Reviews

Books reviewed: Frans Jozef van Beeck, God Encountered: A Contemporary Catholic Systematic Theology, Volume Two/4: The Revelation of the Glory; Part IV/A: The Genealogy of Depravity: Morality and Immorality Nicholas M. Healy, Church, World and the Christian Life: Practical‐Prophetic Ecclesiology Richard Viladesau, Theology and the Arts: Encountering God Through Music, Art and Rhetoric James K. A. Smith, The Fall of Interpretation: Philosophical Foundations for a Creational Hermeneutic Clark M. Williamson, Way of Blessing, Way of Life: A Christian Theology Thomas G. Weinandy, Does God Suffer? Michael L. Budde and Robert W. Brimlow, (eds.) The Church as Counterculture Brian S. Hook and R. R. Reno, Heroism and the Christian Life: Reclaiming Excellence Geoffrey Wainwright, Is the Reformation Over? Catholics and Protestants at the Turn of the Millennia Paul J. Griffiths, Religious Reading: The Place of Reading in the Practice of Religion     

REVIEWS

Books reviewed:
David Bentley Hart, The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth Reviewed by Oleg Bychkov
Ingolf U. Dalferth, Die Wirklichkeit des Möglichen: Hermeneutische Religionsphilosophie Reviewed by Matthias Gockel
Vincent J. Miller, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture Reviewed by Michael L. Budde
John David Dawson, Christian Figural Reading and the Fashioning of Identity Reviewed by John C. Cavadini
Stanley Hauerwas, Performing the Faith: Bonhoeffer and the Practice of Nonviolence Reviewed by Clifford Green
Stephen van Erp, The Art of Theology: Hans Urs von Balthasar's Theological Aesthetics and the Foundations of Faith Reviewed by Mark Alan Bowald
John Inge, A Christian Theology of Place Reviewed by Belden C. Lane
Graham Hughes, Worship as Meaning: A Liturgical Theology for Late Modernity Reviewed by Jim Fodor
Denys Turner, Faith, Reason and the Existence of God Reviewed by David Burrell
Francesca Aran Murphy, Art and Intellect in the Philosophy of Étienne Gilson Reviewed by Trent Pomplun     

Reviews

Books reviewed:
Gerald O'Collins The Tri-Personal God: Understanding and Interpreting the Trinity
George Hunsinger Disruptive Grace: Studies in the Theology of Karl Barth
Jürgen Moltmann Experiences in Theology – Ways and Forms of Christian Theology
John Webster and George P. Schner, eds. Theology after Liberalism: A Reader
Raymond Moloney The Knowledge of Christ
Michael Welker What Happens in Holy Communion
Margaret Barker The Revelation of Jesus Christ
Calvin Roetzel Paul: The Man and the Myth
Alar Laats Doctrine of the Trinity in Eastern and Western Theologies
James K.A. Smith The Fall of Interpretation: Philosophical Foundations for a Creational Hermeneutic     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article:
The Cost of Moral Leadership: The Spirituality of Dietrich Bonhoeffer , Geffrey B. Kelly and F. Burton Nelson
A Biblical Text and its Afterlives: The Survival of Jonah in Western Culture , Yvonne Sherwood
Dancing With the Sacred: Evolution, Ecology, and God , Karl Peters
Mennonites and Classical Theology: Dogmatic Foundations for Christian Ethics , A. James Reimer
Redeeming Memories: A Theology of Healing and Transformation , Flora A. Keshgegian
Islam: What Non-Muslims Should Know , John Kaltner
A History of Lutheranism , Eric W. Gritsch
Faith, the Yes of the Heart , Brame, Grace Adolphsen     

Reviews

Books reviewed: Kevin J. Vanhoozer Is There Meaning in This Text? The Bible, the Reader and the Morality of Literary Knowledge Rowan Williams Lost Icons: Reflections on Cultural Bereavement Ray S. Anderson Theological Foundations for Ministry: Selected Readings for a Theology of the Church in Ministry Alastair McKinnon The Kierkegaard Computer Workshop Thomas G. Weinandy Does God Suffer? Oswald Bayer Gott als Autor Zu einer Poietologischen Theologie Gareth Jones Christian Theology: A Brief Introduction. Kathryn Green‐McCreight Feminist Reconstructions of Christian Doctrine: Narrative Analysis and Appraisal. David Brown Tradition and Imagination: Revelation and Changel.     

Representing God's Presence

The article tackles two myths: the modern myth that God has vanished from human life, and the religious myth that the apostles, patriarchs, mystics and martyrs were in a more privileged position vis-´-vis God than we are. Dalferth argues that God has never been more present than today, has never been less hidden than today, and develops the thessis that the importance of God being present is central to the Christian understanding of God. Christian faith is faith in a present reality, not a set of beliefs about past events. The implications of this for the task of Christian communication are clear: the prime interest of Christian communication is to help those to whom it is addressed to develop a sense of the presence of God.     

Reviews

Books reviewed in this article:
Dorothee Soelle, The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance
R. R. Reno, Redemptive Change: Atonement and the Christian Cure of the Soul
Francesca Aran Murphy, The Comedy of Revelation: Paradise Lost and Regained in Biblical Narrative
Robert Pasnau, Thomas Aquinas on Human Nature: A Philosophical Study of Summa Theologiae Ia 75–89
Hent de Vries, Religion and Violence: Philosophical Perspectives from Kant to Derrida
Bernard McGinn, The Mystical Thought of Meister Eckhart: The Man from Whom God Hid Nothing
Charles Pinches, Theology and Action: After Theory in Christian Ethics
Kathryn Greene-McCreight, Feminist Reconstructions of Christian Doctrine: Narrative Analysis and Appraisal
Gavin D'Costa, Sexing the Trinity: Gender, Culture, and the Divine
Allen Verhey, Remembering Jesus: Christian Community, Scripture, and the Moral Life
Herbert McCabe, God Still Matters
Marguerite Abdul-Masih, Edward Schillebeeckx and Hans Frei: A Conversation on Method and Christology     

Reviews

Books reviewed:
James K.A. Smith. Speech and Theology: Language and the Logic of Incarnation.
John B. Thomson. The Ecclesiology of Stanley Hauerwas.
Sarah Coakley. Powers and Submissions: Spirituality, Philosophy and Gender.
D. Stephen Long. The Goodness of God: Theology, Church and the Social Order.
Philip Dixon. Nice and Hot Disputes: The Doctrine of the Trinity in the Seventeenth Century.
Andrew Moore. Realism and Christian Faith: God, Grammar and Meaning.
G.R. Evans, ed. The Medieval Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Medieval Period.
David Willows. Divine Knowledge: A Kierkegaardian Perspective on Christian Education.     

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Unapologetic Theology: A Christian Voice in a Pluralistic Consevation, by William C. Placher
Community Without Unity: A Politics of Derradian Extravangance, by William Corlett
Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, by Paul Williams
Men and Women: Sexual Ethics in Turbulent Times, edited by Philip Turner Cowley     

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Situating the Self: Gender, Community and Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics , by Seyla Benhabib
The Politics of God: Christian Theologies and Social Justice , by Kathyrn
A Theology of Reconstruction: Nation-Building and Human Rights , by Charles Villa-vicencio
Out of Every Tribe and Nation: Christian Theology at the Ethnic Reoundtable , by Justo L. Gonzalez
The Thought of Thomas Aquinas , by Brian Davies
Logic and Sin in the Writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein , by Philip R. Shields
Self/Power/Other. Political Theory and Dialogical Ethics , by Romand Coles
Christian Faith and Philosophical Theology: Essays in Honour of Vincent Brümmer , edited by Gijsbert van den Brink, Luco J. van den Brom, and Marcel Sarot
A New Handbook of Christian Theology , Edited by Donald W. Musser and Joseph L. Price
The Love commandments: Essays in Christian Ethics and Moral Philosophy , Edited by Edmund Santurri and William Werpehowski
Gott: Philosophisch-theologische Denkversuche , by Ingolf U. Dalferth
The New Testament and The People of God , by N.T. Wright
Sister in the Wilderness. The Challenge of Womanist God-Tald , by Delores Williams
Bound to Differ, The Dynamics of Theological Discourses , by Wesley A. Kort
Between Athens and Berlin: The Theological Education Debate , by David H. Kelsey     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Family: A Christian Social Perspective , by Lisa Sowle Cahill
The Sparrow & Children of God , by Mary Doria Russell
Understanding Early Christian Art , by Robin Margaret Jensen
Excavating Q: The History and Setting of the Sayings Gospel , by John S. Kloppenborg Verbin
After Writing: On the Liturgical Consummation of Philosophy , by Katherine Pickstock     

Maker of Heaven and Earth

The first article of the Nicene creed forms Christian teaching about creation in two ways. It exhibits a particular order of Christian confession and instruction, and it recommends to the church the importance of properly distinguishing three relations: the relation between God the Father and God the Son; the relation between God and the world; and the relation between heaven and earth. This dogmatic commentary on the creed attends to the first two relations and introduces the third.     

SHORT NOTICES

Short Notices:
Mary E. Mills, Images of God in the Old Testament
Tod Linafelt and Timothy K. Beal, God in the Fray: A Tribute to Walter Brueggemann
Kari Latvus, God, Anger and Ideology: The Anger of God in Joshua and Judges in Relation to Deuteronomy amd the Priestly Writings (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 279)
Edwin D. Freed, The Stories of Jesus' Birth: A Critical Introduction (The Biblical Seminar 72)
David B. Capes, Old Testament Yahweh Texts in Paul's Christology (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. 2 Reihe, 47)
Gerard O'Daly, Platonism Pagan and Christian: Studies in Plotinus and Augustine
Alistair McFayden and Marcel Sarot, Forgiveness and Truth: Explorations in Contemporary Theology     

An Environment Friendly God: Response to Nancy Hudson’s “Divine Immanence”

This paper is a response to Professor Nancy Hudson’s paper “Divine Immanence: Nicholas of Cusa’s Understanding of Theophany and the Retrieval of a ‘New’ Model of God,” (Nancy Hudson, “Divine Immanence: Nicholas of Cusa’s Understanding of Theophany and the Retrieval of a ‘New’ Model of God,” Journal of Theological Studies 56.2 (October 2005): 450–470). The global ecological crisis has spawned intensive reflection about living in right relationship with the earth. Western Christian thought has received special scrutiny since modern alienation from nature has been traced to Christian theology. Undiscovered within the mystical theology of Nicholas of Cusa lies an ecologically promising vision of nature. The concept of divine immanence presented by this medieval thinker provides a rich spirituality that is inclusive, rather than exclusive, of the natural world. It is also far more intimate than contemporary stewardship theology. Cusanus interprets theophany as divine self-expression. A series of striking metaphors, including God’s enfolding and unfolding, God as ‘Not-other’, and Christ as the contracted maximum, reveals a holistic spirituality. Nicholas of Cusa’s concept of divine immanence infuses the world with immeasurable value and gives rise to a Christian theology that can address the current ecological crisis. This paper was delivered during the APA Pacific 2007 Mini-Conference on Models of God in response to a presentation of Nancy Hudson’s “Divine Immanence.”     

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Ecology and Liberation. A New Paradigm, Leonardo Boff
Apocalypse Theory and the Ends of the World, Malcolm Bull (ed.)
A Feminist Companion to Esther, Judith and Susanna, A. Brenner (ed.)
Arguments against Secular Culture, Robert Miller
Books and Readers in the Early Church. A History of Early Christian Texts, Harry Y. Gamble
Mother of the Wire Fence: Inside and Outside the Holocaust, Karl A. Plank, Westminster/John Knox
Philosophical Idealism and Christian Belief, Alan P. Sell
Time and Place in Deuteronomy, J.G. McConville and J. G. Millar
University of Exeter
City of Silence: Listening to Hiroshima, Rachelle Linner
Studies in Early Christology, Martin Hengel, T. & T. Clark
The Darkness of God: Negativity in Christian Mysticism, Denys Turner, CUP
Theological Essays II, Eberhard Jiingel, John Webster (ed.), T. & T. Clark
Paul's Narrative Thought World: The Tapestry of Tragedy and Triumph, Ben Witherington III, Westminster/John Knox
The Suffering Self: Pain and Narrative Representation in the Early Christian Era, Judith Perkins
Selling God: American Religion in the Marketplace of Culture, R. Laurence Moore
Water and Womanhood: Religious Meanings of Rivers in Maharashtra, Anne Feldhaus
The God's at Play: Lila in South Asia, William S. Sax (ed.)     

Reviews

Alvin Plantinga, Warranted Christian Belief
Sue Patterson, Realist Christian Theology in a Postmodern Age
Michael Banner, Christian Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems
Alejandro García-Rivera, The Community of the Beautiful: A Theological Aesthetics
Richard Fardon, Mary Douglas: An Intellectual Biography
David N. Power, Sacrament: The Language of God's Giving
Rush Rhees, Discussions of Simone Weil
Richard Viladesau, Theological Aesthetics: God in Imagination, Beauty, and Art
George Hunsinger, Disruptive Grace: Studies in the Theology of Karl Barth
Kevin F. Burke, S.J., The Ground Beneath the Cross: The Theology of Ignacio Ellacuriá