num_pages: 182
description: In Transforming Postliberal Theology, C.C. Pecknold reorients postliberalism for a new generation.Responding to George Lindbeck's seminal proposal for postliberalism in The Nature of Religion and Theology in a Postliberal Age (1984), and occasioned by new studies in the religious roots of pragmatic philosophy, Pecknold argues that postliberalism represents "a new pragmatism" that rediscovers its theological and semiotic roots in Scripture. Testing this hypothesis, he assesses the book Lindbeck wrote (and the books critics sometimes misread) to ask if there are good, immanent reasons for long-standing criticisms to remain. He then proposes that problems that readers may have with postliberalism can be resolved through deeper engagements with Lindbeck's pragmatism, through a greater openness to metaphysics and questions of mediation, and especially through a return to scripture and tradition that is mediated by the traditional patristic hermeneutic of St. Augustine of Hippo. In doing so, the author aims to treat problems of relativism and sectarianism that have long troubled postliberal theologies. The book concludes with theo-political questions about how the church understands itself as Israel (a key concern of Lindbeck), and displays how postliberal theologies can enable deeper engagements with scripture and tradition, how the Christian faith relates to other scriptural faiths, and pressing public issues. Those who recognize the centrality of both scripture and tradition for the reformation of thought and action in the church and in the world will discover in Transforming Postliberal Theology a theological vision for the future of postliberal theology.
language: English
title: Transforming Postliberal Theology: George Lindbeck, Pragmatism and Scripture
titlecomplete: Transforming Postliberal Theology: George Lindbeck, Pragmatism and Scripture
genres: Theology, Philosophy
ratings_count: 7
publisher: T&T Clark