THE RENEWAL OF GOD LANGUAGE

by Langdon Gilkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 16, 1969

God language"" is, simply, theology. Once that is understood, all becomes clear. Professor Gilkey (Univ. of Chicago) sets out to do two things. First, to give an account of the present situation of theology, its genesis, and its more radical manifestations in the God-is-dead school of Van Buren, Altizer, et al. Second, to suggest some preliminary answers to the questions arising from that situation--particularly to those concerning the way in which man thinks about God. Such answers, Gilkey feels, must be based upon an awareness of God based upon an experience of the world and ""brought to conscious and definitive from by the central experience of illumination and renewal that comes in the community that witnesses to the Christ."" What he proposes, therefore, is a God who is very much alive and living in a world in which the ancient distinction between the ""natural"" and the ""supernatural"" is greatly diminished, if not obliterated. It is a reasonable thesis, with one premise planted, as it were, firmly on earth, and the other poised gingerly on the edge of heaven. An interesting compromise between the new and the old in theology, the book should elicit a good deal of attention among both Protestant and Catholic theologians.

Pub Date: July 16, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION