Terrence W. Tilley

An introduction and evaluation of contemporary approaches to theology, Postmodern Theologies sets out to discern movements shaping the ""postmodern"" study of religion in a unique collaborative venture born of a postgraduate seminar at Florida State University. While some might say that theology after the death of God is like biology after the end of life--a discipline without a subject--Postmodern Theologies identifies four general patterns of ""postmodernisms"" in theology today: ""constructive"" theologies (with Helmut Peukert, David Ray Griffin, and David Tracy cited as examples); postmodernisms of ""dissolution"" (Thomas J. J. Altizer, Mark C. Taylor, and Edith Wyschogrod); postliberal theologies (George Lindbeck); and ""communal praxis"" (exemplified by Gustavo Gutierrez and other Latin American theologians, and James Wm. McClendon and Sharon Welch among North Americans). These theologies eschew debates on traditional religious foundations to define true religion as the result of--rather than the impetus to--living one's beliefs. As these disparate approaches to theology are not directly comparable, the final chapter of Postmodern Theologies instead analyzes how each one accounts for the plurality of religions. Exploring the postmodern strategies for coping with one of the most difficult questions in any theological age offers a fascinating way to assess their inherent strengths and weaknesses. ""The best possible introduction to the assorted theological projects now called 'postmodern'."" James Wm. McClendon, Jr. (1924-2000) Fuller Theological Seminary ""Tilley has produced a text that is original in composition and content. The breadth and depth of the conversation is impressive. The result is a persuasive model for performing theology in a postmodern context."" Dr. Dermot A. Lane Irish School of Ecumenics ""The individual essays are workmanlike, providing an entry into writings which might otherwise prove formidable for those not instructed in the arcane jargon of postmodernism."" Lawrence S. Cunningham Commonweal ""The book is an unusual type of survey, highly educative and serious . . . I]t is worth reading for Tilley's own wise and very balanced summaries and critiques."" Roy Kearsley Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology Terrence W. Tilley is Professor of Theology and Chair of the Department at Fordham University. His other books include Talking of God, Story Theology, The Evils of Theodicy, Inventing Catholic Tradition, History, Theology and Faith, and The Disciples' Jesus: Christology as Reconciling Practice.

*Advance Praise & Reviews* "I recommend this readable book for all who are interested in sorting out what is genuine, good, and truthful in their own inevitable faith commitments" --John Haught Designed especially for the classroom and general readers, this book is a basic primer on the meaning of faith, distinguishing that from false understandings. The original edition was published in 2010.

This is a new interpretation of Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov that scrutinizes it as a performative event (the “polyphony” of the novel) revealing its religious, philosophical, and social meanings through the interplay of mentalités or worldviews that constitute an aesthetic whole. This way of discerning the novel’s social vision of sobornost’ (a unity between harmony and freedom), its vision of hope, and its more subtle sacramental presuppositions, raises Tilley’s interpretation beyond the standard “theology and literature” treatments of the novel and interpretations that treat the novel as providing solutions to philosophical problems.Tilley develops Bakhtin’s thoughtful analysis of the polyphony of the novel using communication theory and readers/hearer response criticism, and by using Bakhtin's operatic image of polyphony to show the error of taking "faith vs. reason", argues that at the end of the novel, the characters learned to carry on, in a quiet shared commitment to memory and hope.

This is a new interpretation of Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov that scrutinizes it as a performative event (the “polyphony” of the novel) revealing its religious, philosophical, and social meanings through the interplay of mentalités or worldviews that constitute an aesthetic whole. This way of discerning the novel’s social vision of sobornost’ (a unity between harmony and freedom), its vision of hope, and its more subtle sacramental presuppositions, raises Tilley’s interpretation beyond the standard “theology and literature” treatments of the novel and interpretations that treat the novel as providing solutions to philosophical problems.Tilley develops Bakhtin’s thoughtful analysis of the polyphony of the novel using communication theory and readers/hearer response criticism, and by using Bakhtin's operatic image of polyphony to show the error of taking "faith vs. reason", argues that at the end of the novel, the characters learned to carry on, in a quiet shared commitment to memory and hope.

This book surveys the 8 basic approaches to religious pluralism, ranging from exclusivism (evangelical right) through classic inclusivism (Rahner), revised inclusivism (DuPuis), particularism (Paul Griffith), radical diversity (S. Mark Heim), pluralism (Knitter), comparative theologies (Frank Clooney), and dual belonging (Raimundo Panikkar). The unique contribution of this book is the ability to situate the issue of pluralism in the cultural site in the US (here relying on "thick" cultural analyses of Robert Wuthnow, Vincent Miller, and others) and in the religious site of Roman Catholicism (as offering mainstream Christian responses to religious diversity).

This book surveys the 8 basic approaches to religious pluralism, ranging from exclusivism (evangelical right) through classic inclusivism (Rahner), revised inclusivism (DuPuis), particularism (Paul Griffith), radical diversity (S. Mark Heim), pluralism (Knitter), comparative theologies (Frank Clooney), and dual belonging (Raimundo Panikkar). The unique contribution of this book is the ability to situate the issue of pluralism in the cultural site in the US (here relying on "thick" cultural analyses of Robert Wuthnow, Vincent Miller, and others) and in the religious site of Roman Catholicism (as offering mainstream Christian responses to religious diversity).

The thesis of this book is straightforward: Professor Tilley argues that theodicy as a discourse practice creates evils while theodicists ignore or distort classic texts in the Christian tradition, unwittingly efface genuine evils in their attempts to justify God, and silence the voice of the suffering and the oppressed by writing them out of the theological picture. The result is often a theological legitimation of intolerable social evils. Using speech-act theory, Tilley reveals the practical and moral presuppositions and implications behind the communicative actions of speaking and writing that have yielded our classic texts relating God and evils: the Book of Job, Augustine's Enchiridion, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, Hume's Dialogues, and George Eliot's Adam Bede. Tilley's analysis shows how distant the powerful speech acts embedded in these texts are from the Enlightenment discourse which has translated them into theodicy discourse. For too long theodicists have created a picture that misportrays the evils in God's world by dividing evil neatly into human sin and natural suffering. Such a picture obscures and even legitimates the "social sin" and "evil practices" which corrupt and destroy humans individually and collectively. The point of The Evils of Theodicy is not only to describe the theodicists' world but to change it radically.

By exploring a practical, rather than propositional, understanding of religious belief, this book provides a new construct through which to view philosophy of religion. Terrence W. Tilley shifts the focus of debate from the justification of rational belief to the exercise of wisdom in making or maintaining a commitment to religious practices. It is through practices, Tilley concludes, that religious belief is formed. After analyzing the strengths and limitations of the modern approaches, Tilley applies the concept of wisdom to the process of making a religious commitment. Wisdom, as explored by Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, and John Henry Newman, may be thought of as the bridge between intellectual and moral virtues. Roughly, it can be described as the ability to put intellect into action in a context. Because wisdom is a virtue requiring concrete display, the book discusses the wisdom of commitment to specific religious practices of a range of traditions. These examples demonstrate the issues and complexities involved in the wisdom of making a religious commitment. This important challenge to contemporary philosophy of religion will be of special interest to students and teachers of theology and philosophy of religion.