In the recent history of philosophy few works have appeared which favorably portray Idealism as a plausible philosophical view of the world. Considerably less has been written about Idealism as a viable framework for doing theology. While the most recent and significant works on Idealism, composed by the late John Foster (
Case for Idealismand
A World for Us: The Case for Phenomenological Idealism), have put this theory back on the philosophical map, no such attempt has been made to re-introduce Idealism to contemporary Christian theology.
Idealism and Christian Theologyis such a work, retrieving ideas and arguments from its most significant modern exponents (especially George Berkeley and Jonathan Edwards) in order to assess its value for present and future theological construction. As a piece of constructive philosophical-theology itself, this volume considers the explanatory power an Idealist ontology has for contemporary Christian theology.
Joshua R. Farrisis Assistant Professor of Theology at Houston Baptist University, Smith College of Liberal Arts and the Academy. He is the chief editor (with Charles Taliaferro) forAshgate Research Companion to Theological Anthropology(2015).
S. Mark Hamiltonis a PhD candidate University of Bristol, UK. He is co-editor ofNew England Dogmatics: A Systematic Collection of Questions and Answers in Divinity(2014).
James S. Spiegelis a Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, USA. His books includeThe Love of Wisdom(2010),Faith, Film, and Philosophy(2007),Hypocrisy: Moral Fraud and Other Vices(1999), and the award-winningHow to be Good in a World Gone Bad(2004).
This anthology is of excellent analytical quality and strives for historical sensitivity. The overarching agreement between this papers means that each essay hangs together well and the collection flows through various loci of ChristialÓe