Christ and Horrors
Over at his always-interesting blog, Experimental Theology, Richard Beck has posted what looks like it will be the first of a multiple series of entries on Marilyn Adams’s new book, Christ and Horrors.
Though it looks like the book has been out for a few months, Richard’s post was the first I’ve heard of it, and I’ve just ordered my copy from Amazon, and am waiting for it to arrive. The book looks like it continues the main themes (esp. approaching the problem of evil by asking how God might defeat — as opposed to merely over-balance — the evils, and even the horrors, of our earthly lives; and also of using the resources of particular religious traditions, as opposed to those of bare theism, in responding to the problem of evil) of Marilyn’s earlier book, Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God, but it looks like the new book goes deeply into Christology in pursuing those themes.
Here’s some of the information from the Amazon page for the book:
Book Description
Who would the Saviour have to be, what would the Saviour have to do to rescue human beings from the meaning-destroying experiences of their lives? This book offers a systematic Christology that is at once biblical and philosophical. Starting with human radical vulnerability to horrors such as permanent pain, sadistic abuse or genocide, it develops what must be true about Christ if He is the horror-defeater who ultimately resolves all the problems affecting the human condition and Divine-human relations. Distinctive elements of Marilyn McCord Adams’ study are her defence of the two-natures theory, of Christ as Inner Teacher and a functional partner in human flourishing, and her arguments in favour of literal bodily resurrection (Christ’s and ours) and of a strong doctrine of corporeal Eucharistic presence. The book concludes that Christ is the One in Whom, not only Christian doctrine, but cosmos, church, and the human psyche hold together.
About the Author
Marilyn McCord Adams is Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford and Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. She has published extensively in academic philosophy and theology.
Paperback: 344 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1ST edition (October 2, 2006)
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Comments
Thanks for posting on these books and for the links. Sounds like important reading and I assume loads heavier than NT Wright’s Evil and the Justice of God. Greetings to Jamie somewhere out there.
Posted by: Greg Laughery | March 28, 2007 at 08:55 AM
This is a SUPERB book, one of the best that I’ve ever read — and perhaps the best book on theodicy ever published. (Why it didn’t get tagged with a Library of Congress “Theodicy” subject heading baffles me.)
You’ll enjoy every page, Keith. Not the lightest reading in the world, but you knew that already.
Pax,
David
Posted by: David Scott Lewis | March 18, 2007 at 02:00 PM