Theology in an Emerging Culture: God, Atheism and the Church
I am currently preparing for a four day intensive course in theology for Wesley Seminary in Washington DC starting this Monday. For those of you attending the course outline looks something like this (I have placed the primary thinkers for each lecture in brackets),
—
Monday
An “Ontological” argument for the existence of God (Anselm)
Cosmological arguments for the existence of God (Aquinas)
A Teleological argument for the existence of God (Aquinas)
—
Tuesday
The Critique of Onto-theology (Heidegger and Barth)
Existential faith (Kierkegaard and Pascal)
The death of God (Nietzsche)
—
Wednesday
Theology as Anthropology (Feuerbach)
Religion as an Opiate (Marx)
Religion as Wish-Fulfilment (Frued)
—
Thursday
Radical Theology (Tillich, Bonhoeffer, Altizer)
Mystical Theology (Henry, Marion)
Weakness Theology (Caputo, Vattimo)
July 22nd, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Wish I could be there! Will you teach this anywhere else?
July 22nd, 2010 at 5:06 pm
You know I’m your friend, so you know I have to ask — where are the women?
Have a great time with significant conversation!
July 22nd, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Sue, no plans yet. But I am sure I will at some point.
Susan, that is an interesting sociological question. But I am afraid I can’t do anything about it regarding the material I am exploring on this course.
The classical descriptions of the metaphysical arguments for God are Anselm and Aquinas. The prime critics of onto-theology in the 19th century were Nietzsche, Feuerbach, Marx and Frued. Heidegger was the one who brought this to light through his description of metaphysics as onto-theology in the 20th century. Radical theology arises directly from the theology of Tillich and the later Bonhoeffer. And Altizer is generally considered the classic late 20th century articulation of it. In terms of the philosophical reflection on apophatic theory Marion and Henry are up there as the most important in the contemporary debate.
In terms of the last lecture I could have done something other than weakness theology and perhaps looked at Kristeva, Daly or Reid. However the last lecture allows me to explore my own work, which is broadly in weakness thinking (although I might bring Keller into the course).
Can I ask, in relation to the material, who would you suggest?
July 22nd, 2010 at 6:15 pm
There are any number of women who were contemporaneous with those thinkers, and there are others whose arguments are particularly interesting in terms of apophatic theology — which, I imagine from your work, might interest you? What about Marguerite Porete, for instance? All you’re doing by using the same old, same old is reinscribing patriarchal arguments rather than opening up possible engagement in areas that could be retrieved for the work you’re doing.
July 22nd, 2010 at 6:26 pm
I do think there is interesting scholarly work to be done in bringing out alternative voices whose work is as penetrating (or just perhaps even more so) than those in the cannon. However I am not engaged in that kind of scholarly work myself and I also haven’t yet seen any work that would suggest others as better representatives of these arguments than those who are generally considered the best (not that they don’t exist). There are lots of sociological reasons why there is not much material from woman, especially in the medieval period and I think that it is valuable to have courses exploring this. However this is not a sociological or historical course
July 22nd, 2010 at 6:33 pm
And where’s Zizek!!??
July 22nd, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Where’s Zizek? That would be Altizer.
Yeah, I would like to see Keller replace Vattimo. Vattimo does nothing too different theologically from Altizer except that he shies away from the Hegelian metaphysics. Other than that, I think the Christ in Postmodern Philosophy made clear that Vattimo isn’t making any novel contributions that aren’t already in Heidegger, Nietzsche and especially Altizer
Also, it would be fun to combine the theme of weakness in Caputo with Keller’s critique of the strong onto-theological God (in Face of the Deep) who suppresses chaos and disorder in classical theology in the doctrine of creation ex nihilo.
I think including some theologians from the tradition of liberation theology would have also been useful. I’d suggest Ruether.
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Thanks for the reflections. And Jeremy I definitely see your point. To be honest the last section is a chance for me to reflect on my own work but I felt a little awkward putting my own name in there!
And Ira I promise Zizek will be making some appearances! I am hoping that by introducing Altizer it will provide a way into Zizek for the students who want to go further.
I would love to include some liberation theology and also feel that I would need to cover Radical Orthodoxy among other movements. The problem is time. Sadly only have 4 days. But hopefully I will get the opportunity to go further at a later date
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:30 pm
I wish I could hear these lectures.
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Hey Hey Peter – Just read the chapter called Revelation Through Conversation in McLaren’s new book. Wrestle with this as you teach:
“…revelation doesn’t simply happen in statements. It happens in conversation and arguments that take place within and among communities of people who share the same essential questions across generations. Revelation accumulates in the relationships, interactions, and interplay between statements.”
Enjoy the challenge! O’
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:38 am
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July 23rd, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Ideas for spreading thoughts from the course:
PLEASE, would you bring in a digital recorder? Even if only for yourself?
Consider a student who would integrate written notes of all students?
Have students blog their thoughts from the course daily?
Have you & others tweet thoughts as they happen?
I hope we who can’t be their due to other commitments can still benefit from the insights that will surely come out.
Have fun!
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:11 pm
I’ll be there and frankly, can’t wait! I’m looking forward to the exchange and dialogue.
What is the expectation regarding assignments, if any?
July 24th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Downloads please.
Pretty please?
July 26th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Greetings from Venezuela.
Is there a way to access those lectures later on internet?
It would be a resource of great value!
July 26th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Just another voice to echo the call for downloads/recordings. There’s just not enough (in fact, hardly any) Continental stuff like this out there. Plenty of Zizek videos (youtube), Caputo has a lot of his stuff up on his site, and some other random things I’ve found on iTunesU, but the world needs more – please record and distribute – even if the quality is not great.
I’d be willing to pay a little something for it.
July 27th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
On the question of women and radical theology, I would have thought that Simone Weil fits the bill quite nicely. Obviously, the difficulty is that most of the material is in notebooks, not finished publications, but still, she wrestles with the relationship betwen atheism and Christianity as profoundly as anyone I have come across.
Looks like an interesting course either way.
July 27th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Hey
Very sorry but the course has not been recorded. I totally understand that being far away means not being able to get to stuff like this. It was mostly a question of technology. However sometimes it is easier to do teaching like this in slight privacy. It means you can sometimes be less guarded than when you know it is going out into the ether.
I hope to be doing a lot more courses like this over the next few years in various locations.
July 27th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
what a sad comment peter that we need to be guarded about our theology. Are we really living still in times that deman we hide what we believe at our deepest levels? Hmm i understand what you are saying but that still makes me feel down.
July 27th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Hey Tadd
I can see why you would feel this way. But to be honest I overstated the point. It really was mostly to do with not having a mic to record the stuff. I also partly expected that a student might have recorded it because that often happens these days. My comment about the privacy was only secondary. Though I can see why it seemed otherwise. I should also say that this course isn’t private in that anyone could sign up. It is just that some of the course is conversation and it can often be easier to be honest in a smaller context. It was not just me I was thinking of, but the people taking the course (many of whom are religious leaders).
July 28th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
“There are lots of sociological reasons why there is not much material from woman”
Exactly, the Church has regarded the male as superior for almost its entire history. Jesus clearly believed in the equality of women(And I would argue Paul did as well, based on his acknowledgments of female elders in the church). But it was inevitable the church would absorb the gender roles of Roman society. There’s an interesting new movie that deals with a lot of this stuff:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100721/REVIEWS/100729996
July 30th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Will this be available online or as a podcast in the future?
August 6th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
This looks awesome, thanks for posting it.
Regarding the question of women, I advocate that Mary Daly can–and should be–read as a radical theologian, and she is far more Tillichian than many would wish to admit. There are some clear connections with her and Altizer, even if they are very contrary thinkers, and her book Pure Lust is a masterpiece.
August 7th, 2010 at 7:59 am
Will this be available online? Love to see you in Ireland again!! Any chance?
thanks
August 10th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Peter, on the topic of women to include, have you considered the work of Luce Irigaray? Works like “I Love to You” and “To Be Two” might be interesting contributions to the discussion. Not sure how overtly theological she is, but her exploration of the role of love and relationality in the structure of human personhood I think comes straight from Levinas’s conception of autochthony and is an important lens to understand why weakness has been emphasized in weak theology and why that weakness is considered positive .
August 10th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
By the way, can you or anyone else recommend a faith community like Ikon in the NJ or NYC area?
August 12th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Any suggestion of a reading list for those that want to dig a little deeper into that course on our own?