Philosophy in the English-speaking world is dominated by analytic approaches to its problems and projects; but theology has been dominated by alternative approaches. Many would say that the current state in theology is not mere historical accident, but is, rather, how things ought to be. On the other hand, many others would say precisely the opposite: that theology as a discipline has been beguiled and taken captive by 'continental' approaches, and that the effects on the discipline have been largely deleterious. The methodological divide between systematic theologians and analytic philosophers of religion is ripe for exploration. The present volume represents an attempt to begin a much-needed interdisciplinary conversation about the value of analytic philosophical approaches to theological topics. Most of the essays herein are sympathetic toward the enterprise the editors are calling analytic theology; but, with an eye toward balance, the volume also includes essays and an introduction that try to offer more critical perspectives on analytic theology.

Analytic theology can flourish in the secular academy, and flourish as authentically Christian theology. Analytic Theology and the Academic Study of Religion explains analytic theology to other theologians and scholars of religion, while simultaneously explaining those other fields to analytic theologians. William Wood defends analytic theology from some common criticisms, but also argues that analytic theologians have much to learn from other forms of inquiry. Analytic theology is a legitimate form of theology, and a legitimate form of academic inquiry, and it can be a valuable conversation partner within the wider religious studies academy. Analytic Theology and the Academic Study of Religion articulates an attractive vision of analytic theology, fosters a more fruitful inter-disciplinary conversation, and enables scholars across the religious studies academy to understand one another better.

This book is the first of two volumes collecting together Michael C. Rea's most substantial work in analytic theology. This volume considers the nature of God and our ability to talk and discover truths about God, whereas the companion volume focuses on theological questions about humanity and the human condition. The chapters in the first part of Volume I explore issues pertaining to discourse about God and the authority of scripture. Part two focuses on divine attributes, while part three discusses doctrine of the trinity and related issues.

This handbook provides theological and philosophical resources that demonstrate analytic theology's unique contribution to the task of theology. Analytic theology is a recent movement at the nexus of theology, biblical studies, and philosophy that marshals resources from the analytic philosophical tradition for constructive theological work. Paying attention to the Christian tradition, the development of doctrine, and solid biblical studies, analytic theology prizes clarity, brevity, and logical rigour in its exposition of Christian teaching. Each contribution in this volume offers an overview of specific doctrinal and dogmatic issues within the Christian tradition and provides a constructive conceptual model for making sense of the doctrine. Additionally, an extensive bibliography serves as a valuable resource for researchers wishing to address issues in theology from an analytic perspective.

Analytic theology is a flourishing new theological movement, addresses itself to the intersection between philosophy and theology. In this short monograph readers are introduced to this approach to theology, and to some of its main ideas and scholars.

Analytic theology is a new and stimulating movement that uses the tools and methods of philosophy to help us understand and articulate Christian doctrine. Thomas McCall introduces us to analytic theology, explaining its connections to Scripture, Christian tradition and culture, and calling the discipline to deeper engagement with the traditional resources of the theological task.

This study draws upon the resources of both contemporary analytic theology and the theological interpretation of the New Testament in order to investigate a set of important issues in Christology. It is the first work in analytic Christology to draw upon both recent scholarship in biblical studies and recent contributions to analytic philosophy and theology. Thomas H. McCall explores the themes of union with Christ and the faith of Christ as these are developed by the "apocalyptic" and "New Perspective" interpreters of Pauline theology. The volume offers a careful analysis of recent dogmatic proposals about the identity of Christ and the doctrine of election, and provides an examination of debates over the subordination of the Son in Hebrews. It also probes the relationship of the incarnate Son to his Father in Johannine theology. McCall presents an exegetically-grounded theological engagement with recent work on the place of logic in the doctrine of the incarnation.

This book is the first treatment at length of negative, or apophatic, theology within the analytic tradition. Apophatic theology holds that there is a significant sense in which we cannot say what God is. Important negative theological elements are present in a host of Christian thinkers, from Gregory of Nyssa to Aquinas, and yet apophaticism is neglected in philosophical theology as practiced within the analytic tradition. By contrast, Hewitt shows how apophatic theology is integral to how Christians have thought about God, and how it can be defended against standard attacks in the philosophical literature. Hewitt diagnoses the unease with apophaticism amongst contempory philosophical theologicans as rooted in a certain picture of how language functions, here called referentialism. Arguing that this picture is not compulsory, an account of language which sits more comfortably with negative theology (originating from work of later Wittgenstein) is invoked, and applied to key themes in philosophical theology including divine personhood, the Trinity, the Incarnation and the afterlife.

Analyzing Prayer draws together a range of theologians and philosophers to deal with different approaches to prayer as a Christian practice. The essays included deal with issues pertaining to petitionary prayer, prayer as reorientation of oneself in the presence of God, prayer by those who do not believe, liturgical prayer, mystical prayer, whether God prays, the interrelation between prayer and various forms of knowledge, theologizing as a form of prayer, lament and prayer, prayer and God's presence, and even prayer and the meaning of life. The volume contains cutting-edge studies on a neglected topic of theological study that contributes to the broadening of themes tackled by analytic theology.

T. F. Torrance’s proposal for natural theology constitutes one of the most creative and provocative elements in his work. By re-envisioning natural theology as the cognitive structure of theology determined by God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ (and not as the task of philosophically reflecting on the nature or existence of God aside from religious presuppositions), Torrance moves through and beyond Barth’s resistance to natural theology. This book establishes Torrance’s unique reconstruction of natural theology within its proper intellectual context, providing a fresh analysis of this important methodological innovation as it emerges from Torrance’s realist epistemology. As Irving demonstrates, in Torrance’s distinctive conception of science, he operated with an approach to cognition that functions via a realist synthesis of experience and understanding, and in Torrance’s theological science, this synthesis of experience and understanding is the synthesis of revealed theology and natural theology. The author argues that this reconstruction of natural theology expresses a dramatic vision for human agency within theological cognition, adding the necessity of the human knowing subject to the priority of the divine revealer. Finally, this book marries Torrance’s accomplishments in reconstructing natural theology to his Christocentric theological method, in which God is both revealed and known in the person of Jesus Christ, fully God and fully human.