Brill Research Perspectives in Theology – serie

In this first volume of Brill Research Perspectives in Theology, the field of comparative theology is mapped with particular attention to the tradition associated with Francis Clooney but noting the global and wider context of theology in a comparative mode. There are four parts. In the first section the current field is mapped and its methodological and theological aspects are explored. The second part considers what the deconstruction of religion means for comparative theology. It also takes into consideration turns to lived and material religion. In the third part, issues of power, representation, and the subaltern are considered, including the place of feminist and queer theory in comparative theology. Finally, the contribution of philosophical hermeneutics is considered. The text notes key trends, develops original models of practice and method, and picks out and discusses critical issues within the field.

After a bibliographic introduction highlighting various research trends in science and religion, Joshua Moritz explores how the current academic and conceptual landscape of theology and science has been shaped by the history of science, even as theology has informed the philosophical foundations of science. The first part assesses the historical interactions of science and the Christian faith (looking at the cases of human dissection in the Middle Ages and the Galileo affair) in order to challenge the common notion that science and religion have always been at war. Part two investigates the nature of the interaction between science and Christian theology by exploring the role that metaphysical presuppositions and theological concepts have played—and continue to play—within the scientific process.

Continental philosophy underwent a ‘return to religion’ or a ‘theological turn’ in the late 20th century. And yet any conversation between continental philosophy and theology must begin by addressing the perceived distance between them: that one is concerned with destroying all normative, metaphysical order (continental philosophy’s task) and the other with preserving religious identity and community in the face of an increasingly secular society (theology’s task). Colby Dickinson argues in Continental Philosophy and Theology rather that perhaps such a tension is constitutive of the nature of order, thinking and representation which typically take dualistic forms and which might be rethought, though not necessarily abolished. Such a shift in perspective even allows one to contemplate this distance as not opting for one side over the other or by striking a middle ground, but as calling for a nondualistic theology that measures the complexity and inherently comparative nature of theological inquiry in order to realign theology’s relationship to continental philosophy entirely.

This study develops a Christian theological response to the problems of race and anti-black racism in conversation with black theology and womanist theology. It provides a detailed introduction to multiple voices, developments, and tensions in these two theological traditions over the last half century. It offers an overview of James Cone’s arguments and their reception. It considers turns toward pragmatism and genealogy in black religious scholarship, focusing on Cornel West, Peter Paris, Dwight Hopkins, Victor Anderson, Anthony Pinn, Bryan Massingale, J. Kameron Carter, and Willie Jennings. It analyzes womanist theological treatments of intersectionality, narrative, and embodiment through Jacquelyn Grant, Katie Cannon, Delores Williams, Emilie Townes, Karen Baker-Fletcher, Kelly Brown Douglas, Diana Hayes, and M. Shawn Copeland. Finally, it suggests some open questions related to hybridity, sexuality, and ecology. Ultimately, it argues that the credibility of Christian theological witness depends significantly on the quality of Christian theology’s response to anti-black racism.

In Theology of Religions Graham Adams maps and analyses the field of ‘theology of religions’ (ToR) and its various typologies, examining the assumptions in how religion is assessed. The purpose is to identify how contributions to ToR select and deselect material and trajectories, editing according to presuppositions and interests. Adams’ analysis consciously relies on Andrew Shanks’ Hegelian notion of ‘truth-as-openness’ (divine hospitality) as it illuminates three dynamics, or ‘scandals’, within ToR. The first, concerned with how a religion’s particularity or identity is constructed, is subdivided between ‘particularity transcended’ and ‘particularity re-centred’, along the lines of Jenny Daggers’ postcolonial insights. The second concerns the interactions when one religion engages an Other’s strangeness, and the third is concerned with how religions aim to transform socio-political systems that feign or obstruct universality, so as to effect ever greater solidarity. The text notes key trends, beyond Christianity and including deepening interdisciplinarity, and potential developments from a critical but constructive standpoint.

In an age of global migration, how should Christian theologians and church leaders respond to its various challenges and problems? What is a fundamental theological framework with which we are to engage in them? In this volume, Ilsup Ahn attempts to answer these questions by presenting a “Trinitarian theology of migration.” In doing so, he first provides an overview of recent theological works on migration by introducing their key theological insights. A Trinitarian theology of migration becomes possible as we begin to see that the three Sacred Persons (the Son, the Father, and the Holy Spirit) are distinctively, yet intrinsically involved with the phenomenon of human migration within God’s grand vision of liberation and redemption. From a Trinitarian theological perspective, in all stages of human migration from taking leave to getting integrated, migrants and citizens are called to join in God’s liberative and redemptive works for all the people of God.

This essay develops a response to the historical situation of the North Atlantic world in general and the United States in particular through theological reflection. It offers an overview of some decolonial perspectives with which theologians can engage, and argues for a general perspective for a decolonial theology as a possible response to modern/colonial structures and relations of power, particularly in the United States. Decolonial theory holds together a set of critical perspectives that seek the end of the modern/colonial world-system and not merely a democratization of its benefits. A decolonial theology, Joseph Drexler-Dreis argues, critiques how the confinement of knowledge to European traditions has closed possibilities for understanding historical encounters with divinity, and thus possibilities of critical reflection. A decolonial theology reflects critically on a historical situation in light of faith in a divine reality, the understanding of which is liberated from the monopoly of modern/colonial ways of knowing, in order to catalyze social transformation.

Old Catholic theology is the theology that is characteristic of the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht. Old Catholic Theology: An Introduction, authored by Peter-Ben Smit, an acknowledged expert in the field, outlines the main characteristics of and influences on Old Catholic theology, as well as the extant ecumenical relationships of the Old Catholic Churches. In doing so, it covers what may be called 'mainstream' Old Catholic theology, while also discussing the diversity within the Old Catholic tradition. Particular attention is given to the Old Catholic approach to theology in general and to ecclesiology, sacramental theology and ecumenical theology in particular. Further foci include the version of communio-theology, the appertaining sacramental understanding of the church, the inherent connection between theology and (liturgical) spirituality, the distinct branch of communal hermeneutics and the understanding of the appeal to the early Church that Old Catholic theologians developed in the course of the 20th century.

Although church historians often call the 19th century the Great Century of Protestant mission, for Latin America it was the 20th century that was the great century of Protestant growth and expansion. The 20th century witnessed vast societal changes and the realization of systemic poverty and injustice as well as the exponential growth, pentecostalization, and diversification of Latin American Protestantism. Latin American Protestant Theology emerged during this century of change.This text provides an introduction to Latin American Protestant Theology by engaging its dominant theological streams (Liberal, Evangelical, and Pentecostal) and how they understand themselves through the lens of mission. The text offers both a critique of the Christendom cartography that is dominant in Latin American Protestant Theology as well as suggestions for how to move towards a transformative theology of mission. The primary intention of this text is to offer an informed outline and analysis of the theological landscape of Latin American Protestantism. The secondary intention of this book is to note the contributions as well as deficiencies of the streams of LAPT in the hope to signal a possible path towards the development of an integral, transformative, contextual, and decolonial theological voice.

In the past decade analytic theology has established itself as a flourishing research program that includes academic journals, monograph series, a dedicated annual conference, research centres on several continents, and a growing and diverse body of work produced by scholars drawn from philosophy, theology, and biblical studies. In this short monograph Oliver Crisp, James Arcadi, and Jordan Wessling introduce readers to analytic theology. The work provides an account of analytic theology, some of the main areas in which analytic theologians have worked, and some of the prospects for the future of analytic theology going forward. It also addresses some key objections to analytic theology as a theological method. Written by three leading researchers in the field, this work is an excellent way for scholars and students to get acquainted with this new theological movement.

Is cinema evil, or sacramental? Can films make theological contributions? Can film-viewing be a religious practice? How do films, values and power interact? The study of film and religion engages a range of diverse questions through different approaches and methods. In this contribution, I distinguish three complementary approaches. In the first part, I discuss those that focus on the film as text, the representation of religion in film, and how theology happens in film. The next section will broaden this perspective by taking into consideration how films affect audiences, and how the relationship between film and audience might have religious dimensions or serve religious functions. In the third part, attention to the text and the audience are combined with the consideration of both film and religion as agents in cultural processes in order to think about how film and religion are shaped by and shape value systems and ideologies. In the last section I will begin to tackle the difficult question of theory and method. I consciously postpone this part until the end because, in many cases, methodologies and theoretical frameworks are implied in and emerge from concrete case studies rather than being consciously reflected upon. This final section has two goals: it will make explicit some of these underlying assumptions to serve as a starting point for a more sustained reflection on the theories and methodologies of the field, and it will highlight some of the pitfalls we encounter if we are not methodologically and theoretically precise in our work.

This essay is centered around five questions: (i) What is the proper place of liturgical theology? (ii) Which evolutions have there been in the past and which current tendencies are there in the field of liturgical theology? (iii) Which contents must liturgical theologians focus on? (iv) How can liturgical theologians engage in research? And (v): How can liturgical theology appropriately respond to what happens in Church and society? Each question corresponds with one part. The rationale behind ordering the content of this essay in this way is the following: starting from a reflection about the non-evident place of liturgical theology, an attempt is made to give it a fitting profile again on the basis of its genealogy in the Liturgical Movement. Correspondingly, liturgical theology can be considered a full-fledged research program, which does not simply deal with Christian rituals, festivals and sacraments, but with the core of Christian faith.

This research guide introduces scholars to the field of Reformed theology, focusing on works of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in the English language. After a brief introductory section on the debates about what counts as “Reformed theology,” Martha Moore-Keish explores twenty-one major theological themes, with attention to classical as well as current works. The author demonstrates that this stream of Protestantism is both internally diverse and ecumenically interwoven with other Christian families, not just a single clearly defined group set apart from others. In addition, this guide shows that contemporary Reformed theology has been rethinking the doctrines of God, humanity, and their relationship in significant ways that challenge old stereotypes and offer fresh wisdom for our world today.

The “Good news” is central to evangelical theology and the movement known as evangelicalism, but the news has not always been good for minorities who inhabit evangelical communities and institutions in the United States. Vincent Bacote argues a reckoning with questions of race is necessary for evangelical theology to help cultivate an evangelical movement more hospitable to minorities, particularly African-Americans. Evangelicalism is here regarded not only a set of beliefs about the Bible, Christ’s work on the cross, conversion and witness but also as a set of dispositions and postures that create openness to the concerns of minorities. With a perpetually uneasy conscience, Christians within the evangelical movement can cultivate a disposition ready to learn from the questions and contributions of minorities in evangelical spaces, such as William Bentley and Carl Ellis. A better evangelical theology is proposed as doctrines that yield actions that are truly good news for all.

Pentecostal theology is burgeoning in the academy, and a vast body of literature continues to grow. With precision and ease, Stephenson carefully leads readers through an array of theological topics, texts, and figures. Combining original analysis and constructive contributions, he classifies diverse and complex ideas in pentecostal biblical studies, systematic theology, and theological ethics. Whether they are beginning students seeking an accessible initiation into an area that newly piques their interests or established scholars who need a sophisticated crash course in a yet unexplored field of inquiry, readers will find Stephenson’s accounts to be a reliable guide through this daunting topic.

Economy and Modern Christian Thought, by Devin Singh, presents key features of the engagement of Christian theology, ethics, and related disciplines with the market and economic concerns. It surveys ways in which the dialogue has been approached and invites new models and frameworks for the conversation. It contends that economy and Christian thought have long been interconnected, and recounts aspects of this relationship and why it matters for how one might engage the economy ethically and theologically. Finally, it highlights a number of sites of emerging research that are in need of development in light of pressing social, political, economic, and conceptual issues raised by modern life, including money, debt, racial capital, social reproduction, corporations, and cryptocurrency.

There are numerous books that offer an historical account of Anglican theology or that detail the lives and work of particular Anglican theologians. Books that focus on the nature and character of Anglican theology itself, however, are hard to find. This volume fills that gap. In The Shape of Anglican Theology, Scott MacDougall examines what it is that makes Anglican theology Anglican. Beginning with a treatment of the ways in which Anglican theology is and is not distinct from other types of Christian theology, he describes the theological features that mark the general boundaries of Anglican theologizing before turning to consider a set of eight interconnected characteristics that provide Anglican theology with its distinctive profile. MacDougall argues that, by setting its boundaries as widely as possible and requiring subscription to specific theological propositions as little as possible, Anglican theology is in essence a wisdom theology that seeks to build the capacity for faithful Christian discernment in belief and practice.

New Materialism and Theology reflects on questions of human embodiment, nonhuman agency, technological innovation, and what really matters now and in possible futures. Bringing theological inquiry together with the philosophical movement of new materialism, Sam Mickey points toward a variety of ways for thinking about matter and everything that materializes in human and more-than-human worlds. Mickey provides introductory definitions and historical context for understanding the relationship between various theological and materialist ideas and practices. He examines the self-declared novelty and materiality of new materialism, noting the limitations of those labels while articulating the very new and quite material challenges that new materialism does indeed pose, challenges of urgent existential importance that demand theological responses. New Materialism and Theology faces the theological implications and material possibilities facing humanity while ecological and technological realities seem to be pointing toward posthuman or transhuman futures or perhaps something else entirely.

Modern Orthodox identity is deeply interwoven with the notion of deification or union with God. For some theologians, deification represents the lens through which most, if not all, theological questions should be engaged. In this volume, Petre Maican undertakes the task of critically examining the extent to which deification informs the main debates inside Orthodox theology, focusing on four essential loci: anthropology, the Trinity, epistemology, and ecclesiology. Maican argues that while deification remains central to anthropology and the Orthodox understanding of the Trinity, it seems less relevant in the areas of ecclesiology and complexifies the Orthodox approach to Scripture and Tradition.