Heaven on Earth?: Theological Interpretation in Ecumenical Dialogue - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1118551923 ISBN 13: 9781118551929

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013

Synopsis

This collection assembles essays by eleven leading Catholic and evangelical theologians in an ecumenical discussion of the benefits – and potential drawbacks – of today’s burgeoning corpus of theological interpretation. The authors explore the critical relationship between the earthly world and its heavenly counterpart.

• Ground-breaking volume of ecumenical debate featuring Catholic and evangelical theologians
• Explores the core theological issue of how the material and spiritual worlds interrelate
• Features a diversity of analytical approaches
• Addresses an urgent need to distinguish the positive and problematic aspects of today’s rapidly growing corpus of theological interpretation

About this title

From the Back Cover:

This ecumenical collection brings together eleven leading Catholic and evangelical theologians in a discussion of the benefits – and potential drawbacks – of today’s burgeoning corpus of theological interpretation. The authors address the question of whether this rapid growth of commentary and analysis deepens the Christian community’s understanding of scriptural history or threatens to distance us from that history and to produce an ahistorical faith. Much rests on how historical reading of Scripture can hope to enter into Scripture’s own understanding of history as providentially governed and as already participating, despite appearances, in Christ’s eschatological victory. The essays provide diverse theological and exegetical perspectives on the relationship between earthly time and its heavenly source and goal, between this-worldly narratives and spiritual realities.

The varied backgrounds of the authors, and their differing areas of expertise, make this collection a truly wide-ranging theological debate about the kinds of scriptural exegesis that Christians today ought to be pursuing. The retrieval of patristic voices is here shown to be a notable dimension not only of Catholic theology but also of evangelical theology. Yet important differences remain regarding how far spiritual interpretation can proceed without losing touch with Scripture’s original contexts and purposes. Covering topics that range from contemporary typological exegesis to the Christological hermeneutics of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the anthology expresses a shared concern to identify the work of God in the fabric of the temporal world.

About the Author:

Hans Boersma holds the J. I. Packer Chair in Theology at Regent College, Canada, and is co-director (with Matthew Levering) of the Center for Catholic-Evangelical Dialogue. As well as this volume and a forthcoming publication on Gregory of Nyssa, he is the author of Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry (2011), Nouvelle Théologie and Sacramental Ontology: A Return to Mystery (2009), and Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross: Reappropriating the Atonement Tradition (2004). Prof Boersma is a member of the Langley Immanuel Christian Reformed Church.

Matthew Levering is Professor of Theology at the University of Dayton, USA, where he is also director of the Center for Scriptural Exegesis, Philosophy, and Doctrine. Co-editor since 2003 of the theological journal Nova et Vetera, he has also recently joined the editorial team of the International Journal of Systematic Theology. Prof Levering has served as Chair of the Board of the Academy of Catholic Theology since 2007 and co-directs the Center for Catholic-Evangelical dialogue alongside Prof Boersma. His numerous books and publications include most recently The Feminine Genius of Catholic Theology (2012), Jesus and the Demise of Death (2012), and Predestination (2011). Forthcoming publications include volumes on St. Paul and Thomas Aquinas and on the theology of Augustine.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1118551923
• ISBN 13: 9781118551929
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 244
• Editor: Boersma Hans, Levering Matthew