Perhaps even more significant is his theological proposal for the difference the church can make in the world so described. This is an extraordinary book.”—Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke University

“In this book, Graham Ward boldly offers a fresh description of the consumer economy and the processes of globalization, examining the illusions they generate, the states of amnesia they call us into, and the slavery they impose. In the process, he constructs a counter-narrative of a Christian discipleship in the service of postmaterial values that is founded on an eschatological humanism and ecclesiology. The result is a new political theology, powerfully presented, rooted in Scripture and tradition, and fully engaged in reading the postsecular signs of the times.”—Peter Manley Scott, senior lecturer in Christian social thought and director of the Lincoln Theological Institute, University of Manchester

Book description:

Plato’s Critique of Impure Reason offers a dramatic interpretation of the Republic, at the center of which lies a novel reading of the historical person of Socrates as the “real image” of the good. Schindler argues that a full response to the attack on reason introduced by Thrasymachus at the dialogue’s outset awaits the revelation of goodness as the cause of truth. This revelation is needed because the good is what enables the mind to know and makes things knowable. When we read Socrates’ display of the good against the horizon of the challenges posed by sophistry, otherwise disparate aspects of Plato’s masterpiece turn out to play essential roles in the production of an integrated whole.In this book, D. C. Schindler begins with a diagnosis of the crisis of reason in contemporary culture as a background to the study of the Republic. He then sets out a philosophical interpretation of the dialogue in five chapters: an analysis of Book 1 that shows the inherent violence and dogmatism of skepticism; a reading of goodness as cause of both being and appearance; a discussion of the dramatic reversals in the images Socrates uses for the idea of the good; an exploration of the role of the person of Socrates in the Republic; and a confrontation between the “defenselessness” of philosophy and the violence of sophistry. Finally, in a substantial coda, the book presents a new interpretation of the old quarrel between philosophy and art through an analysis of Book 10.

Though based on a close reading of the text, Plato’s Critique of Impure Reason always interprets the arguments with a view to fundamental human problems, and so will be valuable not only to Plato scholars but to any reader with general philosophical interests.

Blurbs:

“With a rare combination of first-rate scholarship and exceptional clarity, Schindler addresses a contemporary crisis of thought that manifests itself in misological habits extending far beyond the academy. His beautifully crafted and deeply reflective articulation of the connection between goodness and intelligibility is more than a timely defense of reason: it is a major philosophical accomplishment.”—Jacob Howland, McFarlin Professor of Philosophy, University of Tulsa

“Schindler’s book is a welcome contribution to the new Platonism, demonstrating the interpenetration of argument and drama in the Republic holistically and in detail. His synthetic reading of the dialogue is based on close reading of the text and a wide knowledge of the history of Republic interpretation. He grounds his interpretation in thought-provoking views about broader questions, such as why Plato wrote dialogues, the historical versus the Platonic Socrates, the nature of philosophy, Socratic ignorance, and Platonic anonymity.”—Gerald A. Press, Professor of Philosophy, Hunter College & CUNY Graduate Center

Book description:

The conflicts between the three great monotheistic religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam – are shaping our world more than ever before.In this important new book Peter Sloterdijk returns to the origins of monotheism in order to shed new light on the conflict of the faiths today. Following the polytheism of the ancient civilizations of the Egyptians, Hittites and Babylonians, Jewish monotheism was born as a theology of protest, as a religion of triumph within defeat. While the religion of the Jews remained limited to their own people, Christianity unfolded its message with proclamations of universal truth. Islam raised this universalism to a new level through a military and political mode of expansion.

Sloterdijk examines the forms of conflict that arise between the three monotheisms by analyzing the basic possibilities stemming from anti-Paganism, anti-Judaism, anti-Islamism and anti-Christianism. These possibilities were augmented by internal rifts: a defining influence within Judaism was a separatism with defensive aspects, in Christianity the project of expansion through mission, and in Islam the Holy War.

Today these three religions are now called upon to adjust their relations from peaceful coexistence to dialogue: zealous collectives must become parties in a civil society.

Occidental Eschatology, by Jacob Taubes, translated by David Ratmoko (to be published 1 January 2010)

Book description:

Occidental Eschatology, originally Jacob Taubes’s doctoral thesis and the one book he published in his lifetime, seeks to renegotiate the historical synthesis and spiritual legacy of the West through the study of apocalypticism. Covering the origins of apocalypticism from Hebrew prophecy through antiquity and early Christianity to its medieval revival in Joachim of Fiore, Taubes reveals its later secularized forms in Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Kierkegaard. His aim is to show the lasting influence of revolutionary, messianic teleology on Western philosophy, history, and politics.

Combining painstaking scholarship with an unmatched scope of reference, Taubes takes a comprehensive approach to the twin focuses of political theology and philosophy of history. He argues that acceptance of the idea that time will one day come to an end has profound implications for political thought. If natural time is experienced as an eternal cycle of events, “history” is the realm of time in which human actions can make decisions to alter the progression of events. This philosophy asks that individuals take responsibility for their own actions and resist authority that claims to act on their behalf. Whereas universal history is written by the victors, the messianic or apocalyptic event enters history and gives a voice to the oppressed.

]]> http://theologyphilosophycentre.co.uk/2009/12/16/publications-of-note/feed/ 0 http://theologyphilosophycentre.co.uk/2009/12/16/modern-theology-25th-anniversary/ http://theologyphilosophycentre.co.uk/2009/12/16/modern-theology-25th-anniversary/#comments Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:24:28 +0000 admin http://theologyphilosophycentre.co.uk/?p=570 The latest issue of Modern Theology is now available, and it is a special 25th-anniversary edition containing essays reflecting on the first 25 years of publication by Ken Surin (the original founding editor), Jim Fodor and William Cavanaugh, John Milbank, Kathryn Tanner, Nicholas Lash, Stanley Hauerwas, David Ford, L. Gregory Jones, John W. de Gruchy, and James J. Buckley.

The neoliberal project in the West has created an increasingly polarized and impoverished world, to the point that the vast majority of its citizens require liberation from their present socioeconomic circumstances. The marxist theorist Kenneth Surin contends that innovation and change at the level of the political must occur in order to achieve this liberation, and for this endeavor marxist theory and philosophy are indispensable. In Freedom Not Yet, Surin analyzes the nature of our current global economic system, particularly with regard to the plight of less developed countries, and he discusses the possibilities of creating new political subjects necessary to establish and sustain a liberated world.

Surin begins by examining the current regime of accumulation—the global domination of financial markets over traditional industrial economies—which is used as an instrument for the subordination and dependency of poorer nations. He then moves to the constitution of subjectivity, or the way humans are produced as social beings, which he casts as the key arena in which struggles against dispossession occur. Surin critically engages with the major philosophical positions that have been posed as models of liberation, including Derrida’s notion of reciprocity between a subject and its other, a reinvigorated militancy in political reorientation based on the thinking of Badiou and Zizek, the nomad politics of Deleuze and Guattari, and the politics of the multitude suggested by Hardt and Negri. Finally, Surin specifies the material conditions needed for liberation from the economic, political, and social failures of our current system. Seeking to illuminate a route to a better life for the world’s poorer populations, Surin investigates the philosophical possibilities for a marxist or neo-marxist concept of liberation from capitalist exploitation and the regimes of power that support it.

Praise for the book:

“Freedom Not Yet is a stunning, mature, and major work. It provides a unique combination of strong empirical research and significant theoretical sophistication. Kenneth Surin is after a workable model for revolution within the broad frame of the marxist tradition, and he provides significant engagements with approaches including identity, subjectivity (Derrida), event (Badiou), nomadology (Deleuze and Guattari), and transcendence (Radical Orthodoxy), cutting through each with a sure hand. This book will be at the center of discussions for a long time to come.”—Roland Boer, author of Political Myth: On the Use and Abuse of Biblical Themes

“Freedom Not Yet will interest all those seeking alternatives to the present system of capitalist political and financial control.”—Paul Patton, author of Deleuze and the Political

The book is now available in the U.S., and will be available in the UK and worldwide on 25 February 2010.

Out today in the latest issue of the Mars Hill Audio Journal (#99), Ken Myers interviews Alison Milbank, discussing her book Chesterton and Tolkien as Theologians: The Fantasy of the Real.

Alison Milbank, on how the fantasy writings of G. K. Chesterton and J. R. R. Tolkien are intended to reconnect readers with reality.

The latest issue of the Mars Hill Audio Journal may be found here (subscription or individual purchase required), and also contains interviews by Ken Myers with Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, Paul A. Rahe, James L. Nolan, Jr., Andrew J. Cherlin, and Dale Kuehne.

In addition to works by Michel Henry (including some previously unpublished) and an interview with Anne Henry and Jean Leclercq, there are contributions from Jean-Louis Chrétien, Jean Leclercq, Jean-Luc Marion, Conor Cunningham (translated by Anne Henry), Nathalie Depraz, Michel Dupuis, Karl Hefty, Ruud Welten, Gabrielle Dufour-Kowalska, Jean Greisch, Rolf Kühn, Jean-François Lavigne, Éric Rhode, François Calori, Michel Fichant, Marc Herceg, Mario Lipsitz, Yukio Naka, Carole Talon-Hugon, Jérôme Thélot, Yorihiro Yamagata, Jean-Marie Brohm, Alain David, Christophe Dejour, Raúl Ballbé, Jean-Pierre Fabre, Éric Faÿ, Guy Flores, Emmanuel Galactéros, Miguel Garcia-Baro, Florinda Martins, Adriaan Peperzak, Pierre Piret, Giuliano Sansonetti, Karol Tarnowski, Antoine Vidalin, François-David Sebbah, and Roland Vaschalde.

A helpful article with more information on the contents of this volume may be found here on ACTU-PHILOSOPHIA.

Out today in the latest issue of the Mars Hill Audio Journal (#98), Ken Myers has interviews with Stanley Hauerwas and David Bentley Hart. From the issue description:

Stanley Hauerwas, on the public witness of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus and on why Neuhaus abandoned his 1960s radicalism to become a leading ‘theoconservative’.

David Bentley Hart, on the feeble and confused arguments of the recent crop of outspoken atheists and on how a misunderstanding of the nature of freedom is at the heart of their revulsion at religion.

The latest issue of the Mars Hill Audio Journal may be found here (subscription or individual purchase required), and also contains interviews by Ken Myers with Clarke Forsythe, Gilbert Meilaender, Jeanne Murray Walker, and Roger Lundin.

Details:

The publication of the book Jesus of Nazareth on 16 April 2007 was an unprecedented event: never before had a reigning Pope published personal reflections on Jesus. Benedict XVI’s book engages not just with New Testament scholarship but also with fundamental methodological questions related to historical criticism.

The Pope and Jesus of Nazareth provides essays by some of the leading scholars in Britain, continental Europe and the USA to highlight the insights and limits of the Pope’s reflection on Jesus. Specifically, it engages with the book from critical, cross-disciplinary and different faith perspectives.

Contributors include: Richard Bell, Markus Bockmuehl, Peter Casarella, Roland Deines, Henri-Jérôme Gagey, Richard B. Hays, Fergus Kerr OP, Francisco Javier Martínez, John Milbank, R. W. L. Moberly, George Dennis O’Brien, Angus Paddison, Adele Reinhartz, Mona Siddiqui, and Olivier-Thomas Venard OP.

Endorsements previously mentioned here.

Additionally, out last month is a volume entitled Divine Transcendence and Immanence in the Work of Thomas Aquinas, a collection of studies presented at the Third Conference of the Thomas Instituut te Utrecht, 15-17 December 2005. Edited by Harm Goris, Herwi Rikhof, and Henk Schoot, this volume contains essays by CoTP members Rudi te Velde, Harm Goris, and Conor Cunningham. The full table of contents may be found here.

Collection description:

The terms ‘transcendence’ and ‘immanence’ are often used casually and as self-evident. The spatial imagery contained in their meaning determines the way they are understood and used: as opposites, like ‘there’ and ‘here’. As a consequence, the two concepts are seen as mutually exclusive when applied to God’s being and to his activity and presence in our world and in our history. This view on the relationship between God and world is characteristic not only of deism and pantheism, but also of theism.

However, in the view of Thomas Aquinas, such an opposition cannot adequately capture the central tenets of the Christian faith. This book explores Aquinas’ thought on transcendence and immanence in his discussions of creation, analogy, the Trinity, grace and Christ, and offers interpretations in which God’s transcendence and his immanence do not exclude but imply one another.

Book description:

The Radical Orthodoxy Reader presents a selection of key readings in the field of Radical Orthodoxy, the most influential theological movement in contemporary academic theology. Radical Orthodoxy draws on pre-Enlightenment theology and philosophy to engage critically with the assumption and priorities of secularism, modernity, postmodernity and associated theologies. In doing so it explores a wide and exciting range of issues: music, language, society, the body, the city, power, motion, space, time, personhood, sex and gender. As such it is both controversial and extremely stimulating; provoking much fruitful debate amongst contemporary theologians.

To assist those encountering Radical Orthodoxy for the first time, each section has an introductory commentary, related reading and helpful questions to encourage in-depth understanding and further study.

Table of Contents:

• Part One: What is Radical Orthodoxy?
  • Introduction (Oliver)
  • 1. Radical Orthodoxy: a conversation (Shortt)
  • 2. ‘Postmodern Critical Augustinianism’: A Short Summa in Forty-two Responses to Unasked Questions (Milbank)
• Part Two: Theology and Philosophy, Faith and Reason Introduction
  • 3. Truth and Vision (Milbank)
  • 4. Duns Scotus: His Historical and Contemporary Significance (Pickstock)
• Part Three: Theology and the Secular Introduction
  • 5. Spacialisation: the middle of modernity (Pickstock)
  • 6. Political Theology and the New Science of Politics (Milbank)
• Part Four: Christ and Gift Introduction
  • 7. Christ the Exception (Milbank)
  • 8. The Schizoid Christ (Ward)
• Part Five: Church and Eucharist Introduction
  • 9. Thomas Aquinas and the Quest for the Eucharist (Pickstock)
  • 10. The Ontological Scandal (Ward)
• Part Six: Politics and Theology Introduction
  • 11. “A fire strong enough to consume the house:” The Wars of Religion and the rise of the nation state (Cavanaugh)
  • 12. Materialism and Transcendence (Milbank)
  • Afterward: The Grandeur of Reason and the Perversity of Rationalism: Radical Orthodoxy’s First Decade (Milbank)

William Desmond’s original and creative work in metaphysics is attracting more and more attention from philosophers of religion. Putting Desmond in conversation with John D. Caputo, an important philosopher of religion from the Continental tradition, Christopher Ben Simpson casts new light on Desmond’s complex, multifaceted, and nuanced thought. The comparative approach allows Simpson to get at the core of recent debates in the philosophy of religion. He develops a rich understanding of how ethics and religion are informed by metaphysics, and contrasts this approach to the decidedly anti-metaphysical stance in Continental philosophy. Religion, Metaphysics, and the Postmodern presents a systematic analysis of Desmond’s thought as it advances work on Caputo’s thinking and on the philosophy of religion.

Available from:

• Indiana University Press
• Amazon.com (Amazon.co.uk is still on pre-order)

• The Theology of Money (paperback), by Philip Goodchild (special sale price £13.50)
• Transcendence and Phenomenology (paperback), eds. Peter M. Candler, Jr. and Conor Cunningham (special sale price: £28.00)
• Belief and Metaphysics (paperback), eds. Peter M. Candler, Jr. and Conor Cunningham (special sale price: £28.00)
• Tayloring Reformed Epistemology: Charles Taylor, Alvin Plantinga and the de jure Challenge to Christian Belief (paperback), by Deane-Peter Baker (special sale price: £9.50)
• Theology, Psychoanalysis and Trauma (paperback), by Marcus Pound (special sale price: £10.00)