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Postmodern theology
(Redirected from Postmodern Christianity)
Postmodern theology, also known as the continental philosophy of religion, is a philosophical and
theological movement that interprets Christian theology in light of post-Heideggerian continental philosophy,
including phenomenology, post-structuralism, 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.

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.

Leading thinkers
John D. Caputo Carl Raschke
Richard Kearney Peter Rollins
Mario Kopić Mary-Jane Rubenstein
Jean-Luc Marion James K.A. Smith
Françoise Meltzer Mark C. Taylor
John Milbank Gabriel Vahanian
James Olthuis Gianni Vattimo
Catherine Pickstock Charles Winquist
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Catherine Keller Mikhail Epstein

See also
Christian revival Queer theology
Neo-orthodoxy Religious pluralism
Post-critical Restoration movement
Michael Polanyi Theopoetics – Interdisciplinary field of study
Postcritique Talal Asad – Anthropologist at the CUNY
Peter L. Berger Graduate Center
The Social Construction of Reality – 1966 Richard Bauckham – British theologian (born
book by Peter L. Berger and Thomas 1946)
Luckmann Craig Bartholomew – author and professor of
A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the philosophy
Rediscovery of the Supernatural – Book by Kevin Vanhoozer – American theologian and
Peter L. Berger academic
John Deely, Catholic philosopher and semiotician
(Postmodern philosophy#Definitional issues)

Notes
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 (https://archive.org/details/radicalpolitical00croc).
pp. 163 (https://archive.org/details/radicalpolitical00croc/page/n175).
4. Hankey, Wayne (2017). Deconstructing Radical Orthodoxy. Routledge.
5. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20190711163428/http://www.unifr.ch/theo/assets/files/SA201
5/Theses_EN.pdf) (PDF). Archived from the original (http://www.unifr.ch/theo/assets/files/SA2015/Theses_
EN.pdf) (PDF) on 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
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.

Further reading
Caputo, John D. (2004). "Jacques Derrida (1930–2004)" (http://www.jcrt.org/archives/06.1/caputo.pdf),
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" (http://onlinelibrar
y.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-2005.2001.tb01785.x/abstract), 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" (http://www.jcrt.org/archives/07.2/heltzel.pdf), Journal of Cultural and Religious
Theory, Vol. 7, No. 2, Spring/Summer 2006.
Marion, Jean-Luc. God Without Being (https://books.google.com/books?id=FgSxna139R0C&q=Marion+go
d+without+being). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Raschke, Carl (2000). The End of Theology (http://www.thedaviesgrouppublishers.com/raschke_end.htm).
Denver, CO: The Davies Group, 2000. Originally published as The Alchemy of the Word: Language and

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the End of Theology, Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1979).
Raschke, Carl (2006). "The Weakness of God... and of Theological Thought for that Matter" (http://www.jcr
t.org/archives/08.1/raschke.pdf), 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 (htt
p://cup.columbia.edu/book/strange-wonder/9780231146326) (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009
[cloth], 2011 [paper]).
Rubenstein, Mary-Jane (2018). Pantheologies: Gods, Worlds, Monsters (https://cup.columbia.edu/book/pa
ntheologies/9780231189460) (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 (https://books.google.com/books?id=KpgwAgAAQBAJ&
q=mark+c.+taylor+erring). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Taylor, Victor. "From Alchemy to Revolution: A Conversation with Carl A. Raschke" (http://www.jcrt.org/arch
ives/12.3/taylor.raschke.pdf), Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory, Vol 12, No. 3, Spring 2014, 149-
60.
Winquist, Charles. Desiring Theology (https://books.google.com/books?id=PQ7LNybNPG8C&q=winquist+
desiring+theology). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.

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