> Hmm, when medieval thinkers are being cited on the LBO list as
> inspirational figures, I'd say the left really is cooked.
> BTW, I find it interesting that this listing of Christian non-morons
> includes no one dating later than Hegel.
> Carl
Jeesh. I'm not a Christian but, really here are some more post-Hegel who are far from morons. Hans Kung, Stanley Hauerwas, Alasdair MacIntryre, Robert Bellah, Terry Eagleton, Jacques Ellul, Christopher Lasch, Berdiaev, Reinhold Niebuhr, Mark C. Taylor. (Confidence Games : Money and Markets in a World without Redemption [Religion and Postmodernism Series]) by Mark C. Taylor http://www.williams.edu/mtaylor/books/pages/tears.html Tears by Mark C. Taylor
State University of New York Press January 1990
In Tears, the author explores theoretical issues raised by the intersection of philosophy, literature, art, architecture, and theology. The critical accounts of thinkers like Derrida, Blanchot, Jabes, Kierkegaard, Hegel, Heidegger, Ricoeur, Gadamer, Austin, Ayre, Rorty, Tillich, Barth, and Altizer developed in this book effectively reshape and refocus the terms of current debate.
Reviews
Mark C. Taylor is simply the most interesting younger theologian since Paul Tillich and is increasingly recognized as such. Tears brings out what is distinctive about Taylor's work, what sets it apart from death of god theologians like Thomas Altizer and from scholarly postmodernists like Richard Rorty and Rodolphe Gashe. At the same time, one can see what is afoot in Taylor's other books. The key lies not only in the theological and philosophical uses to which Derrida is put, but also in Taylor's absolutely original reading of Kierkegaard. This is an original study of fundamental importance. Taylor shows how and why these matters are significant for the history of Western metaphysics, for politics, morals, and art. This book not only extends the text of Taylor's other books but is in many ways the best introduction to them. The reader can grasp the conceptual backdrop Taylor brings to his work, while at the same time she/he sees just how the work moves, not in a straightforward line but by way of gaps, fissure, and backtracking. This collection reflects the best of Taylor's thought. Edith Wyschogrod, City University of New York
http://www.tcpc.org/ The Center for Progressive Christianity http://www.tcpc.org/resources/constellation/fall_03/index.htm No matter what one's politics or theology, the 2003 US war on Iraq has become a milestone in history. It marks the first major war the US has waged without at least alleging that its actions were defensive in the cause of freedom. It is the first US war which the vast majority of nations has opposed. It is the first war in which the US government's publicly announced reasons for going to war have proven groundless. All the while, the US President has consistently invoked the name of God.
These developments demand new and clear thinking by progressive Christians. Especially since conservative Christians have appealed to old theologies and pieties of war at this time, new theological articulations by progressive Christians are critical. This issue of Constellation contains essays by leading American voices in response to our editorial question: As a progressive Christian, what do you think about the war in Iraq and its consequences? Our authors answered in creative ways—using parables, history, theology, and politics to lay bare the roots of this conflict. They not only articulated theology in new ways, but proposed alternatives to war—practical ways of building communities of hope.
Award winning essayist and novelist Barbara Kingsolver has given us her response in the heralded essay "Small Wonder." We are grateful for her generous permission to print this essay, and honored by her association with us as a progressive Christian journal. National Council of Churches Secretary General Robert Edgar, Princeton theologian Mark Taylor, Mennonite theologian Ted Grimsrud, psychoanalyst Richard Ford, human rights advocates Kathy Kelly and Cathy Breen, Washington pundit and pastor Dean Snyder, and Quaker theologian Larry Miller contribute powerful essays of their own. It is our hope that this collection will provide insight and perspective for our readers on this important issue.
» Small Wonder
Barbara Kingsolver
In this essay, Barbara Kingsolver offers a modern parable as a way of looking for meaning and hope in the midst of suffering. Her thoughtful rendering of this alternative vision supported by choice and decision give us a way out of despair - “the utterly simple, infinitely wise, ultimately defiant act of loving one thing then another, loving our way back to life.”
» Through the Eyes of a Peacemaker: An Unflinching Look at the Iraq War
Bob Edgar
Objections to this war raised by the peace movement have been hard for many citizens to accept. There may be a kind of “cognitive dissonance” operating that makes it difficult for people to reconcile the peace movement’s analysis, which said that our nation was headed toward a moral wrong, with the heritage and ideals of our country that we cherish. Bob Edgar believes it is the better part of patriotism to know and face the facts, even if it makes Christians become “cognitive dissidents.”
» Liberation, Neocons and the Christian Right: Options for Pro-Active Christian Witness in Post 9/11
Mark Lewis Taylor
Christians need to contribute a stronger, more visible, proactive, public witness in the US political arena, one that is prophetic, protesting and questioning of the present government’s imperial designs. Mark Taylor takes on three important interpretative tasks to accomplish this. First, he asks what it means to be about something called “Christian” public witness; second, he goes beyond the commentary of current mass media to interpret what we mean by “post-9/11 USA”; third, he suggests what Christians might do and say in these times.
» Anabaptist Faith and Empire Faith
Ted Grimsrud
This essay examines the two USAmerica’s - one that stands for democracy, free speech, economic opportunity and human rights, and one that perpetuates the myth of redemptive violence. Ted Grimsrud looks at the core values of the Anabaptist tradition to find ways to reject power that oppresses and dominates, especially through the use of force.
» The Iraqi Conflict and a Parable of Jesus
Richard Q. Ford
Richard Ford proposes that the parable of “The Wicked Tenants” is a story for our time—a story of the privileged refusing to know. The parable’s violence is discovered, first of all, not in the beleaguered subordinates’ rebellious cruelty, but rather in the privileged superior’s unquestioned confidence that his greed is lawful.
» Voices from Baghdad
Kathy Kelly and Cathy Breen
Human rights advocates in Baghdad give us their unique perspective on the war and its aftermath. We hear firsthand about living and sharing the consequences of war with the Iraqi people. Fear, chaos, and hope characterize their days where “death is always in the background.”
» This Teachable Moment: Communities of Faith Need to Provide an Alternative Vision
Dean Snyder
Dean Snyder suggests that protest of the war should begin with an apology. Christians have failed in leadership and discipleship by losing sight of the global community. If we are to be peace-makers, we must become a global people. The war gives the church the opportunity to begin discussing its healing mission and the parameters of Christian witness in view of the lessons learned from previous wars.
» Iraq: A Conflict Turning from a Quagmire into a Black Hole
Larry Miller
As a Quaker peace activist Larry Miller has chaired the Quaker United Nations Program and traveled extensively. In this essay, he proposes that Christians examine the relationship between war and poverty. After dismissing the “just war” theory as a rejection of God’s creation, he suggests that providing humanitarian and developmental aid is the best, and untried, use of our resources. -- Michael Pugliese