Book Description
After two thousand years of theological discussion there seems to be little clarity about the kind of being that God is. "Act and Being" -- Colin Gunton's last book before his untimely death in spring 2003 -- explores this topic with brilliance, offering a fresh, meaningful understanding of the defining characteristics of the deity. In discussing the attributes of God, Gunton brings a unique combination of theology and philosophy to bear on this central topic of Christian thought. He first reviews past attempts to unpack the nature of God, showing how most fail as cogent, relevant teaching. He then outlines the facets of a new, intellectually stimulating, profoundly biblical portrait of the divine being. In the course of his book Gunton also discusses the adequacy of theological language, compares the Greek and Hebrew views of divinity, and shows the difference that the Trinity makes to our understanding of the divine attributes.
Customer Reviews:
A challenge to classical thought.......2006-01-25
This is a great book based upon a series of lectures Colin Gunton gave at Multnomah upon an invitation by Paul Metzger, a residing seminary professor there. In summary the entire book is a discussion upon the attributes of God (as the subtitle suggests) and the disturbing tendency of theology to speak of God via analogy (in the ontological rather than philological sense.) The beginning of the book outlines the four basic problems against which the rest of the book bases its paradigms. 1) Theology's tendency to conceive God in abstractions through analogy from the properties of the world. For example, the "three ways" of Psuedo-Dionysus the Aeriopagite; via negationis abstracts from the world that which is, through so called "rational inquiry", considered an imperfection or finitude and through negation. So, for example, Karl Barth's complaint that aseitas (that God is fully real in and for Himself) turned into independentia (that God is non-contingent and opposed to the world); the via immanentiae whereby that which is considered positive traits and characteristics of the creaturely realm are again elevated into an infinite, and so it seems abstract, degree. Again, e.g., God's peace is a picture of the "indefatigable sublime," where God is distant, vague, unaware. Or his immutability and impassibility are taken quite succinctly from Greek Parmenidian theology, and so God is untouchable by world contingencies, which undoubtedly takes severe offense to the actual Biblical narrative; finally the via causalitatis which is somewhat of a combination of the former two, whereby the characteristics of God are deduced from the idea of God being the first unmoved mover or primal cause. This is (as Gunton cites Schliermacher as aptly stating) a problem rooted in Platonic explanations of how a purely spiritual divinity can be conceived as producing material reality.
The second complaint set forth in the initial chapter is related to the first, where the idea we have of God seems to be too heavily reliant upon a priori presuppositions on what it means to speak of God, rather than concretely grounding it in the divine economy (oikonwmia) of God's interaction and revelation with us through history. The third, more indirectly related to the first two, is the western tendency towards modalism in its conception of the Trinity, where Father, Son, and Spirit are seen, not as "living realizations of separate centers of action," but merely progressive modes or inter-subjectivities of a single underlying subject.
The fourth point, again linked to all the prior points, is the resulting tendency to conceive of the relation between God and the world as a relation of opposed realities, the material and sensible against the spiritual and ideal. Instead, Gunton says in a proleptic answer provided in the following chapters, that "Spirit," should not be seen as a pole in the duality of material/spiritual couplets, rather Spirit (as mentioned in chapter 7) is the reality whereby both we are open and have access to God, and it is the reality that is descriptive of God "crossing ontological boundaries, moving and indwelling in what is distinct from Him." So that to speak of Spirit is not to speak of a reality essentially Other than this material world, but rather the reality that positively relates God to this world.
The next two chapters (aptly titles "A tangled web," and "The Predominance of the Negative," respectively) are essentially a more erudite and specific unpacking of the four general complaints against traditional theology. I wont go over all the points, I will say however that Gunton outlines an interesting parallel between several early Hellenistic Greek philosophers and a wide array of theological tradition. (e.g. Xenophanes' critique of the grossly anthropomorphic tendencies of the Homeric religion, and his resultant reactionary theological tendency to purify this by abstracting from the material, so that God is conceived as "universal mind," or Anaximander's description of God as apeiron, interestingly translated by Gunton and others as "the indefinite," or Plotinus' conception of God as simply the "not this," are remarkably similar to points of the theologies of Origin, John of Damascus, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Gregory Nazianzus, Irenaeus...) Gunton balances this critique with the observation that these theologians should not be blatantly accused of adopting Grecian metaphysics, for they digress more often than they agree with their philosophical counterparts. However, they have taken certain forms of thought and applied them to critical areas that may not be in every way appropriate, and have far reaching consequences (such as Origens tendency to conceive of God as universal mind or thought, the nouV of Greek philosophy.)
The solution Gunton offers to discard these abstract ways, and offers the insight shared to various degrees by many of Gunton's contemporaries (Wolfhart Pannenberg, Robert Jenson, T.F. Torrence, Jurgen Moltmann, Eberhard Jungel, Christoph Schwobel, John Ziziolas, Hans Ur Von Balthazzar, the list goes on....) that Karl Rahner's thesis (the so called "Rahner's Rule,") that the immanent Trinity can be deduced from the economic Trinity, is the essential core to eliminating many of the problems encountered in the past. Though Gunton shies away from a full identification of the immanent and economic trinities (as full identification would seem to dissolve the ontological trinity wholly into the vicissitudes of history, thus seemingly leaving us with, at best Pannentheism, and at worst Monism.) he emphatically states that who God is in eternity grounds what He does in time (a seeming combination of the Greek tendency to contemplate God's being, and the Hebrew fixation on God's forms of action.)
I am skipping some parts of the book now, as I cant devote time to an exposition of all of the material (limited though my analyses has been already), though an interesting end to a chapter heretofore not mentioned (chapter 6: The relevance of the immanent trinity) is a reevaluation (brief and not intended to be a systematic reevaluation) on human freedom. The traditional conception of freedom is always freedom from, so that determinisms of any kind are automatically seen as enemies to whatever freedom may be. This conception is based heavily upon Modern individualist conceptions that freedom is a self-contained hypostatic entity that we in ourselves somehow possess like an attribute. Rather Gunton sees freedom as being authentically ones-self, what we each make of our own particularity. And since none of us are who we are except in relation to the other, "especially the Divine Other," our freedom is seen as a function of community and just so is found within determinisms rather than apart from them. This coincides with Gunton's adoption of Duns Scotus' definition (and Gregory of Nyssa, as pointed out in a quote from Robert Jenson's Systematic Theology) that rather than, with Thomas Aquinas, saying God's infinite is merely the absence of limit (and so essentially abstract) rather it should be seen as the overcoming of all boundaries, so that determinism and participation in history is the culmination of perfect communion and perichoretic harmony within the Christian community, rather than an arbitrary removal of whatever we would ascribe as "limits." Interestingly enough, Gunton, wielding quotes again from Robert Jenson, points out that if freedom is not an internal function, but is inherently related to the future as opportunity brought by someone else that would not have otherwise been accessible to us, God as Trinity then is "antecedently in Himself free will...He is liberated by another who is yet not Other than God." This also helps with conceptions that ascribe to God too much of voluntaristic notions of God's freedom, in stating that what it means to be God and to be free needs to be intrinsically linked to what we know of God through the narrative history He has with us, and just so the freedom of God is not "absence of limit," but is marked by its movement of overcoming boundaries through a "funneling," in the Trinity. So that God is free as He is Himself through the movement of the three persons: The father in loving action, the sending of the Son and the Spirit; the Son in self-giving obedient self-submission to the Father and the cross; and the community building and perfection functions of the Spirit in raising Christ from the grave and instating in us "another advocate" (parakletoV) that leads us into the promised perfections.
Other interesting insights from the book come from the idea of impassibility, which Gunton replaces (following Barth) with the word Constancy (Wolfhart Pannenberg is similar when he speaks of God's faithfulness rather than immutability). Essentially, when we speak of immutability or impassibility, we are not speaking of a type of ontological closedness in God. Rather, in entering into history, He is identical to Himself and so the reference is not to the inability to change or to suffer, rather we speak of an indefectibility of action, that this reality is not an abstract unchangeable substance, but a pure and infinite personal reality that meets us in the world. That the son suffered and died does not mean that the son wasnt God, but this suffering belongs to the relation of son to father, because it is the nature of God's persons to love and sacrifice and overcome. So too, when we speak of God's simplicity, we are not speaking of a hopelessly confused mathmatical definition. Nor do we mean that the attributes are all essentially the same, and appear different to us as white light becomes refracted in a prysm. Nor do we mean that the persons are essentially identical (and just so unidentifiable and just so redundant.) Rather, God is not separable because what "He," is, is none other than three persons in relation. These three wholly constitute the other, so, e.g., the Son would not be the Son without the Father and the Spirit, so too would the Father not be the Father without the Son and Spirit... "The Trinity is indeed not constituted of parts, which may be seperated, but of persons who are distinct but not separable."
A Superb and Timely Piece on the Theology of the Attributes.......2003-06-19
First delivered as a series of lectures delivered at Multnomah Bible College and Biblical Seminary, Portland Oregon, Act and Being is the last major work that Gunton published before his untimely death, and it is likely to become one of the most influential books of his theological career as well.
In this work Gunton deftly explicates the "tangled web" of relations between Greek Philosophy and the Christian tradition, showing how the latter has adversely effected the former. He then proceeds to unpack the theology the attributes by returning to the biblical narrative and trinitarian doctrine and the primary framework for constructing such a theology. He is highly critical of Aquinas and the medieval synthesis of Neoplatonism and Aritotelianism with Christian theology. This leads to a rejection of the Thomistic doctrine of analogy, instead arguing from a nuanced Barthian theology of revelation that owes much to Scotus for a pneumatological doctrine of univocal theological language. Gunton's case is lucid, persuasive, provocative and bears significant implications for future discussions of the nature of theological language and the divine attributes.
Gunton pays special attention to the doctrines of divine simplicity and impassibility as well as discussions of omnipotence, omnipresence, infinity and omniscience. Through a rejection of the negative way and an affirmation of a trinitarian theology of revelation Gunton masterfully cuts to the root of many of the problems of ancient and modern treatments of the doctrine of God. This is truly the strength of Gunton's work. While other contemporary treatments of the attributes tend to "prune" off certain undesirable attributes, such as impassibility and simplicity, Gunton instead retains the classical attributes of the tradition, by redefining them in positive trinitarian terms.
Act and Being is saturated throughout with a focus on the christological and pneumatological dimensions of the Triune God's economic action in the world. Following in Barth's path and expanding on his innovations (as well as criticizing him at key points) Gunton masterfully brings the person and work of Christ and the Holy Spirit to bear on the doctrine of the attributes. This book is an amazing discussion of the attributes discussing them in a properly nuanced narrative and trinitarian context. This is definitely a landmark study on the attributes.
Whatever else one may think of this work, one thing is certain, this is an insightful and groundbreaking work clearing the way for many future discussions of the attributes. A must read for any serious student of theology. We can only be sorry that the distinguished theological career of Professor Gunton was cut short and that he will be unable to follow through on his projected systematic theology. We can only hope that those he taught and mentored will continue in his wake, following up on the magnificent project that he began.
Book Description
Rescued in 1972 from a storeroom in which rats and seeping water had severely damaged the fifty-year-old manuscript, this text is the earliest major work (1919-1921) of the great Russian philosopher M. M. Bakhtin. Toward a Philosophy of the Act contains the first occurrences of themes that occupied Bakhtin throughout his long career. The topics of authoring, responsibility, self and other, the moral significance of "outsideness," participatory thinking, the implications for the individual subject of having "no-alibi in existence," the difference between the world as experienced in actions and the world as represented in discourse--all are broached here in the heat of discovery. This is the "heart of the heart" of Bakhtin, the center of the dialogue between being and language, the world and mind, "the given" and "the created" that forms the core of Bakhtin's distinctive dialogism. A special feature of this work is Bakhtin's struggle with the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Put very simply, this text is an attempt to go beyond Kant's formulation of the ethical imperative. Toward a Philosophy of the Act will be important for scholars across the humanities as they grapple with the increasingly vexed relationship between aesthetics and ethics.
Book Description
Uses Wang Yang-ming, John Dewey, and Alfred North Whitehead to explain a more coherent theory of knowledge.
Book Description
This book offers a rigorous examination of the possibility of a theology based on contemporary conceptions of rationality, with special attention given to Jurgen Habermas's idea of a communicative rationality. The title underscores the interdisciplinary nature of the author's attempt to formulate a foundational theory of theology in response to the challenges of the theories of science and action in this century.
Helmut Peukert belongs to the second generation of German theologians involved in the development of a "political theology," following on the work of Jurgen Moltmann and Johann Baptist Metz. He teaches at the University of Monster in West Germany. Science, Action, and Fundamental Theology is included in the Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought series, edited by Thomas McCarthy.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Social Theory and Practice, published by Thomson Gale on April 1, 2006. The length of the article is 16505 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Antidiscrimination, welfare, and democracy: toward a discourse-ethical understanding of disability law.
Author: David Ingram
Publication:
Social Theory and Practice (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 32
Issue: 2
Page: 213(36)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Catholic Insight, published by Catholic Insight on June 1, 1996. The length of the article is 1909 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Battle over C-33: continuing thrust towards party dictatorship opens eyes for first time.
Author: Anthony Hawkins
Publication:
Catholic Insight (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 1, 1996
Publisher: Catholic Insight
Volume: 4
Issue: 5
Page: 12-13
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Description:
This article seeks to take a step towards recognizing that science can deal with the concrete and individual as well as the universal. I shall concentrate on some of Aristotle's texts, as there is a long tradition going back to Aristotle, according to which science deals only with the universal, although his work also contains texts of a very different tenor. He tries to improve the process of definition as an attempt to bring science closer to the concrete, but ends up realizing that there are some unreachable limits. There is, however, a second Aristotelian approach to the problem in Metaphysica M 10, a passage which takes scientific rapprochement to the individual further by introducing a distinction between science in potential and science in act. The former is universal, but the latter deals with individual substances and processes. Aristotle himself acknowledges here that in one sense science is universal and in another it is not, a position that raises important ontological and epistemological problems. Some suggestions are also offered concerning the kind of truth applicable to science in act, that is, practical truth.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Theological Studies, published by Theological Studies, Inc. on March 1, 2004. The length of the article is 869 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Words in Action: Speech Act Theory and Biblical Interpretation, Toward a Theory of Self-Involvement.(Book Review)
Author: Eloise Rosenblatt
Publication:
Theological Studies (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2004
Publisher: Theological Studies, Inc.
Volume: 65
Issue: 1
Page: 179(3)
Article Type: Book Review
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Wwd Illustrated: 1960S-1990s
Michele Wesen Bryant
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ASIN: 1563672731 |
Customer Reviews:
absolute joy.......2003-12-13
I just finished reading WWD Illustrated by Michele Wesen Bryant, and found it an absolute joy. The book is exquisitely set out from typeset to illustrations and a pleasure to read. There is a wonderful range and diversity to the illustrations with extremely insightful connections made between fine art and fashion illustration throughout. With fashion illustration being so popular currently in many designers advertising campaigns it is invaluable to be able to put it into a historical context. I whole heartedly recommend this book from a visual as well as an intellectual and historical perspective.
Average customer rating:
- How Fun!
- Good To The Last Drop.
- It seemed to mirror my own life.
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Too Much Coffee Man: Guide for the Perplexed
Shannon Wheeler
Manufacturer: Dark Horse
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ASIN: 1569712891 |
Book Description
Too Much Coffee Man is not so much about coffee as it is about life and figuring things out; there`s a lot of free-thinking, bad puns, slapstick humor, and nickel philosophy. This unique collection features three, eight-page stories, a 32-page DHP story, the notorious seven-page, bullet-hole story, at least 65 individual, one-page strips, and an introduction by Beavis and Butthead creator, Mike Judge. Available in both softcover and limited-edition hardcover collections, both fully caffeinated!
Customer Reviews:
How Fun!.......2006-03-31
My older son picked up a copy of this graphic novel at a library book sale. It's been languishing around the house for a few years. A week ago, it turned up on the kitchen table. On a lark, I picked it up and started reading it. I was immediately sucked in.
While I'm not much on graphic novels, this one is well done. It's well drawn, the dialogue (and monologue) is first-rate, and the wit is, well, dripping.
I'm happy I read it -- I had a blast. Now I need another cup of coffee, I think. While I find the pot, you go find this book and read it.
Good To The Last Drop........1999-07-18
A great read. I couldn't put it down, even when confronted by wild children and an irate spouse. TMCM does battle with the contradictions and idiocy of everyday life, saves the men of Mars, screams at the dirty dishes, wanders about naked, and leaves us with a sense of wonder (or is it wonderment?) at his nicotine and caffeine induced "super" powers. Wheeler's wry social commentary aligns him with the likes of Outcault, Herriman, McKay and Bushmiller. TMCM is a sure antidote to drivel like "Zippy" (not to mention the fact that it is far better drawn). Spare poor Shannon Wheeler the pain of seeing his work ignored. Read this book. Write a review. Keep the pot fresh. The Guatman
It seemed to mirror my own life........1998-07-30
I had mixed feelings about reading this book. Finally, late one night, I managed to open the book to a random page and start reading. I was sucked in. My own thoughts were expressed in ways I never thought possible. In many ways this is the best book I have ever read. Soon I'll start to write a second book. -Shannon Wheeler
Book Description
Leoneduss master is dead, his friends lost, his eyes blinded, and now his own people are trying to assassinate him. Trapped behind enemy lines, he and Capria find solace where they least expect itwith the very Materia rebels they came to exterminate. All his life, Leonedus has performed his duty. Now, the outcast priest must learn to see with his heart what his eyes cannot.
Customer Reviews:
SWITCHING SIDES?.......2006-07-22
The members of Testarotho are beginning to have their doubts as to whether they're fighting on the right side after the death of Father Garrincha. Arsenal has taken the side of the Corinthians and have judged Garrincha and his team as the parties responsible for the wholesale slaughter of a defenseless village last volume and they have been sentenced to death. Leonedus, Capria, Socrates, and Ginora are all now being hunted not only by the Corinthians, but by their own forces! Could it be that their only remaining allies are the very heretics they were sworn to destroy....Materia!? Will the ex-Testarotho be able to overcome their prejudices and a lifetime of brainwashing in order to survive?
Testarotho continues its excellent run even though some moments cause you to roll one eye in a "oh, come on" expression of disbelief such as the fact that Leonedus was blinded last volume but acts like he can see just like normal. Reminds me of Blind Justice when the guy still wanted to shoot his gun even though he was blind! But supposedly Leonedus has gained some sort of spiritual vision where he can see the true forms of those around him. That's great and all, but how does he keep from running into a wall? And again, where does he keep his gun? Besides these minor incredulities, I really like the story which gets even more twists and turns along with a bit more background in this third volume. It really shows the dangers of what happens when religious extremists control the flow of information. They can declare anyone that opposes them to be heretics. It's cool to see the Testarotho begin to open their eyes and see what the real deal is. The art is great and Sanbe really has a flair for depicting action. Really good manga.
I would also recommend Chrono Crusade.
Eww...I think I stepped into a Holy War........2006-03-05
All I can say is... Yikes! This series is pretty twisted, in a "We all believe in the same God, but you should die anyway." sort of way. I really like this series, it asks a lot of those uncomfortable questions, and it really wants to make you think, and say ewwwwwwwww. This is definatly not for the kiddies, unless you are training a young david koresh, but is a satisfying read. As you move into the later books the story really starts to solidify, and you actually get to know the otherside of those heartless (not really) nut job preists. Overall a very cool read, and I highly recomend it!
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