This is a collection of writings of one of Britains most prominent theologian and thinker. Donald M. MacKinnon has been one of the most important and influential of post-war British theologians and religious philosophers. Generally eclectic, frequently allusive, usually intellectually generous, persistently richly challenging and always astonishingly erudite, he had a significant impact on the development and subsequent theological work of the likes of Rowan Williams, Nicholas Lash, David Ford and John Milbank. A younger generation largely emerging from Cambridge, but with influence elsewhere, has more recently brought MacKinnon's normally occasionalist writing to a larger audience worldwide where it is beginning to receive noteworthy attention. In this collection several of MacKinnon's most outstanding papers not yet published in book format is collected together with an Editorial Introduction by a former student of one of MacKinnon's own students. They range from his reflections on theology as educational, the nature of moral reasoning, considerations of ecclesial practice, dogmatics and hope. Here is another reminder of MacKinnon's intellectual brilliance.

From the time of Plato’s proposed expulsion of the poets, tragedy has repeatedly proposed a challenge to philosophical and theological certainties. This is apparent already in early Christianity amongst leading figures during the patristic age. But this raises the question: Why was the theme of tragedy still accepted and deployed throughout the history of Christianity nevertheless? Is this merely an accident or is there something more substantial at play? Can Christian theology take the tragic seriously? Must Christianity ultimately deny the tragic to be coherent, or might it be able to sustain its negativity? Some like George Steiner, David Bentley Hart, and John Milbank have doubts about such a coherency, but others think differently. This book aims to examine this debate, laying out the lines of disagreement and continuing tensions. Through a critical examination of the work of Donald MacKinnon and the eminent Christian thinker Rowan Williams, the book aims to show that there is a path for reconciling the claims of Christian orthodoxy and the experience of tragedy, one that is able to maintain a metaphysical foundation for both real transcendence and unfolding historicity, without denying either.

Kenosis, or self-emptying, poses a fundamental question to any theological discussion about Jesus Christ: “In becoming human, did God empty himself of any divine qualities?” Many variations on kenotic Christology have emerged over the past 200 years, most of them claiming to both preserve and highlight the true humanity and ecclesial significance of Jesus Christ. While there is much to commend in these efforts, Samuel Youngs contends that nearly all such kenotic attempts have, against their best intentions, fallen into an echo chamber of abstraction and metaphor, rendering their talk about Jesus Christ and analysis of the Gospels fundamentally “unreal” and lacking in material significance for today’s living church. Most fundamentally, many kenotic accounts pay inadequate attention to Christ’s lived accomplishment, his current presence, and the modes of praxis that he makes real in the world. In dialogue with the important movement known as Transformation Theology, Youngs unfolds a detailed critique of method and discourse in kenotic christologies. Turning then to the vibrant christological thought of Jürgen Moltmann, a different outlook on kenosis is articulated and defended, one that is relational, concrete, and praxiological.

Andrew Bowyer presents the first comprehensive examination of Donald MacKinnon's theology in relation to his moral philosophy. He offers an original and creative reading of MacKinnon's methodology, and important insights into the key influences and core questions which stood at the heart of his work. Bowyer outlines MacKinnon's contributions to Anglican theology in the aftermath of the Second World War, highlighting the “therapeutic” nature of his approach in as far as it combined a call for intense self-awareness with a commitment to moral realism. As one of the most influential Anglican theologians in the mid-twentieth century, MacKinnon's writings reveal him as a restive and unsystematic thinker. However, Bowyer argues that a series of reoccurring questions – 'obsessions' might better honour the memory of MacKinnon's temperament –appear throughout his work, relating to the tensions between the realism and idealism, the call to be “morally serious”, the nature of theological truth claims, and the perennially disruptive presence of Christ. Bowyer examines the key influences on MacKinnon's thought, the centrality of Christology to his project, his engagement with literature and literary criticism, as well as his response to Wittgenstein's later philosophy. This volume offers an appreciation of his contribution and a critique of his legacy.

A scholarly volume that reflects the rich diversity of Anglican theology With contributions from an international panel of writers, Twentieth-Century Anglican Theologians offers a wide-ranging view that presents a survey of over twenty diverse Anglican thinkers. The book explores well-known figures including William Temple, Austin Farrer, Donald MacKinnon, and John A.T. Robinson. These theologians are set in a wider context alongside others from India, China, Australia, Ghana, and elsewhere. Notably, the subjects include a number of women from Evelyn Underhill, the first woman to teach the clergy of the Church of England, to Esther Mombo, a major contemporary Anglican figure, from Kenya. The book reflects the rich diversity of Anglicanism, suggesting the ongoing vitality of this religious tradition. This important book: Contains information on a number of prominent women Anglican thinkers Includes contributions from experts from around the world Presents material on both familiar figures and others that are unjustly little known Written for students and teachers of Anglicanism, Anglican clergy, and ecumenical colleagues, Twentieth-Century Anglican Theologians is the first book to reflect the diversity of the Anglican tradition by considering its global theological representatives.

Theology was once 'queen of the sciences', the integrating centre of Christendom's conceptual universe. In our own time the very idea of systematic theology is frequently called into question, derided as an arcane and superstitious pseudo-discipline. Even within the church, it is commonly disregarded in favour of unreflective piety and pragmatism. At the same time, the southward shift in world Christianity's centre of gravity prompts crucial questions about the future form and content of theology. Within this context, Theology and the Future offers a case for the continuing viability of theology, exploring how it might adapt to changing circumstances, and discussing its implications for how we are to imagine and help shape our shared human future. Beginning with the question of God, this book explores what might be meant by 'the future of God', and what its implications are for Christian theology. Chapters follow on the location of theology (in global Christianity, the church and the academy) and on its sources and method. The second half of the book explores a wide variety of dimensions of the human future that theology might address and illuminate. The essays bring together a mix of specialist theologians and interdisciplinary thinkers to support the assertion that there can be no more critical endeavor to the future than understanding God and all things in relationship to him.