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 Idealism and 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 Theology is 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.

Winner: 2012 The American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence in Theology and Religious Studies, PROSE Award. In this thought-provoking new work, the world renowned theologian Gary Dorrien reveals how Kantian and post-Kantian idealism were instrumental in the foundation and development of modern Christian theology. Presents a radical rethinking of the roots of modern theology Reveals how Kantian and post-Kantian idealism were instrumental in the foundation and development of modern Christian theology Shows how it took Kant's writings on ethics and religion to launch a fully modern departure in religious thought Dissects Kant's three critiques of reason and his moral conception of religion Analyzes alternative arguments offered by Schleiermacher, Schelling, Hegel, and others - moving historically and chronologically through key figures in European philosophy and theology Presents notoriously difficult and intellectual arguments in a lucid and accessible manner

Introduction : Idealism and Christian theology / Joshua R. Farris and S. Mark Hamilton -- The theological orthodoxy of Berkeley's immaterialism / James S. Spiegel -- Berkeley, Edwards, idealism and the knowledge of God / William J. Wainwright -- Idealistic panentheism : reflections on Jonathan Edwards's account of the God world relation / Jordan Wessling -- Berkeley, realism, idealism and creation / Keith Yandell -- Edwardsian idealism, imago Dei, and contemporary theology / Joshua R. Farris -- On the corruption of the body : a theological argument for metaphysical idealism / S. Mark Hamilton -- Idealism and the Resurrection / Mark Cortez -- Jonathan Edwards, idealism, and Christology / Oiver D. Crisp -- Jonathan Edwards's dynamic idealism and cosmic Christology / Seng-Kong Tan -- Idealism and participating in the body of Christ / James Arcadi -- Idealistic ethics and Berkeley's good God / Timo Airaksinen

Myra is not your average woman; she never has been, not in millions of years. From a pampered princess, to a wilderness in the sun, to a prison in the desert, to a place in the heart of every person she happens to meet. This is the story of her sojourn on the Earth. This is her struggle for freedom and survival. The Apache Indians call her Child of the Sun. Ruben Hawken called her wife and lover and the mother of my children. She's a loving nurturing spirit with the power to influence for good. She heals, that's what she does ... Myra is more then victorious but not without setbacks and hardship and the patience of Job. You've got to love Myra, can't help yourself ... Don't you find that just a little suspicious? I'm a cynic so I certainly do ... But what do I know? I can't seem to get past that ridiculous Nutsoid sign.

This book bridges the gap between the sacramental praxis of Christian religion, seemingly dependent upon naïve acceptance of phenomena in their immediacy, and the mediation of spiritual reality via philosophy of mind, and self-consciousness generally. Thus, it is a philosophy of incarnation as, inter alia, discrete essence of the Hegelian dialectic as the absorbing and thereby cancelling of finitude in the Absolute as its own Idea and, consequently, the total converse of pantheism. The Aristotelico-Hegelian concept of substance as mediated by visible “accidents”, the phenomena, is essential here. Thus Nature, but not the substance, which is Nature’s idea, is a self-conflicting phenomenon only, generating natural misconceptions in us, its offspring. Hence self-consciousness, the “I”, is to be perfected in its self-confident development towards the Absolute Idea, with which each finite idea is identical in absorption and difference, while religion becomes absolutised in, or as, sophia, chief intellectual virtue according to Aquinas. Here, a new theology, product of faith, resumes the old. It is time to put it to work.

A robust defence of the philosophy of Idealism - the view that all reality is based on Mind - which shows that this is strongly rooted in classical traditions of philosophy.

When it comes to contemporary philosophical problems, metaphysical idealism-or Berkeleyan immaterialism-is not taken seriously by most philosophers, not to mention the typical Christian layperson. This state of affairs deserves some attempt at rectification, since Idealism has considerable explanatory power as a metaphysical thesis and provides numerous practical and theoretical benefits. Such thinkers as George Berkeley and Jonathan Edwards believed that Idealism is especially amenable to a Christian perspective, both because it provides a plausible way of conceptualizing the world from a theistic standpoint and because it effectively addresses skeptical challenges to the Christian faith. The contributors to this volume explore a variety of ways in which the case can be made for this claim, including potential solutions to philosophical problems related to the nature of time, the ontology of physical objects, the mind-body problem, and the nature of science.