Christian Contradictions: The Structures of Lutheran and Catholic Thought - Hardcover

Hampson, Daphne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521450608 ISBN 13: 9780521450607

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2001

Synopsis

Catholic thought and Lutheran thought are differently structured, embodying divergent conceptions of self and God. Failing to grasp the Lutheran paradigm, Catholics have wrenched Luther into an inappropriate framework. Roman/Lutheran ecumenism, culminating in the 'Joint Declaration' of 1999, attempts to reconcile incompatible systems, based on different philosophical presuppositions. Drawing on a wealth of material, both Continental and Anglo-Saxon, the author thinks through these structural questions within a historical context. But how - within a religion of revelation - can God be conceptualised as both foundational to the self and yet also as an 'other' with whom the self inter-relates? Kierkegaard is shown in a complex model to hold together strengths which historically have been exemplified by the two traditions. This is an important work in systematic theology which considers questions quite fundamental to Western religion. It should be of interest to theologians of all backgrounds and also to church historians.

About this title

About the Author

Daphne Hampson is Professor of Divinity at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

From the Back Cover

"It is a remarkably generous exposition of both forms of Christianity: not pseudo-neutral but wonderfully sympathetic all round. This is an important book - a radical challenge to decades of ecumenical rapprochement."
Fergus Kerr, OP, Blackfriars, Oxford.

"Here is a post-Christian theologian sympathetically engaging with the Lutheran and Catholic traditions, while also defining her own position over against them. This is very interesting reading, and an important book not least because it shows how significant the issues it discusses remain."
Professor Richard Bauckham, FBA (University of St Andrews)

"In this book Daphne Hampson deploys her formidable intellectual skills in an analysis of the broad divisions between Catholic and Lutheran forms of life and thought ... demonstrating how deeply this disagreement cuts and how much getting to the bottom of it matters."
J. A. DiNoia, OP (Editor, The Thomist)

"Daphne Hampson shows how different 'structures of thought' affect how Lutheran and Catholic theologies use key theological terms. Hampson's own position outside Christianity does not impair her theological acumen and empathy, but does provide a critical edge to some of her important judgments."
James M. Gustafson (Emeritus Professor, Emory University)

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521450608
• ISBN 13: 9780521450607
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336