This reader shows why Edward Schillebeeckx remains one of the most influential Catholic theologians of the 20th century. Spanning more than half a century and including several texts that appear in English for the first time, it enables students to understand how Edward Schillebeeckx's thought resonates with current debates in theology, for instance on ecology and secularization. T&T Clark Reader in Edward Schillebeeckx includes selections from both pre- and post-Conciliar texts that illustrate the evolution in Schillebeeckx's thought, while also pointing towards the deep underlying continuity which comes from his essential commitment to his faith. His Christological Trilogy, which was a touchstone for doctrinal controversy and methodological progress, is represented here, as well as important works on ministry, the sacraments, hermeneutics, secularization, and the environment. These complex theological topics are broken down in every chapter with the help of explanatory notes, discussion questions and further reading suggestions. This reader is an essential resource which will enable students to contextualize and unpack the rich layers within Schillebeeckx's theology.

Written by leading experts on both the thought of Edward Schillebeeckx and modern theology, this handbook offers the first comprehensive study of the historical, philosophical, political and theological aspects of Schillebeeckx's work. As one of the most influential Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, he played a key role in the preparations for the theological revolution of the Second Vatican Council and the debates of the post-conciliar era. His engagement with critical theory, hermeneutics, and biblical scholarship culminated in his groundbreaking Christological trilogy, which marked Schillebeeckx as one of the most significant and innovative thinkers of his time. By building an overview of recent research into Schillebeeckx's writing, the contributors shed new light on his influence and ongoing relevance in contemporary theology. Beginning with the roots of Schillebeeckx's views on metaphysics, spirituality and faith, the essays then move to his work during and after the Second Vatican Council, and then to his engagement with new directions in philosophy and his renewal of classical topics such as creation, theological and soteriological anthropology, and eschatology. Culminating with an analysis of theology and culture, this handbook thoroughly explores the implications of Schillebeeckx's theology for a contemporary readership.

This book investigates the philosophical components of Christian faith in creation, by analyzing the distinction and the relation between creation and its Creator.The writings of Edward Schillebeeckx and David Burrell supply a terminology of distinction and relation that shapes the discourse, following in the footsteps of Aquinas. Poulsom elucidates the relational dialectic in the thought of Schillebeeckx as a way of thinking about the Creation and offers a helpful comparison with the thought of David Burrell. Relational dialectic is an organizing principle, not only of Schillebeeckx's account of creation, but of his philosophical theology more generally. It can operate as a hermeneutic for his material on praxis and humanism, in a way that resolves some problems noted by other Schillebeeckx scholars. Poulsom's interpretation of Schillebeeckx enriches current approaches to this thinker and offers a significant contribution to thinking on the doctrine of Creation and issues surrounding the 'ontological distinction' which is of major concern in philosophical theology today.

The existence of the historical Jesus cannot be doubted. But who was Jesus of Nazareth? And who is he for us today? In this controversial work Schillebeeckx offers his 'experiment': an informative and sustained hermeneutical reflection on the story of Jesus. It became a bestseller, and would become the first volume of Schillebeeckx' trilogy on Jesus Christ. He presents a Christology 'from below', rooted in the synoptic gospels, but especially in Mark and in the Q tradition. At the same time he is clearly interested in portraying 'the historical Jesus' as both Proclaimer and Proclaimed. In this major work Schillebeeckx tries to answer questions such as: Is the promise of salvation only to be found in Jesus Christ because he was a gift from God, as the Gospels tell us? What can we say about the inspiration of so many who do not attend church or adhere to any believe they find in Jesus Christ? Schillebeeckx takes us into his promising quest that leads to the ultimate question of what religious truth actually is.

It has often been noted that poetry is a particularly suitable medium when it comes to understanding the connection between theology and biography. Needless to say that this is particularly exciting in the case of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the poems he wrote during his imprisonment by the Nazis. Although any one of his ten poems should be read within their respective historical and biographical context, they are also rounded, self-sufficient pieces of work that cannot be 'explained' by the biographical and theological prose that surrounds them. They rather serve as a sort of creative and perhaps sometimes even critical interlocutor to these contexts. This is why the contributors to this volume have not been asked to explain the poems but to facilitate this conversation: the conversation between the reader and the poems, between the individual poems as well as between the poems and Bonhoeffer's life and his theology. These poems lend themselves ideally as an entry point into Bonhoeffer's theology, in that each one of them resonates with a particular central theological concept that Bonhoeffer was developing in his prison years. Themes and concepts such as "friendship", "religion", "identity", "freedom", "representative action" and others are not only represented in these poems but often expressed in the dense and compelling fashion that only poetic language affords. As such, they deserve the thorough and imaginative engagement of the international line-up of first-class theological authors gathered in this book.

The book explores the relationship between Christology and theological anthropology through the lens provided by the theology of Karl Barth and the mind/body discussion in contemporary philosophy of mind. It thus comprises two major sections. The first develops an understanding of Karl Barth's theological anthropology focusing on three major facets: (1) the centrality of Jesus Christ for any real understanding of human persons; (2) the resources that such a christologically determined view of human nature has for engaging in interdisciplinary discourse; and (3) the ontological implications of this approach for understanding the mind/body relationship. The second part draws on this theological foundation to consider the implications that Christological anthropology has for analyzing and assessing several prominent ways of explaining the mind/body relationship. Specifically, it interacts with two broad categories of theories: 'nonreductive' forms of physicalism and 'holistic' forms of dualism. After providing a basic summary of each, the book applies the insights gained from Barth's anthropology to ascertain the extent to which the two approaches may be considered christologically adequate.