FIFTY KEY CHRISTIAN THINKERS Fifty Key Christian Thinkers introduces the lives and ideas of some of the most influential figures in Christian history. Providing a comprehensive overview of the development of Christian thought from its roots to the present day, the work includes entries on: ● Thomas Aquinas ● Arius ● Augustine of Hippo ● John Calvin ● Ludwig Feuerbach ● John Hick ● Immanuel Kant ● Martin Luther ● Paul ● Hermann Reimarus. Fully cross-referenced and featuring a handy glossary of key terms, this book is an invaluable resource for all those interested in the history of Christianity over the past two millennia. Peter McEnhill holds the Barbour Chair in Systematic Theology at Westminster College, Cambridge. George Newlands is Professor of Divinity at Glasgow University. You may also be interested in the following Routledge Student Reference titles: Religion: The Basics Malory Nye Fifty Key Christian Thinkers Peter McEnhill and George Newlands Fifty Key Jewsh Thinkers Dan Cohn-Sherbok Fifty Key Medieval Thinkers G.R.Evans Gurdjieff: The Key Concepts Sophia Wellbeloved Eastern Philosophy: Key Readings Oliver Leaman Key Concepts in Eastern Philosophy Oliver Leaman Fifty Eastern Thinkers Diané Collinson, Kathryn Plant and Robert Wilkinson Who’s Who in Christianity Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok Who’s Who in Jewish History Joan Comay, new edition revised by Lavinia Cohn-Sherbox Who’s Who in the New Testament Ronald Brownrigg Who’s Who in the Old Testament Joan Comay FIFTY KEY CHRISTIAN THINKERS Peter McEnhill and George Newlands LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2004 by Roudedge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Roudedge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.” © 2004 Peter McEnhill and George Newlands All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data McEnhill, Peter. Fifty key Christian thinkers/Peter McEnhill and George Newlands. p. cm.—(Roudedge key guides) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Theology, Doctrinal—Popular works. 2. Theologians. I. Newlands, G.M., 1941– II. Title. III. Series. BT77.M159 2004 230’092’2–dc22 2004000796 ISBN 0-203-64584-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-67419-7 (Adobe e-Reader Format) ISBN 0-415-17049-4 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-17050-8 (pbk) ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTENTS Chronological list of contents viii Preface x Abelard 3 Anselm 8 Aquinas 14 Arius 22 Athanasius 27 Augustine 32 Baillie, John and Donald 40 Barth 49 Boethius 56 Bonhoeffer 59 Brunner 67 Bultmann 72 Calvin 77 Cappadocian Fathers—Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory 86 Nazianzen Duns Scotus 92 Edwards 94 Feuerbach 98 Forsyth 102 Gutiérrez 107 Harnack 111 Hegel 114 Hick 119 Irenaeus 126 John of Damascus 130 Justin Martyr 134 Kant 137 Kierkegaard 143 Küng 148 Luther 153 Moltmann 161 Newman 165 Niebuhr 168 Origen 172 Pannenberg 176 Paul 182 Rahner 188 Reimarus 193 Ritschl 196 Ruether 200 Schleiermacher 203 Schüssler-Fiorenza 207 Strauss 211 Tertullian 216 Tillich 221 Tracy 228 Troeltsch 231 Zwingli 234 Glossary 241 Index 248 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF CONTENTS Paul (?–c.64) 182 Justin Martyr (c.100–65) 134 Irenaeus (c.130–200) 126 Tertullian, Quintus Septimius Florens (c.160–c.225) 216 Origen (c.185–254) 172 Arius (c.270–336) 22 Athanasius (c.295–373) 27 The Cappadocian Fathers: Basil of Caesarea (330–79); Gregory of Nyssa (335– 86 95); Gregory Nazianzen (329–90) Augustine of Hippo (354–430) 32 Boethius, Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus (c.480–525) 56 John of Damascus (c.675–749) 130 Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109) 8 Abelard, Peter (1079–1142) 3 Aquinas, Thomas (1225–74) 14 Duns Scotus, John (c.1265–1308) 92 Luther, Martin (1483–1546) 153 Zwingli, Huldrych (1484–1531) 234 Calvin, John (1509–64) 77 Reimarus, Hermann Samuel (1694–1768) 193 Edwards, Jonathan (1703–58) 94 Kant, Immanuel (1724–1804) 137 Schleiermacher, Friedrich Daniel Ernst (1768–1834) 207 Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1770–1831) 114 Newman, John Henry (1801–90) 165 Feuerbach, Ludwig (1804–72) 98 Strauss, David Friedrich (1808–74) 211 Kierkegaard, Søren (1813–55) 143 Ritschl, Albrecht (1822–89) 196 Forsyth, Peter Taylor (1848–1921) 102 Harnack, Adolf von (1851–1930) 111 Troeltsch, Ernst (1865–1923) 231 Bultmann, Rudolf (1884–1976) 72 Baillie, John (1886–1960) and Baillie, Donald (1887–1954) 40 Barth, Karl (1886–1968) 49 Tillich, Paul (1886–1965) 221 Brunner, Emil (1889–1966) 67 Niebuhr, Reinhold (1892–1971) 168 Rahner, Karl (1904–84) 188 Bonhoeffer, Dietrich (1906–45) 59 Hick, John Harwood (1922–) 119 Moltmann, Jürgen (1926–) 161 Pannenberg, Wolfhart (1928–) 176 Küng, Hans (1928–) 148 Gutiérrez, Gustavo (1928–) 107 Ruether, Rosemary Radford (1936–) 200 Schüssler-Fiorenza, Elisabeth (1938–) 203 Tracy, David (1939–) 228 PREFACE Christians think—at least sometimes. They do not think alike. The fifty Christian thinkers discussed here represent very different styles of thought. They reflect the language and cultures of very different times and cultures. They contradict each other. But they also echo basic beliefs and affirmations, which arise from reflection upon and engagement with the Christian gospel. They echo the influence of the Bible and Church traditions. They interact, in dialogue or in lack of dialogue, with non-Christian traditions, whether from other religions or from secular sources. This is a dynamic dialogue, for the process of interaction is thousands of years old, embracing material from pre-Christian cultures in various parts of the world. It is a thought process shaped too by ever-changing perspectives on the nature of humanity and divinity, selves and societies. In this reflective process the dialogue partners change in what are often surprising ways. For example, ancient figures such as Augustine and Aquinas come to figure centrally in postmodern debates around the millennium about truth, reality and desire. Kierkegaard, hardly noticed outside his native country in the nineteenth century, becomes a catalyst for theological revolution in the early twentieth century. We have not attempted to categorise our selection of Christian thinkers, but have simply put them in alphabetical order. In this way we leave readers free to juxtapose their own selections, as an invitation to further revolutions in Christian thinking. Something should be said about the choice of entries. Needless to say this has not been an easy matter. What after all constitutes a Christian thinker? Here we have tended to interpret that to mean theologians who have self-consciously and explicitly attempted to rethink the Christian faith for their context and time. We are of course aware that not all Christian thinkers have been theologians but some principle of selection is necessary and that is one which we have applied. We have also tried to include a balanced selection of writers from the ancient, medieval and modern period. Certain thinkers, such as Athanasius, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Kant, Hegel, Schleiermacher, Barth, Rahner etc., suggest themselves as canonical figures for the tradition and would appear on any list of important Christian thinkers, but there are many significant figures who do not find themselves included, even though the scale and importance of their contribution would fully merit a place. Unfortunately (or fortunately) there have been many more than fifty major Christian thinkers! As it stands, the selection is heavily weighted to the Northern (European and American) hemisphere and is overwhelmingly male. To some extent this simply reflects accurately the history of the subject up until the relatively modern period. (For comparison see a similar preponderance in Fifty Major Philosophers.) The relative paucity of female thinkers reflects the historical exclusion of female voices from the arena of theological discourse. Therefore only Ruether and Schüssler-Fiorenza find a place here, but undoubtedly future volumes of this type will do more to reflect the rich and diverse contributions being made by feminist theologians today. However, it is difficult to assess the long-term and ongoing value of many bodies of work that are still being actively added to and assessed as we write. Similarly, one might say something similar concerning those thinkers who would represent the many fine emancipatory and contextual theologies that are emerging today. Of these the prime example considered here is Gustavo Gutiérrez. Thus, the selection of thinkers seeks to be reflective of the historic development of the subject in that we have tried to include those thinkers who have made important and far- reaching contributions to the theological debate and who have moved it in a different and new direction. To some extent the selection is also pragmatic in that this volume is intended as an aid for those students undertaking courses in academic theology in English-speaking countries. Many of the figures encountered herein still tend to dominate the courses taught in the academic institutions of the English-speaking world. This pedagogical stress also accounts for the preponderance of Continental thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For the themes and preoccupations of the great nineteenth-century thinkers set the agenda for how the giants of the twentieth century were to perceive the theological task. It was an extraordinarily productive and critical period that produced impressive re-thinkings of the faith as well as profound attempts at revision.