The theology of Langdon B. Gilkey : systematic and critical studies / edited by Kyle A. Pasewark and Jeff B. Pool.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Pasewark, Kyle A., 1959-

Pool, Jeff B., 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gilkey, Langdon, 1919-2004.

Gilkey, Langdon.

Physical Description:

xvi, 560 pages : portrait ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Macon, Ga. : Mercer University Press, [1999]

Summary:

At the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, on 7 June 1998, in a sermon delivered at the close of the Narratives of American Religion Conference, Langdon Gilkey said: "History, ... cannot be understood without the religious dimension that is ever-present in it, and so theological understanding is a part of the understanding of ourselves in time. In turn, theology is meaningless unless it interprets actuality, the actuality of historical experience, of nature's processes, and of personal life."

There is no better statement of the lifework of Langdon Gilkey, theologian, teacher, interpreter of actuality. Gilkey has spent a lifetime in quest of some viable resolution of the seeming incompatibility of science and religion, the material and the spiritual, the secular and the sacred.

Students of theology have found profitable reading in the writings of Langdon Gilkey and, indeed, have discovered there illuminating insights, pioneering thoughts, and even a healthy agony with which every serious thinker can identify. Now we have a systematic and critical evaluation, a critical exposition and appraisal of the theology of Langdon Gilkey. Editors Pasewark and Pool rightly insist that this is more than a Festschrift: these essays do "celebrate the life and work of Langdon Gilkey, but specifically in the context of examining the major contours of Gilkey's own theological labors." In practical terms, these essays by a corps of Gilkey's students, comprise an insightful and helpful commentary on the work and writings of Gilkey. With these pages in hand, the next generation of students surely will find reading langdon Gilkey on the "understanding of ourselves in time" to be even more profitable.

Contents:

Part 1. Situating Gilkey's Thought

1. Making Sense of Ultimacy: Truths of Experience in Langdon Gilkey's Theological Development / Gary J. Dorrien 3

2. Debts and Contributions: The Milieu of Langdon Gilkey's Theology / Kyle A. Pasewark 35

3. Beyond Postliberal Foundationalism: The Theological Method of Langdon Gilkey / Jeff B. Pool 57

Part 2. Gilkey's Interpretations of Culture

4. Becoming Langdon Gilkey: The Theological Significance of Shantung Compound / Joseph Bessler-Northcutt 169

5. History, Society, and Politics: Langdon Gilkey's Theology of Culture / Brian J. Walsh 197

6. Sovereigns Past and Present: The Sciences and the Religious in the Theology of Langdon Gilkey / Donald W. Musser 221

7. Relative Absoluteness: Langdon Gilkey's Approach to Religious Pluralism / Mary Ann Stenger 239

8. Theology, Symbolism, and Language in the Thought of Langdon Gilkey / Charles E. Winquist 259

Part 3. Gilkey's Interpretations of Christian Symbols

9. Navigating in the Whirlwind: Langdon Gilkey's Doctrine of God / Eric H. Crump 277

10. Power, Freedom, and History: The Symbol of Divine Providence in Langdon Gilkey's Theology / Kyle A. Pasewark 303

11. Contingency, Tragedy, Sin, and Ultimacy: Trajectories in Langdon Gilkey's Interpretations of History and Nature / Larry D. Bouchard 335

12. "A Sharp Turn": Christology in a "Time of Troubles" / James O. Yerkes 363

13. Langdon Gilkey's Theology of the Servant Church / H. Frederick Reisz, Jr. 401

Part 4. Gilkey's Practice of Theology

14. From Liberalism to Postmodernism: The Role of Integrity in the Thought of Langdon Gilkey / Jennifer L. Rike 431

15. Pedagogy and Theological Method: The Praxis of Langdon Gilkey / Joseph L. Price 465

Part 5. Reflections by Langdon Gilkey

16. A Retrospective Glance at My Work / Langdon Gilkey 487.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [525]-556).

ISBN:

0865546436

0865546444

OCLC:

42463102