Synopsis "Theology and Culture: A Guide to the Discussion "
How can we speak about God without assuming that God is nothing but our own speaking, nothing but our culture's effort to name what cannot be named? How can we deny that our speaking of God is always culturally located? To answer these questions, we need to pay close attention to what we mean by culture, and how we use this very complex term both in our everyday language and especially in the language of faith. Culture is an exceedingly complex term that nearly everyone uses, but no one is sure what it means. This work examines various uses of the term culture in theology today. D. Stephen Long is professor of theology at Marquette University. He has published a number of works, including 'Divine Economy: Theology and the Market', 'The Goodness of God: Theology, Church, and the Social Order', 'John Wesley's Moral Theology: The Quest for God and Goodness', and 'Calculated Future: Theology, Ethics and Economics'. "Modernity, Steve Long tells us with his patented acerbity, is a broken record that never stops repeating its supposed novelty. If broken records require sharp, swift smacks to be knocked out of their tiresome grooves, Long's palm-sized book delivers a salutary slap that gets us back on track - and out of confused modern conceptualities that pit theology against culture. An excellent, masterly introduction to its topic." - Rodney Clapp, author of 'A Peculiar People' and 'Border Crossings' "This work, as the title suggests, offers a bird's eye view of the state of play between theology and culture. It provides a valuable summary of the contribution of Richard Niebuhr to the subject, but also suggests there is a need to revise Niebuhr's classifications in the wake of the rising influence of the theology of Henri de Lubac common to both the Radical Orthodoxy and Communio Catholic scholars. From de Lubac's perspective, Christ transforms cultures, rather than standing aloof outside them. The dynamics of this transformation is now a pressing theological concern which flows over confessional boundaries." - Tracey Rowland, author of 'Culture and the Thomist Tradition: After Vatican II'.
