God, the Mind's Desire: Reference, Reason and Christian Thinking - Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine (Paperback)

Paul D. Janz (author)

£25.99

Paperback 248 Pages / Published: 30/10/2008

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Synopsis

This 2004 book reconfigures the basic problem of Christian thinking - 'How can human discourse refer meaningfully to a transcendent God?' - as a twofold demand for integrity: integrity of reason and integrity of transcendence. Centring around a provocative yet penetratingly faithful re-reading of Kant's empirical realism, and drawing on an impelling confluence of contemporary thinkers (including MacKinnon, Bonhoeffer, Marion, Putnam, Nagel) Paul D. Janz argues that theology's 'referent' must be located within present empirical reality. Rigorously reasoned yet refreshingly accessible throughout, this book provides an important, attentively informed alternative to the growing trends toward obscurantism, radicalization and anti-reason in many recent assessments of theological cognition, while remaining equally alert to the hazards of traditional metaphysics. In the book's culmination, epistemology and Christology converge around problems of noetic authority and orthodoxy with a kind of innovation, depth and straightforwardness that readers of theology at all levels of philosophical acquaintance will find illuminating.

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521529617
Number of pages: 248
Weight: 370 g
Dimensions: 229 x 152 x 14 mm

MEDIA REVIEWS

Review of the hardback: 'This intense and profound book performs the very approach it recommends, by demonstrating throughout intellectual virtues of patience, attention, rigour and commitment. Janz writes well and in a style refreshingly free from self-indulgent obscurity.' The Times Literary Supplement
Review of the hardback: '... a magnificent achievement ... anyone professionally involved in the realist/antirealist debate should read this book and take it seriously. They should also encourage their graduate students to read it.' Reviews in Religion and Theology
Review of the hardback: '... rewarding study that is carefully argued, challenging and thought provoking for all who are interested in the fate of theological discourse in our so-called postmodern age ...' Conversations in Religions and Theology
Review of the hardback: '... most lucidly argued throughout, frequently persuasive in its analysis of other writers, and profound and innovative in its conclusions ... and which speaks of the author as well-read in both theology and philosophy and writes with the confidence of someone who has mastered the relevant literature'. Expository Times
"...a commendable achievement. It is a serious book that grapples with serious questions and refuses to settle for easy and fashionable answers." - William D. Wood
"The journey is worth the intellectual effort even if one disagrees with some of the paths taken and interpretive commentary along the way. The destination will be greeted with varying degrees of acclaim." Studies in Religion Jonathan R. Wilson, Acadia Divinity College
"His book provides an alternative to the obsurantism, radicalization, and anti-reason in many recent assessments of theological cognition while remaining alert to the hazards of traditional metaphysics. Finally, he offers a new way of understanding epistemology and christology which preserves the integrity of both of them." - Theology Digest