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In Rethinking the Medieval Legacy for Contemporary Theology, six distinguished theologians bridge medieval and contemporary theologies by developing the theological significance of medieval insights in response to contemporary issues. Their nuanced readings of medieval texts, extended to major theological issues of our time, provide examples of the retrieval of the medieval tradition, an essential part of any contemporary theological reconstruction.
Barbara Newman extends the theology of perichoresis or mutual indwelling to illuminate the relationship between donor and recipient in the case of organ transplants; Marilyn McCord Adams applies insights about divine friendship to the perennial issue of horrendous evil; and Kevin Madigan brings principles of medieval exegesis to bear on the contemporary historical critical approach to biblical interpretation. Ingolf U. Dalferth applies insights from the doctrine of divine omnipotence and creation ex nihilo to deconstruct Heidegger’s limitation of the possibilities of authentic existence to historical facticity. Pim Valkenberg explores the possibilities of a theological encounter between Christianity and Islam in the works of Aquinas and Nicholas of Cusa; and Anselm K. Min applies the analogical insights of Aquinas on the nature and limits of human knowledge of God to a critique of contemporary theologies that claim to know either too little or too much about God.
“Each author is committed to retrieval of the medieval tradition in theology for our times. . . . Part of [the volume’s] achievement is that it leaves the reader longing for more, fully convinced that contemporary theological reflection can benefit greatly from reading the medievals.” —Irish Theological Quarterly
Anselm K. Min is the John D. and Lilian Maguire Distinguished Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University. He is the author of a number of books, including Paths to the Triune God: An Encounter between Aquinas and Recent Theologies (University of Notre Dame Press, 2005).
Introduction: Rethinking the Medieval Legacy for Contemporary Theology by Anselm K. Min
1. Exchanging Hearts: A Medievalist Looks at Transplant Surgery by Barbara Newman
2. Friendliness, Divine and Human by Marilyn McCord Adams
3. Can Precritical Biblical Interpretation Cure the Ills of the Critical? by Kevin Madigan
4. Possibile Absolutum: The Theological Discovery of the Ontological Priority of the Possible by Ingolf U. Dalferth
5. Can We Talk Theologically? Thomas Aquinas and Nicholas of Cusa on the Possibility of a Theological Understanding of Islam by Pim Valkenberg
6. The Humanity of Theology: Aquinian Reflections on the Presumption and Despair in the Human Claim to Know God by Anselm K. Min
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index