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Jeffrey W. Robbins, In Search of a Non-Dogmatic Theology
Philosophical and Cultural Studies in Religion
Is theology
necessarily dogmatic? If not, then what makes theology specifically
theological? And what value does theological thinking still have in
our postmodern age of religious pluralism, philosophical skepticism,
and cultural relativism?
In Search of a
Non-Dogmatic Theology
is Jeffrey W. Robbins’ grappling with these central questions and
his attempt to give voice to what is emerging as a transformed
religious and theological sensibility. From the philosophical
accounting of Nietzsche’s proclamation of the ‘death of God,’ to the
cultural ramifications of postmodern pluralism, to the global rise
of religious fundamentalism, and to the more recent ‘theological
turn’ of phenomenology, the contemporary conditions of theological
possibility have been unalterably marked. The non-dogmatic theology
Robbins proposes is a post-critical theology that is simultaneously
an affirmation of the traditional theological pattern of ‘faith
seeking understanding,’ and a radical recasting of that tradition by
the realization of the changing structure of faith and the changing
fundaments of intelligibility. It is a search that constructively
engages the theological legacy of continental philosophical thinkers
such as Heidegger, Levinas, Deleuze, and Derrida, cultural theorists
such as Žižek and Kristeva, and contemporary theologians and
philosophers of religion such as Barth, Marion, Winquist, and
Caputo.
In
In Search of a
Non-Dogmatic Theology Robbins invites the reader to join him in
this timely search for a more relevant and less dogmatic form of
theological thinking, one that takes as its starting point not the
assurances offered by a blindly accepted faith, but rather the
concrete reality of diverging religious traditions and conflicting
interests. The non-dogmatic theology he proposes is a post-critical
theology that is simultaneously an affirmation of the traditional
theological pattern of ‘faith seeking understanding,’ and a radical
recasting of that tradition by the realization of the changing
structure of faith and the changing fundamentals of intelligibility.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: Re-Placing
Theology
Chapter One: The
Return of Religion
Chapter Two: Theology
in the Ruins
Chapter Three:
Theology without Religion?
Part Two: The Step
Back
Chapter Four:
Heidegger’s Step Back
Chapter Five:
Ontotheology: Complications
Chapter Six: The
Theological Turn
Part Three: Theology
at the Margins
Chapter Seven: The
Enlightenment at the Margins
Chapter Eight: The
Ethics of Ethics
Chapter Nine: The Law
of Religion
Conclusion
Endnotes
Index
Review
“A
theology without God, a God without being, a religion without
religion, and an ethics against ethics—that is the daunting,
postmodern challenge and the setting in which Jeff Robbins puts
forth an uncompromising argument on behalf of theology. Robbins make
a plea for a theological thinking that genuinely thinks, that
genuinely confronts reality—moral,
cultural, and ultimate reality. Defending the possibility of a
theology that is neither conservative nor reactionary nor in league
with authoritarianism, Robbins leads in a lively style through the
thickets of all the major debates in contemporary religious and
philosophical thought. The result is a non-dogmatic, pragmatic,
pluralistic theology for a postmodern age that adds an important new
voice to the current dialogue.” — John D. Caputo
About the author
Jeffrey W. Robbins is Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy
at Lebanon Valley College and Associate Editor of the
Journal for
Cultural and Religious Theory. He is also the author of
Between Faith and Thought: An Essay on the Ontotheological Condition.
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