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Postmodern theology, also known as the continental philosophy of religion, is a philosophical and theological movement that interprets Christian theology in light of postmodernism and various forms of post-Heideggerian thought, including post-structuralism, phenomenology, and deconstruction.^[1]

History

Postmodern theology emerged in the 1980s and 1990s when a handful of philosophers who took philosopher Martin Heidegger as a common point of departure began publishing influential books engaging with Christian^[2] theology.^[3] Some works of the era include Jean-Luc Marion's 1982 book God Without Being, Mark C. Taylor's 1984 book Erring, Charles Winquist's 1994 book Desiring Theology, John D. Caputo's 1997 book The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida, and Carl Raschke's 2000 book The End of Theology.

There are at least two branches of postmodern theology, each of which has evolved around the ideas of particular post-Heideggerian continental philosophers. Those branches are radical orthodoxy and weak theology.^{[citation needed]}

Radical orthodoxy

Radical orthodoxy is a branch of postmodern theology that has been influenced by the phenomenology of Jean-Luc Marion, Paul Ricœur, and Michel Henry, among others.^[4]

Although radical orthodoxy is informally organized, its proponents often agree on a handful of propositions. First, there is no sharp distinction between reason on the one hand and faith or revelation on the other. In addition, the world is best understood through interactions with God, even though a full understanding of God is never possible. Those interactions include culture, language, history, technology, and theology. Further, God directs people toward truth, which is never fully available to them. In fact, a full appreciation of the physical world is only possible through a belief in transcendence. Finally, salvation is found through interactions with God and others.^[5]

Prominent advocates of radical orthodoxy include John Milbank, Catherine Pickstock, and Graham Ward.

Weak theology

Weak theology is a branch of postmodern theology that has been influenced by the deconstructive thought of Jacques Derrida,^[6] including Derrida's description of a moral experience he calls "the weak force."^[7] Weak theology rejects the idea that God is an overwhelming physical or metaphysical force. Instead, God is an unconditional claim without any force whatsoever. As a claim without force, the God of weak theology does not intervene in nature. As a result, weak theology emphasizes the responsibility of humans to act in this world here and now.^[8] John D. Caputo is a prominent advocate of the movement.

Disputes

In "Pilgrim's Digress: Christian Thinking on and about the Post/Modern Way", theologian Kevin J. Vanhoozer articulates the risk of correlating theology with postmodernism (or any other philosophy or discipline) as undermining the challenging doctrines of the Bible, in effect "exchanging the scandal of the cross for the pottage of intellectual respectability." ^[9] In this vein, theologian Douglas Groothuis argues that for Christian theology to resist postmodernism, it must adhere to Scripture as propositional truth. In contrast to postmodernism's skepticism towards meta-narratives and its relativistic approach to truth, Scripture should be viewed as objective, universal, and factually accurate.^[10] Theologian Chul Min Jun suggests that modernism's conformist tendencies and postmodernism's pluralist inclinations are both rooted in a departure from the Trinity. Using pluralism to overcome conformism and vice versa cannot be transcended by theorizing. Rather than relying solely on language and definitions or on abandoning foundational truths altogether, it is necessary to directly follow the principles of the Triune God.^[11]

Leading thinkers

Notes

^ Raschke, Carl (2017). Postmodern Theology: A Biopic.
^ Vanhoozer, Kevin J. (2003). "Theology and the Condition of Postmodernity: A Report on Knowledge (of God)". In Vanhoozer, Kevin J. (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology. Cambridge University Press. pp. 22–25.
^ Crockett, Clayton (2011). Radical Political Theology. pp. 163.
^ Hankey, Wayne (2017). Deconstructing Radical Orthodoxy. Routledge.
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2018-02-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ Caputo, John D. (2006). The Weakness of God. Indiana University Press.
^ Caputo, John D. (2006). The Weakness of God. Indiana University Press.; Derrida, Jacques (2005). Rogues. Stanford University Press.
^ Caputo, John D., Vattimo, Gianni (2007). After the Death of God. 64-65: Columbia University Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Vanhoozer, Kevin J. (2005). "Pilgrim's Digress: Christian Thinking on and about the Post/Modern Way". In Penner, Myron B. (ed.). Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Six Views. Myron B. Penner. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press. ISBN 978-1-58743-108-1.
^ Groothuis, Douglas (Nov 1999). "The Postmodernist Challenge to Theology". Themelios. 25 (1): 4–22.
^ Jun, Chul Min (2014-06-01). "The paradigm shift of practical theology and theological practice to overcome modernism and postmodernism". Pacific Science Review. 16 (2): 156–166. doi:10.1016/j.pscr.2014.08.028. ISSN 1229-5450 – via Elsevier ScienceDirect.

Caputo, John D. (2004). "Jacques Derrida (1930–2004)", Journal of Cultural and Religious Theory, Vol. 6, No. 1, December 2004.
Caputo, John D. The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-253-34704-1
Caputo, John D. What Would Jesus Deconstruct?: The Good News of Postmodernity for the Church. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007.
Engel, Ulrich (2001). "Religion and Violence: Plea for a 'weak' theology in tempore belli", New Blackfriars, Vol. 82, No. 970, pp. 558–560, December 2001.
Foster, Stephen (2019) "Theology as Repetition: John Macquarrie in Conversation" (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2019)
Heltzel, Peter G. (2006). "The Weakness of God: A Review of John D. Caputo's The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event", Journal of Cultural and Religious Theory, Vol. 7, No. 2, Spring/Summer 2006.
Marion, Jean-Luc. God Without Being. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Raschke, Carl (2000). The End of Theology. Denver, CO: The Davies Group, 2000. Originally published as The Alchemy of the Word: Language and the End of Theology, Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1979).
Raschke, Carl (2006). "The Weakness of God... and of Theological Thought for that Matter", Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory, Vol. 8, No. 1, Winter 2006.
Rubenstein, Mary-Jane (2009). Strange Wonder: The Closure of Metaphysics and the Opening of Awe (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009 [cloth], 2011 [paper]).
Rubenstein, Mary-Jane (2018). Pantheologies: Gods, Worlds, Monsters (New York: Columbia University Press, 2018 [cloth], 2021 [paper]).
Smith, James K.A. Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.
Swain, Lincoln. The Why People: Faith, False Prophets and End Times Detroit: Atomic Quill Press, 2011.
Taylor, Mark C. Erring: A Postmodern A/Theology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Taylor, Victor. "From Alchemy to Revolution: A Conversation with Carl A. Raschke", Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory, Vol 12, No. 3, Spring 2014, 149-60.
Winquist, Charles. Desiring Theology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.

[1] Raschke, Carl (2017). Postmodern Theology: A Biopic.

[2] Vanhoozer, Kevin J. (2003). "Theology and the Condition of Postmodernity: A Report on Knowledge (of God)". In Vanhoozer, Kevin J. (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology. Cambridge University Press. pp. 22–25.

[3] Crockett, Clayton (2011). Radical Political Theology. pp. 163.

[4] Hankey, Wayne (2017). Deconstructing Radical Orthodoxy. Routledge.

[5] "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2018-02-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[6] Caputo, John D. (2006). The Weakness of God. Indiana University Press.

[7] Caputo, John D. (2006). The Weakness of God. Indiana University Press.; Derrida, Jacques (2005). Rogues. Stanford University Press.

[8] Caputo, John D., Vattimo, Gianni (2007). After the Death of God. 64-65: Columbia University Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[:42-9] Vanhoozer, Kevin J. (2005). "Pilgrim's Digress: Christian Thinking on and about the Post/Modern Way". In Penner, Myron B. (ed.). Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Six Views. Myron B. Penner. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press. ISBN 978-1-58743-108-1.

[:23-10] Groothuis, Douglas (Nov 1999). "The Postmodernist Challenge to Theology". Themelios. 25 (1): 4–22.

[:32-11] Jun, Chul Min (2014-06-01). "The paradigm shift of practical theology and theological practice to overcome modernism and postmodernism". Pacific Science Review. 16 (2): 156–166. doi:10.1016/j.pscr.2014.08.028. ISSN 1229-5450 – via Elsevier ScienceDirect.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{short description|Postmodern theology}}
+{{Short description|Theological movement}}
+{{distinguish|Positive deconstruction|faith deconstruction}}
-{{Worldwide-view|date=September 2022|2=[[Christendom]]}}
+{{Page numbers needed|date=April 2024}}
 {{Postmodernism}}
-'''Postmodern theology''', also known as the '''continental philosophy of religion''',{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}} is a philosophical and theological movement that interprets [[theology]] in light of post-[[Martin Heidegger|Heideggerian]] [[continental philosophy]], including [[phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenology]], [[post-structuralism]], and [[deconstruction]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = Postmodern Theology: A Biopic|last = Raschke|first = Carl|year = 2017}}</ref>
+'''Postmodern theology''', also known as the '''continental philosophy of religion''', is a philosophical and theological movement that interprets [[Christian theology]] in light of [[postmodernism]] and various forms of post-[[Martin Heidegger|Heideggerian]] thought, including [[post-structuralism]], [[phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenology]], and [[deconstruction]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = Postmodern Theology: A Biopic|last = Raschke|first = Carl|year = 2017}}</ref>
 ==History==
-Postmodern theology emerged in the 1980s and 1990s when a handful of philosophers who took philosopher [[Martin Heidegger]] as a common point of departure began publishing influential books on [[theology]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = Radical Political Theology|url = https://archive.org/details/radicalpolitical00croc|url-access = limited|last = Crockett|first = Clayton|year = 2011|pages = [https://archive.org/details/radicalpolitical00croc/page/n175 163]}}</ref> Some of the more notable works of the era include [[Jean-Luc Marion]]'s 1982 book ''God Without Being'',<ref>{{Cite book|title = God Without Being|url = https://archive.org/details/godwithoutbeingh0000mari|url-access = registration|last = Marion|first = Jean-Luc|publisher = University of Chicago Press|year = 1995|location = Chicago| isbn=9780226505411 }}</ref> [[Mark C. Taylor (philosopher)|Mark C. Taylor]]'s 1984 book ''Erring'',<ref>{{Cite book|title = Erring: A Postmodern A/Theology|last = Taylor|first = Mark|publisher = University of Chicago Press|year = 1987|location = Chicago}}</ref> [[Charles Winquist]]'s 1994 book ''Desiring Theology'',<ref>{{Cite book|title = Desiring Theology|last = Winquist|first = Charles|publisher = University of Chicago Press|year = 1994|location = Chicago}}</ref> [[John D. Caputo]]'s 1997 book ''The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida'',<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida|last = Caputo|first = John D.|publisher = Indiana University Press|year = 1997|location = Bloomington, IN}}</ref> and [[Carl Raschke]]'s 2000 book ''The End of Theology''.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The End of Theology|last = Raschke|first = Carl|publisher = The Davies Group|year = 2000|location = Denver CO|edition = 2nd edition. Originally published in 1979.}}</ref>
+Postmodern theology emerged in the 1980s and 1990s when a handful of philosophers who took philosopher [[Martin Heidegger]] as a common point of departure began publishing influential books engaging with [[Christian]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vanhoozer |first1=Kevin J. |editor1-last=Vanhoozer |editor1-first=Kevin J. |title=The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=22–25 |chapter=Theology and the Condition of Postmodernity: A Report on Knowledge (of God)}}</ref> [[theology]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = Radical Political Theology|url = https://archive.org/details/radicalpolitical00croc|url-access = limited|last = Crockett|first = Clayton|year = 2011|pages = [https://archive.org/details/radicalpolitical00croc/page/n175 163]}}</ref> Some works of the era include [[Jean-Luc Marion]]'s 1982 book ''God Without Being'', [[Mark C. Taylor (philosopher)|Mark C. Taylor]]'s 1984 book ''Erring'', [[Charles Winquist]]'s 1994 book ''Desiring Theology'', [[John D. Caputo]]'s 1997 book ''The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida'', and [[Carl Raschke]]'s 2000 book ''The End of Theology''.
-There are at least two branches of postmodern theology, each of which has evolved around the ideas of particular post-[[Martin Heidegger|Heideggerian]] [[continental philosophy|continental philosophers]].  Those branches are radical orthodoxy and weak theology.
+There are at least two branches of postmodern theology, each of which has evolved around the ideas of particular post-[[Martin Heidegger|Heideggerian]] [[continental philosophy|continental philosophers]].  Those branches are radical orthodoxy and weak theology.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}
 ===Radical orthodoxy===
@@ Line 19: / Line 20: @@
 ===Weak theology===
 Weak theology is a branch of postmodern theology that has been influenced by the [[Deconstruction|deconstructive]] thought of [[Jacques Derrida]],<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Weakness of God|last = Caputo|first = John D.|publisher = Indiana University Press|year = 2006}}</ref> including Derrida's description of a moral experience he calls "the weak force."<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Weakness of God|last = Caputo|first = John D.|publisher = Indiana University Press|year = 2006}}; {{Cite book|title = Rogues|last = Derrida|first = Jacques|publisher = Stanford University Press|year = 2005}}</ref> Weak theology rejects the idea that God is an overwhelming physical or [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] force. Instead, God is an unconditional claim without any force whatsoever. As a claim without force, the God of weak theology does not intervene in nature. As a result, weak theology emphasizes the responsibility of humans to act in this world here and now.<ref>{{Cite book|title = After the Death of God|last = Caputo, John D.|first = Vattimo, Gianni|publisher = Columbia University Press|year = 2007|location = 64-65}}</ref> [[John D. Caputo]] is a prominent advocate of the movement.
+==Disputes==
+In "Pilgrim's Digress: Christian Thinking on and about the Post/Modern Way", theologian [[Kevin J. Vanhoozer]] articulates the risk of correlating theology with postmodernism (or any other philosophy or discipline) as undermining the challenging doctrines of the Bible, in effect "exchanging the scandal of the cross for the pottage of intellectual respectability." <ref name=":42">{{Cite book |last=Vanhoozer |first=Kevin J. |title=Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Six Views |date=2005 |publisher=Brazos Press |others=Myron B. Penner |isbn=978-1-58743-108-1 |editor-last=Penner |editor-first=Myron B. |location=Grand Rapids |chapter=Pilgrim's Digress: Christian Thinking on and about the Post/Modern Way}}</ref> In this vein, theologian [[Douglas Groothuis]] argues that for Christian theology to resist postmodernism, it must adhere to Scripture as propositional truth. In contrast to postmodernism's skepticism towards meta-narratives and its relativistic approach to truth, Scripture should be viewed as objective, universal, and factually accurate.<ref name=":23">{{Cite journal |last=Groothuis |first=Douglas |date=Nov 1999 |title=The Postmodernist Challenge to Theology |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the-postmodernist-challenge-to-theology/ |journal=[[Themelios]] |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=4-22}}</ref> Theologian Chul Min Jun suggests that modernism's conformist tendencies and postmodernism's pluralist inclinations are both rooted in a departure from the [[Holy Trinity|Trinity]]. Using pluralism to overcome conformism and vice versa cannot be transcended by theorizing. Rather than relying solely on language and definitions or on abandoning foundational truths altogether, it is necessary to directly follow the principles of the [[Trinity|Triune God]].<ref name=":32">{{Cite journal |last=Jun |first=Chul Min |date=2014-06-01 |title=The paradigm shift of practical theology and theological practice to overcome modernism and postmodernism |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1229545014000291 |journal=Pacific Science Review |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=156–166 |doi=10.1016/j.pscr.2014.08.028 |issn=1229-5450 |via=Elsevier ScienceDirect}}</ref>
 ==Leading thinkers==
+{{cleanup list|section|date=April 2024}}
 {{div col|colwidth=18em}}
 *[[John D. Caputo]]
@@ Line 29: / Line 34: @@
 *[[John Milbank]]
 *[[James Olthuis]]
+*[[Catherine Pickstock]]
 *[[Carl Raschke]]
 *[[Peter Rollins]]
@@ Line 43: / Line 49: @@
 ==See also==
 {{div col|colwidth=20em}}
-* [[Christian revival]]
 * [[Neo-orthodoxy]]
-* [[Peter L. Berger]], [[social constructionist]] and [[Lutheran]] theologian
+* [[Peter L. Berger]]
-* [[John Deely]], [[Catholic philosopher]] and [[semiotician]] ([[Postmodern philosophy#Definitional issues]])
+* [[John Deely]], [[Catholic philosopher]] and [[semiotician]]
-* [[Queer theology]], [[Paul-Michel Foucault|Foucault]]-influenced theological camp
+* [[Queer theology]]<!--, [[Paul-Michel Foucault|Foucault]]-influenced theological camp-->
 * [[Religious pluralism]]
+*{{annotated link|Talal Asad}}
-* [[Restoration movement]]
+*{{annotated link|Richard Bauckham}}
-* [[Theopoetics]]
+*{{annotated link|Craig Bartholomew}}
-*[[Talal Asad]], Foucauldian Islamic philosopher
+*{{annotated link|Kevin J. Vanhoozer}}
 {{div col end}}
@@ Line 64: / Line 70: @@
 *Foster, Stephen (2019) "Theology as Repetition: John Macquarrie in Conversation" (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2019)
 *Heltzel, Peter G. (2006). [http://www.jcrt.org/archives/07.2/heltzel.pdf "The Weakness of God: A Review of John D. Caputo's ''The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event''"], ''Journal of Cultural and Religious Theory'', Vol. 7, No. 2, Spring/Summer 2006.
-*Marion, Jean-Luc.  ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=FgSxna139R0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Marion+god+without+being&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjFos_au5XKAhVBPiYKHYqWA3wQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=Marion%20god%20without%20being&f=false God Without Being].''  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
+*Marion, Jean-Luc.  ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=FgSxna139R0C&q=Marion+god+without+being God Without Being].''  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
 *Raschke, Carl (2000).  [http://www.thedaviesgrouppublishers.com/raschke_end.htm ''The End of Theology''].  Denver, CO: The Davies Group, 2000.  Originally published as ''The Alchemy of the Word: Language and the End of Theology'', Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1979).
 *Raschke, Carl (2006). [http://www.jcrt.org/archives/08.1/raschke.pdf "The Weakness of God... and of Theological Thought for that Matter"], ''Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory'', Vol. 8, No. 1, Winter 2006.
@@ Line 71: / Line 77: @@
 *Smith, James K.A. ''Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church.''  Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.
 *Swain, Lincoln.  ''The Why People: Faith, False Prophets and End Times''  Detroit: Atomic Quill Press, 2011.
-*Taylor, Mark C.  ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=KpgwAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=mark+c.+taylor+erring&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXy6TYupXKAhVCQyYKHfNiDekQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=mark%20c.%20taylor%20erring&f=false Erring: A Postmodern A/Theology].''  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
+*Taylor, Mark C.  ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=KpgwAgAAQBAJ&q=mark+c.+taylor+erring Erring: A Postmodern A/Theology].''  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
 *Taylor, Victor.  [http://www.jcrt.org/archives/12.3/taylor.raschke.pdf "From Alchemy to Revolution: A Conversation with Carl A. Raschke"], ''Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory,'' Vol 12, No. 3, Spring 2014, 149-60.
-*Winquist, Charles.  ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PQ7LNybNPG8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=winquist+desiring+theology&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj15JTxupXKAhWG2yYKHVx1DRMQ6AEIKzAA#v=onepage&q=winquist%20desiring%20theology&f=false Desiring Theology]''.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
+*Winquist, Charles.  ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PQ7LNybNPG8C&q=winquist+desiring+theology Desiring Theology]''.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
+{{Authority control}}
 [[Category:Christian theological movements]]
@@ Line 80: / Line 88: @@
 [[Category:Postmodern theory]]
 [[Category:Postmodern religion|Christianity]]
-[[Category:Christian continental philosophers and theologians]]
 [[Category:Religious existentialism]]