Remythologizing Theology: Divine Action, Passion, and Authorship

by Kevin J. Vanhoozer

Overview

The rise of modern science and the proclaimed 'death' of God in the nineteenth century led to a radical questioning of divine action and authorship - Bultmann's celebrated 'demythologizing'. Remythologizing Theology moves in another direction that begins by taking seriously the biblical accounts of God's speaking. It establishes divine communicative action as the formal and material principle of theology, and suggests that interpersonal dialogue, rather than impersonal causality, is the keystone of God's relationship with the world. This original contribution to the theology of divine action and authorship develops a fresh vision of Christian theism. It also revisits several long-standing controversies such as the relations of God's sovereignty to human freedom, time to eternity, and suffering to love. Groundbreaking and thought-provoking, it brings theology into fruitful dialogue with philosophy, literary theory, and biblical studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780511739415
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/14/2010
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine , #18
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	786 KB

About the Author

Kevin J. Vanhoozer is Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield (IL). He is the author of Biblical Narrative in the Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur (Cambridge, 1990) and Is There a Meaning in this Text? (1998).

Table of Contents

Preface; Introduction: what is remythologizing?; Part I. 'God' in Scripture and Theology: 1. Biblical representation (Vorstellung): divine communicative action and passion; 2. Theological conceptualization (Begriff): varieties of theism and panentheism; 3. The new kenotic-perichoretic relational ontotheology: some 'classical' concerns; Part II. Communicative Theism and the Triune God: 4. God's being is in communicating; 5. God in three persons: the one who lights and lives in love; Part III. God and World: Authorial Action and Interaction: 6. Divine author and human hero in dialogical relation; 7. Divine communicative sovereignty and human freedom: the hero talks back; 8. Impassible passion? Suffering, emotions, and the crucified God; 9. Impassible compassion? From divine pathos to divine patience; Conclusion: always remythologizing? Answering to the Holy author in our midst; Select bibliography; Index of scriptural references; General index.

Editorial Reviews

"Remythologizing Theology is a ground-breaking work. Its bold proposal for integrating exegesis, biblical theology and systematic theology is a much needed one. Vanhoozer's approach gives careful attention to the literary dimension of scripture while keeping in view the inescapable role of theological presuppositions involved in interpretation."
Calvin Theological Journal, Jeffrey J. Monk, Westminster Theological Seminary

"Remythologizing Theology is an enormous accomplishment in reclaiming the biblical mythos in service to our reasoning about and response to God … Vanhoozer succeeds in keeping both the 'theo' and the 'drama' in theodrama by faithfully attending to God's being-in-communicative-action while creatively addressing God's dialogical and dramatic interaction with his creatures."
Presbyterion

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