From Theology to Theological Thinking

Jean-Yves Lacoste, W. Chris Hackett

• Publisher: University of Virginia Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780813935560
• eBook ISBN: 9780813935577
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Philosophy of Religion

"Christian philosophy" is commonly regarded as an oxymoron, philosophy being thought incompatible with the assumptions and conclusions required by religious faith. According to this way of thinking, philosophy and theology must forever remain distinct.

In From Theology to Theological Thinking, Jean-Yves Lacoste takes a different approach. Stepping back from contemporary philosophical concerns, Lacoste—a leading figure in the philosophy of religion—looks at the relationship between philosophy and theology from the standpoint of the history of ideas. He notes in particular that theology and philosophy were not considered separate realms until the high Middle Ages, this distinction being a hallmark of the modern era that is coming to an end. Lacoste argues that the intellectual task before us now is to work in the frontier region between or beyond these domains, work he identifies as "the task of thinking."

With this argument, Lacoste resets our understanding of Western Christian thought, contending that a new way of thinking that is at once philosophical and theological will be the lasting discourse of Christianity.

Index

Abelard, Peter, 38, 39, 40, 48; Sentences, 46, 49–50, 61

academy, the. See schools; universities

Academy, the (Athens), 16

Adriaanse, H. J., 68

Alexander, 12

Alexandrian School, 35, 41

angelic life, 23

Anselm of Bec: integrated philosophy and theology of, 41, 43; “kneeling” theology of, 80; Monologion, 42; “proof” by, 81; and school at Bec, 36

Antiochian School, 20, 35

antiphilosophism, 12, 38

Aquinas. See Thomas Aquinas

Aristotelianism: and Scholasticism, 51; substance and accidents, 69–70; and theology as a speciality, 44, 46

Aristotle: commentaries on works by, 45, 55; and Hegel, 59; logic of, 5; moral philosophy of, 5–6; scientific theories of, 5; and theory, 4; theory of causality of, 45–46, 93n4; translation of works by, 31, 41; and the West, 18

arts: faculty of, 53; liberal, 42; technical, 42, 43

ascesis, 21, 25

Athanasius, 20

atheism, 14, 86

Augustine of Hippo: and “Christian philosophy,” 19, 31; Confessions, 32–33; “kneeling” theology of, 80; and “Platonic books,” 17,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction: Eschatology, Liturgy, and the Task of Thinking
• A Note on the Translation
• One. Theoria, vita philosophica, and Christian Experience
• Two. Philosophy, Theology, and the Academy
• Three. Philosophy, Theology, and the Task of Thinking
• Notes
• Index