What relevance has comedy for the global crises of late-modernity and the theological critique thereof? Coming out of the experience of war, a generation of modern theologians such as Donald MacKinnon, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and, more recently, Rowan Williams, in their accommodation to literature, choose tragedy as the paradigm for theological understanding and ethics. By contrast, this book develops recent philosophical, anthropological, and psychoanalytical studies of humor to develop a...

Drawing on recent philosophical developments in hermeneutics and poststructuralism, The Fragility of Language and the Encounter with God offers a theological account of the contingency of language and perception and of how acknowledging that contingency transforms the perennial theological question of the development of doctrine. Klug applies this account to humanity's encounter with God and its translation into language. Because there exists no neutral epistemological standpoint,...

Is anything ever not an interpretation?Does interpretation go all the way down?Is there such a thing as a pure fact that is interpretation-free? If not, how are we supposed to know what to think and do?These tantalizing questions are tackled by renowned American thinker John D Caputo in this wide-reaching exploration of what the traditional term 'hermeneutics' can mean in a postmodern, twenty-first century world. As a contemporary of Derrida's and longstandin...

A highly engaging essay that will draw students into a conversation about the vital relationship between philosophy and theology.In this clear, concise, and brilliantly engaging essay, renowned philosopher and theologian John D. Caputoaddresses the great and classical philosophical questions as they inextricably intersect with theology--past, present, and future. Recognized as one of the leading philosophers, Caputo is peerless in introducing and initiating stu...

Although God is making a comeback in our society, popular culture still takes its orders from the Enlightenment, a movement that denied faith a prominent role in society. Today, many are questioning this elevation of reason over faith. How should Christians respond to a secular world that continues to push faith to the margins?While there is still no consensus concerning what a postmodern society should look like, James K. A. Smith suggests that the answer is a reaffirmation of the...

Soren Kierkegaard is one of the prophets of the contemporary age, a man whose acute observations on life in nineteenth-century Copenhagen might have been written yesterday, whose work anticipated fundamental developments in psychoanalysis, philosophy, theology and the critique of mass culture by over a century. John Caputo offers a compelling account of Kierkegaard as a thinker of particular relevance in our postmodern times, who set off a revolution that numbers Martin Heidegger and Karl ...

This is a book about a remarkable man - yet in an important sense it is not about this man at all.Soren Kierkegaard died in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the age of forty-two in 1855. His writings had little influence in his lifetime and after his death, even with the translation of some of his works into German, he was barely known. Yet today, he is internationally accepted as one of the world's greatest thinkers and is often considered the father of existentialism....

In this volume, renowned philosopher Merold Westphal introduces current philosophical thinking related to interpreting the Bible. Recognizing that no theology is completely free of philosophical "contamination," he engages and mines contemporary hermeneutical theory in service of the church. After providing a historical overview of contemporary theories of interpretation, Westphal addresses postmodern hermeneutical theory, arguing that the relativity embraced there is not the same as the r...

With his remarkable range of vision, the author takes us on a voyage of discovery that leads from Eden to Fellini, from paradise to parody - plotting the various models of the imagination as: Hebraic, Greek, medieval, Romantic, existential and post-modern.

An Introduction to Kierkegaard is an accessible introduction to one of the most influential philosophers of the nineteenth century. Peter Vardy is an internationally known scholar with several bestselling titles.Søren Kierkegaard died in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the age of forty-two in 1855. His writings had little influence in his lifetime and after his death; even with the translation of some of his works into German, he was barely known. Yet today, he is internationally ...

Exam Board: OCRLevel: A-levelSubject: Religious StudiesFirst Teaching: September 2016First Exam: June 2018An OCR endorsed textbookHelp students to build their subject knowledge and understanding with guidance and assessment preparation from a team of subject specialists; brought to you by the leading Religious Studies publisher and OCR's ...

These sparkling essays from a seasoned scholar are "a great breath of fresh air in our claustrophobic and catastrophic time" (Cornel West).Capturing a career's worth of thought and erudition, this rich volume treats readers to creative thought, careful argumentation, and sophisticated analysis transmitted through the lucid, accessible prose that has earned the author a wide readership of academics and non-academics alike. In tackling "radical theology," John D. Cap...