Analytic Theology as Rigorous Appreciation

Abstract

Part IV turns to an extended engagement with the academic study of religion, which is often constitutively hostile to any form of theology. Chapter 14 considers the vexed role of normative inquiry in the academic study of religion. It defends normative inquiry, and argues that analytic theology is a form of post-critical, normative inquiry that prizes attachment and “rigorous appreciation.” As such, analytic theology can contribute to the study of religions while it also maintains its own distinctive focus on evaluating Christian truth claims and practices. The chapter then concludes with a modest proposal on behalf of comparative analytic theology.