Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God / Edition 1

by Elizabeth A. Johnson

Overview

'Since the middle of the twentieth century,' writes Elizabeth Johnson, 'there has been a renaissance of new insights into God in the Christian tradition. On different continents, under pressure from historical events and social conditions, people of faith have glimpsed the living God in fresh ways. It is not that a wholly different God is discovered from the One believed in by previous generations. Christian faith does not believe in a new God but, finding itself in new situations, seeks the presence of God there. Aspects long-forgotten are brought into new relationships with current events, and the depths of divine compassion are appreciated in ways not previously imagined.'

This book sets out the fruit of these discoveries. The first chapter describes Johnson's point of departure and the rules of engagement, with each succeeding chapter distilling a discrete idea of God. Featured are transcendental, political, liberation, feminist, black, Hispanic, interreligious, and ecological theologies, ending with the particular Christian idea of the one God as Trinity.
'Since the middle of the twentieth century,' writes Elizabeth Johnson, 'there has been a renaissance of new insights into God in the Christian tradition. On different continents, under pressure from historical events and social conditions, people of faith have glimpsed the living God in fresh ways. It is not that a wholly different God is discovered from the One believed in by previous generations. Christian faith does not believe in a new God but, finding itself in new situations, seeks the presence of God there. Aspects long-forgotten are brought into new relationships with current events, and the depths of divine compassion are appreciated in ways not previously imagined.'

This book sets out the fruit of these discoveries. The first chapter describes Johnson's point of departure and the rules of engagement, with each succeeding chapter distilling a discrete idea of God. Featured are transcendental, political, liberation, feminist, black, Hispanic, interreligious, and ecological theologies, ending with the particular Christian idea of the one God as Trinity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900826417700
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/14/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 1.50(h) x 9.50(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth A. Johnson, C.S.J., is distinguished Professor of Theology at Fordham University. She has received numerous awards, including the Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion for She Who Is (1993), the American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion for Friends of God and Prophets (1999), and the Book Award of the College Theology Society for Truly Our Sister (2004). She was also the recipient of the John Courtney Murray Award of the Catholic Theological Society of America, the Jerome Award of the Catholic Library Association, and the Monika K. Hellwig Award of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     xi
Introduction     1
Ancient Story, New Chapter     7
From the Beginning     7
People of the Book     10
Why the Search?     12
Point of Departure: Modern Theism     14
Ground Rules for the Journey     17
High Stakes     22
Gracious Mystery, Ever Greater, Ever Nearer     25
Context: A Secular World     25
Winter     28
Mystery Ever Greater     31
Starting with the Human     31
The Whither of Our Self-transcendence     35
Mystery Ever Nearer     39
Incarnation     40
Grace     41
Holy Mystery     42
Love of God and Neighbor     44
The Crucified God of Compassion     49
Context: Unspeakable Suffering     49
The Failure of Theodicy     51
Three Young Germans     53
The God of Pathos     56
Central Vision     58
The Crucified God     60
The Silent Cry     62
Passion for God     65
Remembering     65
Lamenting     66
Mystical-Political Discipleship     68
Liberating God of Life     70
Context: Wretched Poverty     70
Intuition of God's Presence and Action     73
Hebrew Bible     74
New Testament     76
The God of Life     78
The True God against Idols     79
The God of Holy Mystery     80
Fully Alive     82
Praxis of Biblical Justice     83
God Acting Womanish     90
Context: Women's Experience     90
Society     90
Church     91
"Woman, you are set free"     92
Diversity     93
Glimpse of Divine Presence and Action     96
The Graven Image     97
Mother God     100
Holy Wisdom     103
A Symphony of Symbols     106
The Danger of Dualism     108
Praxis of Biblical Justice for Women     109
God Who Breaks Chains     13
Context: White Privilege and Racism     113
The Kernel     114
Idea of God     116
Spirituals     117
Black Liberation Theology     122
Womanist Survival Theology      126
A Sharper Focus     128
Praxis of Racial Justice     130
Accompanying God of Fiesta     133
Context: La Lucha     133
Two Conquests     134
Mestizaje/Mixing     135
Popular Religion     136
Doing Theology Latinamente     139
Our Lady     141
The God Who Accompanies     142
Three Principles     145
The God of Fiesta     146
To the Future     149
Generous God of the Religions     153
Context: Religious Pluralism     153
The Back Story in Church Teaching     155
First Question     155
Second Question     156
Third Question     158
Brakes     160
Glimpse of God from Dialogue     161
Dialogue of Life     163
Dialogue of Action     164
Dialogue of Theological Exchange     166
Dialogue of Religious Experience     170
A Bountiful God     174
Jesus Christ     175
One Multifaceted Plan     177
The Dignity of Difference     178
Creator Spirit in the Evolving World      181
The Vivifier     181
The Natural World     183
Wonder     183
Wasting     185
Divine Presence     187
Continuous Presence     188
The Cruciform Pattern     189
Abiding in the Mode of Promise     190
Divine Agency     191
Chance     193
Grace     196
Gross     196
To Love the Earth     197
Trinity: The Living God of Love     202
The Point     202
History of a Breach     203
The Point, Again     209
Rooted in the Experience of Salvation     210
Spoken Allusively     211
Person     211
Numbers One and Three     213
Expressed in Concepts of Our Day     214
The Theological Inflection     216
The Christological Inflection     217
The Pneumatological Inflection     218
The Point, Yet Again     222
A Most Practical Doctrine     222
Epilogue     226
Index     229