Risking Proclamation, Respecting Difference: Christian Faith, Imperialistic Discourse, and Abraham

This important book poses the question of whether Christian proclamation can be made ethically safe for the Jewish neighbor. Boesel assesses two major approaches to a Christian theology of Judaism - those exemplified by Rosemary Radford Ruether and Karl Barth. This book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of systematics, ethics, and homiletics at the intersection of Jewish-Christian relations. Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgments Part I: An Introduction: The Problem and its Context 1. Is the Good News of Jesus Christ Bad News for the Jewish Neighbor? 2. Kierkegaard and Hegel on Abraham: The Openness and Complexity of the Modern Context Part II: The Problem: A Theological Exemplar 3. The Problem, Part I: The "Perfect Storm" of Christological Interpretive Imperialism 4. The Problem, Part II: The Good News of the Gospel and the Bad News for the Children of Abraham Part III: The Remedy: A Theological Exemplar 5. The Remedy, Part I: Dispersing the "Perfect Storm" 6. The Remedy, Part II: The Debt to Modernity - Interpretive Imperialism in a Higher Key 7. The Remedy, Part III: Abraham Must Die Part IV: The Remedy as Problem, the Problem as Remedy 8. Postmodern Discernment and the Limits of the Ethical: The Way of Justice 9. The Problem as Remedy: An Interpretive Imperialism "Without Weapons"? 10. Conclusion: Faith Seeking the Ethical Bibliography Author Index Subject Index

Religion & Spirituality

Boesel, Chris

Christian Books & Bibles

James Clarke & Co.

Reading Karl Barth provides a cluster of major themes and signposts by which to orient one’s reading of Barth’s theology. It assists readers in (a) recognizing and understanding what Barth is doing theologically and why and how he is doing it; and (b) assessing the extent to which Barth’s theology is or is not a fruitful resource for their own context, as individuals and communities of faith. The distinctive value of the book’s approach lies in its demonstration of the ways in which Barth’s theology—in both his own time and in ours—“cuts both ways,” to the theological left and right. This involves identifying various theological logics that constitute the diverse and conflictual landscape of shared Christian identity and faith—both in Barth’s time and in our own—enabling readers to recognize not only where and why Barth is located in that landscape, but also where and why they themselves are located, together with their respective faith communities. This makes the book of particular interest to individuals and communities of faith who feel themselves homeless in today’s polemical polarization between theological conservatives and theological progressives, especially those who are hungry for the possibility of a progressive socio-political vision of the gospel rooted in relatively traditional confessions of Christian faith.

Reading Karl Barth: Theology That Cuts Both Ways

Cascade Books

This is a work of Christian theology that Karl Barth might call an ad hoc or secondary apologetic. Relying on a paraphrase of Anselm--"faith seeking the ethical"--Boesel engages modern and postmodern theologians and philosophers--from Kierkegaard to Barth, Ruether, Hegel, Derrida, and Levinas--to analyze the imperialistic dynamics entailed in the church's theological interpretations of the Jewish neighbor. He demonstrates the dimensions of the problem as they are paradigmatically visible in the evangelical theological assumptions of Karl Barth. Turning to Ruether's exemplary remedy of the problem, Boesel illumines the ways her analysis and critique are funded by a specific cluster of modern assumptions that constitute what he calls "modern ethical desire." Employing a reading of Levinas and Derrida, Boesel shows that these assumptions constitute an imperialistic discourse of a different order, with its own specific hostility toward the Abrahamic tradition. In light of these postmodern critiques, Boesel returns to Barth to suggest that his evangelical theological assumptions, while indeed amounting to a form of Christian interpretive imperialism in relation to the Jewish neighbor, may nevertheless determine and delimit the knowledge and speech of Christian faith in such a way that resists more toxic forms of Christian imperialism. Broader implications of the argument follow: The ethical faces a radical limit, both in general and in relation to concrete faith. Therefore, no human remedy for the imperialistic discourse of Christian faith presents itself that does not entail an interpretive imperialism. To paraphrase Derrida: there is always an interpretive imperialism. Ethically, then, there is only discernment between different forms of interpretive imperialism. Theologically, an understanding of Christian faith as irreducible to the ethical may offer surprising though always risky ethical resourcement within this predicament of radically limited ethical possibility.

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Books by Boesel, Chris

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Boesel, Chris. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Risking Proclamation, Respecting Difference: Christian Faith, Imperialistic Discourse, and Abraham

Reading Karl Barth: Theology That Cuts Both Ways

Risking Proclamation, Respecting Difference: Christian Faith, Imperialistic Discourse, and Abraham