Theology and the University

Essays in Honor of John B. Cobb, Jr.

Edited by David Ray Griffin & Joseph C. Hough Jr.

Subjects: Theology
Paperback : 9780791405932, 276 pages, March 1991
Hardcover : 9780791405925, 276 pages, April 1991

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Table of contents

Preface

I. THE PLACE OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY

1. Professing Theology in the State University
David Ray Griffin

2. Critical Theology as a University Discipline
Gordon D. Kaufman

3. God: The Last Taboo? Science, God, and the University
Hans Kung

4. Theology in the University: The Question of Integrity
Schubert M. Ogden

5. The Task of Systematic Theology in the Contemporary University
Wolfhart Pannenberg

II. THEOLOGY, THE UNIVERSITY, AND THE COMMON GOOD

6. The University and the Common Good
Joseph C. Hough Jr.

7. Toward an Emancipatory Wisdom
Catherine Keller

8. John Cobb's Trinity: Implications for the University
Marjorie Suchocki

III. HISTORICAL-DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS

9. Total Abyss and Theological Rebirth: The Crisis of University Theology
Thomas J. J. Altizer

10. Theology and Rhetoric in the University
William A. Bearslee

11. Protestant Theology and the Modern Ideal of Knowledge
Jack Verheyden

IV. APPENDICES

A. John B. Cobb Jr. : A Theological Biography
David Ray Grffin

B. A Bibliography of the Writings of John B. Cobb Jr.

List of Contributors

Index

Explores the relationship between theology and the modern university.

Description

This book explores the relationship between theology and the modern university. Most of the essays were written specifically for this volume, and all of them are published here for the first time.

David Ray Griffin, Gordon Kaufman, Hans Küng, Schubert Ogden, and Wolfhart Pannenberg address the question of whether theology belongs in the university at all. Essays by Joseph Hough, Catherine Keller, and Marjorie Suchoki argue that theology has a vital role in helping the university recover its central mission, that of educating for the sake of the common good.

Thomas Altizer, William Beardslee, and Jack Verheyden provide historical analyses of the interactions between theology and the university, with Altizer focusing on the modern divorce between faith and reason, Beardslee on the relevance of the renewed emphasis upon rhetoric, and Verheyden on the ideal of knowledge. As a whole Theology and the University presents an impressive case against the position that theology is inappropriate in the university. It argues not only that theology has a rightful place in the university, but also that the university needs theology, just as theology needs the university.

David Ray Griffin is Professor of Philosophy of Religion at the School of Theology at Claremont and Claremont Graduate School, Executive Director of the Center for Process Studies, and founding president of the Center for a Postmodern World. He is the author of God and Religion in the Postmodern World; Varieties of Postmodern Theology (with William A. Beardslee and Joe Holland); and Primordial Truth and Postmodern Theology (with Huston Smith); and the editor of Sacred Interconnections: Postmodern Spirituality, Political Economy, and Art; Physics and the Ultimate Significance of Time; The Reenchantment of Science; and Spirituality and Society, all published by SUNY Press. Joseph C. Hough, Jr. is Dean of the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of Black Power and White Protestants; Christian Identity and Theological Education (with John B. Cobb, Jr. ); and is the editor of Beyond Clericalism: The Congregation as a Focus for Theological Education (with Barbara Wheeler).