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Boeve, Lieven and Christophe Brabant, eds. Between philosophy and theology: Contemporary interpretations of Christianity

Wilfried Vanhoutte

Discipline: Philosophy, Theology

 

Abstract:

Boeve, Lieven and Christophe Brabant, eds. Between philosophy and theology: Contemporary interpretations of Christianity

Farnham and Burlington: Ashgate, 2010, 250 pp.

 

 

The book presents a series of lectures that were given at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven during the School Year 2007-2008 with the theme: “Theological Perspectives on Contemporary Philosophical Interpretations of Christianity.” These lectures were organized by the research group on “Theology in a postmodern context.” The thirteen contributions—not including the introduction and conclusion—are from esteemed authors, professors, and researchers in philosophy or theology from Belgium and other countries, and from young, promising scholars in these fields, namely: Lieven Boeve, Stefan Stofanik, John Caputo, Joeri Schrijvers, Maarten Wisse, Graham Ward, Joris Geldhof, William Desmond, Kevin Hart, Wolfgang Palaver, Kristien Justaert, Ellen Armour, and Frederiek Depoortere. To guide the selectively interested reader, there is an index of names and subjects provided. The aim of the publication is to offer philosophical interpretations of religion, and complement these with a stimulating, fundamental theological reflections. The essays are organized into three parts, reflecting the three major themes. In the first, the theme is on “overcoming onto-theology”; in the second, the focus is on a “re-constructive philosophy for religion”; and in the third and last, the essays present “philosophical interpretations with political and theological consequences.” The editors point to the purpose of the publication in their introduction. Even as some authors are not religious in the strictly confessional sense, the collection of essays invites the reader to reflect on them from a theological perspective, as this perspective allows one to realize theology as a fides quaerens intellectum in the contemporary setting. It thereby helps (re)formulate and communicate the Christian truth.