Author: llwilmoth

Readings on Theology and Language

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The literature on this topic is extensive, so here I’m only offering a small sampling of theological and philosophical treatments of the sense of religious language. So if you have interests in theology’s use of tropes and devices like analogy, metaphor, symbol, and sign; or operations like figuration and reference; or theology’s capacity to profit from rhetoric studies, then some of the following titles might be worth consulting. As always, if you have suggestions to improve the list, leave a comment.

(listed chronologically — since 1965)

  • D. Z. Phillips, (1965) The Concept of Prayer
  • John Macquarrie, (1967) God-Talk: An Examination of the Language and Logic of Theology
  • Victor Preller, (1967) Divine Science and the Science of God
  • Robert Jenson, (1969) The Knowledge of Things Hoped For: The Sense of Theological Discourse
  • David Burrell, (1973) Analogy and Philosophical Language
  • Langdon Gilkey, (1976) Naming the Whirlwind: The Renewal of God-language
  • G. B. Caird, (1980) The Language and Imagery of the Bible
  • Sallie McFague, (1982) Metaphorical Theology: Models of God in Religious Language
  • Janet M. Soskice, (1987) Metaphor and Religious Language
  • Eberhard Jüngel, (1989) “Metaphorical Truth,” in Theological Essays I
  • Phillip Rolnick, (1993) Analogical Possibilities: How Words Refer to God
  • Dan Stiver, (1996) The Philosophy of Religious Language: Sign, Symbol and Story
  • Colin Gunton, (1998) The Actuality of Atonement: A Study of Metaphor, Rationality and the Christian Tradition
  • Paul Avis, (1999) God and the Creative Imagination: Metaphor, Symbol and Myth in Religion and Theology
  • Graham Ward, (1999) Barth, Derrida and the Language of Theology
  • Louis Doupre, (2000) Symbols of the Sacred
  • Paul Janz, (2008) God, the Mind’s Desire: Reference, Reason and Christian Thinking
  • D. Stephen Long, (2009) Speaking of God: Theology, Language and Truth
  • Roger White, (2010) Talking about God
  • David Brown, (2011) God and Mystery in Words: Experience through Metaphor and Drama
  • Kevin Hector, (2011) Theology Without Metaphysics: God, Language and the Spirit of Recognition
  • Edward Morgan, (2011) The Incarnation of the Word: The Theology of Language of Augustine of Hippo
  • Garth Hallett, (2012) Theology within the Bounds of Language: A Methodological Tour
  • Paul Hinlicky, (2014) “Metaphorical Truth and the Language of Christian Theology.” In Indicative of Grace — Imperative of Freedom, 89-100.
  • Rowan Williams, (2014) The Edge of Words
  • R. David Nelson, (2015) “Webster and Ebeling on Christian Texts: A Placeholder for a Theological Theology of Language.” In Theological Theology: Essays in Honor of John Webster, edited by Nelson, Sarisky, and Stratis, 203-218.
  • Archie Spencer, (2015) The Analogy of Faith: The Quest for God’s Speakablility
  • Stephen Mulhall, (2016) The Great Riddle: Wittgenstein and Nonsense, Theology and Philosophy

Theology & Rhetoric

  • David Cunningham, (1992) Faithful Persuasion: In Aid of a Rhetoric of Christian Theology
  • Lucretia Yaghjian, (2015) Writing Theology Well: A Rhetoric for Theological and Biblical Writers, 2nd Ed.

Readings on the Nature of Revelation

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An account of revelation should speak to a variety of questions. Among them: what has God revealed? (the question of content); how does God reveal? (the question of revelation’s media); and not to be forgotten, where does revelation figure in God’s economy? (the question of revelation’s systematic location). More than a few theologians now have warned that the doctrine only suffers when it’s lifted from its proper dogmatic context and conscripted to serve as the epistemic foundation for the rest of a system. Many more interesting subtopics could be included. So for those with an interest in such matters, here’s a list of relatively recent treatments of the topic. I’ve tried drawing from a variety of perspectives. They’ll give you a sense for the history and current state of the conversation. If I come across other titles that deserve flagging, I’ll add them to the list. Feel welcome to offer your own suggestions.

(listed chronologically — since Barth)

  • Karl Barth, (1932) Church Dogmatics,1.1
  • G. C. Berkouwer, (1955) Studies in Dogmatics: General Revelation
  • John Baillie, (1956) The Idea of Revelation in Recent Thought
  • Emil Brunner, (1964) Truth as Encounter
  • Second Vatican Council, (1965) Dei Verbum
  • Edward Schillebeecx, (1967) Revelation and Theology
  • Gabriel Moran, (1967) Theology of Revelation
  • Wolfhart Pannenberg, (1968) Revelation as History
  • Carl Henry, (1976) God, Revelation and Authority
  • Paul Helm, (1982) The Divine Revelation: The Basic Issues
  • Ronald Thiemann, (1985) Revelation and Theology: The Gospel as Narrated Promise
  • Rowan Williams, “Trinity and Revelation,” Modern Theology 2/3 (1986): 197-212.
  • Avery Dulles, (1992) Models of Revelation, 2nd Ed.
  • Christoph Schwobel, (1992) God, Action and Revelation
  • Colin Gunton, (1995) Brief Theology of Revelation
  • Nicolas Wolterstorff, (1995) Divine Discourse
  • Paul Avis, ed., (1997) Divine Revelation
  • Gabriel Fackre, (1997) The Doctrine of Revelation: A Narrative Approach
  • David Brown, (1999) Tradition and Imagination: Revelation and Change
  • Peter Jensen, (2002) The Revelation of God
  • William Abraham, (2006) Crossing the Threshold of Divine Revelation
  • Richard Swinburne, (2007) Revelation: From Metaphor to Analogy, 2nd Ed.
  • John Frame, (2010) The Doctrine of the Word of God
  • Matthew Levering, (2014) Engaging the Doctrine of Revelation

Against pre-theological prolegomena

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On complicating the relationship between objects and methods of reflection 1. Ludwig Wittgenstein 318. […] there is no sharp boundary between methodological propositions and propositions within a method. from On Certainty 2. John Webster Determining the possibility, nature, and responsibilities of theology requires appeal to material theological doctrine. Indeed, prolegomena to systematic theology is an extension and application […]

Charles Wood on doctrine

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Charles M. Wood on believing with doctrine Concepts … are essentially capacities. To have been taught a concept and to have mastered it is to be capable of doing something one could not do…before. The wisdom that comes with the absorption of Christian teaching is in large part the possession and deployment of a distinctive set of […]