A radical theology for the future: five theses

Jeffrey W Robbins,Clayton Crockett

doi:10.1057/palcomms.2015.28

Abstract

AbstractThis article sketches out five theses of radical theology to contribute to a vision of the future of theology. Radical theology emerged out of the Death-of-God theology of the 1960s, as well as some forms of liberation theology. These theologies challenge the orthodoxy of most traditional forms of theological and religious reflection. Here the authors, who are part of the conversation of radical theology in the United States and elsewhere, sketch out five theses: that radical theology should be postsecular, postliberal, a version of political or liberation theology, an onto-theology and an eco-theology. Each of these terms, however, needs to be qualified with a difference that distinguishes them from more common understandings of these terms. Finally, we argue that radical theology should be materialist in a non-reductionist way that reconfigures but does not simply dismiss our ideas about God, humanity, religion and the world. This article is published as part of a thematic collection dedicated to radical theologies.

Highlights

In this article we offer five theses on the future of radical theology
We stand in a tradition of radical theology in the United States that began with Paul Tillich in the middle of the twentieth century and extended through the death-of-God theologians of the 1960s, including Gabriel Vahanian, Thomas JJ Altizer, William Hamilton, Harvey Cox and Richard Rubenstein
In the 1980s, the postmodern theology of Mark C Taylor, Carl A Raschke and Charles E Winquist conjoined the insights of the death-of-God theologians with the reception of French poststructuralism and deconstruction

Summary

Introduction

In this article we offer five theses on the future of radical theology. Here we assume a theological method that is neither reformational nor conservative, but instead transformational and radical. The mistake is to read radical theology exclusively in terms of the death-of-God movement.

Results

Conclusion