This book recognizes that the postmodern "new historicism" leads to a value-neutral relativism and leaves theology with an impossible choice. Dean argues that the postmodern challenge is incoherent and ineffective unless it is reinterpreted in terms of its classical American roots. Before offering a third option, Dean defends the neopragmatism of Richard Rorty, Richard Bernstein, Nelson Goodman, Hilary Putnam, Cornel West, and Jeffrey Stout; the deconstructivism of Jacques Derrida and Mark Taylor; and the recent theology of Gordon Kaufman. The third option, opening up a new possibility for American theology, is the radical empiricism of William James and John Dewey and the precedent of the "Chicago School."
Product Identifiers
Publisher
STATE University of New York Press
ISBN-10
0887068928
ISBN-13
9780887068928
eBay Product ID (ePID)
1321317
Product Key Features
Book Title
History Making History : the New Historicism in American Religious Thought
Author
William Dean
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Topic
General
Publication Year
1988
Genre
Religion, History
Number of Pages
190 Pages
Additional Product Features
Lc Classification Number
Br115.H5d4 1988
Reviews
"This is a wonderful book that I'm sorry I didn't write first, although I would not have been able to do as fine a job as Dean. It is immensely learned and follows up on the author's American Religious Empiricism. It is graciously written, and tells the story in a gripping way." -- Robert Cummings Neville, Boston University "This book is rich with insights and suggestive of new theological directions." -- Nancy Frankenberry, Dartmouth College
Table of Content
Preface Acknowledgments 1. The Challenge of the New Historicism 2. American Historicism and Religious Historicism 3. The Chicago School 4. The Hidden Empiricism 5. The Radical Historicists 6. Beyond Method: Toward a Concept of God Notes Index